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In this compelling episode of Born to Win, Ronald L. Dart takes listeners on an extraordinary journey through the vision of the Holy Jerusalem as described in the Book of Revelation. Delving into its breathtaking dimensions and architectural grandeur, Dart explores the significance of the twelve tribes and apostles, revealing how ancient prophecies find their fulfillment in this divine city descending from heaven. As we ponder the vastness of God's creation, the discussion challenges us to consider the cosmic scale of His plans and our role within them.
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The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
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And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come here, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain, and he showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Now this great city is not like anything you and I might imagine. No artist has ever come close to capturing the image of this city. And of course anyone who's visited the old city of Jerusalem as it now is can dismiss that out of hand. One wonders how anyone could refer to Jerusalem as beautiful or Jerusalem the golden when one visits the city on the ground. But what's there now is not what was and certainly not what will be. Not even John who saw this vision can really do it justice. The vision is found in Revelation 21, and we're beginning along about verse 9. And this is a part of the final vision of John in the book of Revelation. We have to remember that this is a vision, yet it was very vivid and very real to John. Also remember that no man had ever seen anything like this. All John can do is tell us what he saw in terms of what he had previously seen in his lifetime. I mean, after all, he had his language, he had his vocabulary, he had his imagery. That's all he had to work with. And what he was seeing, well, he must have felt totally inadequate to the task. But he continued. He says, He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and He showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. And her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal. And it had a wall great and high, and it had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon. Now what would be the names written thereon? on the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem. Well, they were the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Now, it strikes me, perhaps it strikes you the same way, as a little odd, how often the twelve tribes of Israel come into play in a prophecy dealing with the very end of time. You would have thought that something so Old Testament would have long since faded from the scene and would no longer be relevant, but here they are. You have 12 gates. Every gate has the name of one of the 12 tribes. You have 12 foundations, and the names of the apostles are on those 12 foundations. And Jesus said that the 12 apostles would sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel in his kingdom. Well, I guess what we have to conclude is that when all is said and done, God is not yet finished with the 12 tribes. Where are they? Who are they? How are they going to come back into play on this? Well, it's beyond the scope of this broadcast, but drop me a line and I'll tell you where you can get some information on it. Verse 15, And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lies four square. The length is as large as the breadth. And he measured the city with the reed twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. Now, do you have any idea how long twelve thousand furlongs is or are, if we want to get our English right? Well, according to the New American Standard Bible, it is 1500 miles long and wide and high. 1500 miles is something like the distance between Houston and Los Angeles. It is that big, this city is, squared on the ground. And that's like, something like, if my math is right, two and a quarter million square miles on the ground for this city. It's big. Now, Jesus told his disciples when he was preparing to leave this earth that he was going to prepare a place for them. In John 14, verse 1, he said this, Don't let your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Now, other translations say, in my Father's house there are many rooms or many offices, many places. And he says, I'm going to prepare a place for you, and I'm going to come back. Come back where? Here. That where I am, and when he comes back, where will he be? Here. So that where I am, you may be also. Here. And John gives us a vision, not so much of our going off to heaven someplace, but but of a holy Jerusalem, which is something like what we imagine heaven to be, coming here with Christ. And so he says, I'm preparing in this place a place for you. Now, how many places do you suppose he could prepare in a city like this? Well, my office suite is about 1,700 square feet. but that would be way too small for a son of God. Supposing that God gave each of us, what shall we say, three acres. That would leave room on the ground floor of this holy Jerusalem, once it's come back to the earth and been planted here, for something in the neighborhood of 500 million of us. On the ground floor. Alone. Now, that's plenty of room, I would say, but you go up about half a mile, you put in another floor, and the number of places prepared runs to something like... One billion. But remember, this city is 1,500 miles high. We've still got 1,499 and a half miles to go up. Now, they tell us this. I don't think you have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out that all the Christians who have ever lived are not going to use up much of this city. Right? Right. In fact, all the people who have ever lived on this planet would not use up much of this place. Well, what's the rest of it for? I don't know. Some of us have minds that run this way, I suppose, but sometimes I lie awake at night contemplating the universe, the age of the universe, the scope of what God has built here, and I ponder what he is doing. They tell me that the universe is something in the neighborhood of 15 billion years old. God, of course, is rather older than that. Now, there aren't enough zeros to count the number of stars in the universe, and nobody believes that the planets around our sun are the only planets. The astronomers have gotten so excited about finding the possibility around a star that they can see with a telescope somewhere that might have some planets or some planets being born, but they know nothing. that they're going to find planets. Their problem is that everything is so far away, and planets are so small, you just can't see them, and we'll be old people and die, and generations could come and go on this planet, and we would never adopt the technology that's going to find planets in other galaxies. There's no chance. But when you look around you and you consider nature and you consider the way things are, there just is no chance that we are all the planets that there are in the universe around our little sun. If there aren't enough zeros to count the number of stars in the universe, you're surely not going to be able to count the number of planets. Now, consider what we know about God. If you've read your Bible, you surely have got a vision in your mind, an image in your mind of what kind of a being, what kind of a person that God is. Well, if you wanted to try somehow to describe God in human terms, it's fair to say, wouldn't you say, that God is creative. I was tempted to say highly creative, but highly is an inadequate adjective to describe creative where God is concerned. He is creative. He is energetic. The Bible tells us he never sleeps. It tells us he's wide awake all the time. It tells us that he really has enormous power. Translate that as energy, and you've got someone who is highly creative, terribly energetic, who is a worker who has no interest in idle time. Seeing God sitting on his throne, bored stiff, with a television clicker in his hand, just doesn't work, does it? Now, I said all that to ask you this question. Are you prepared to believe that in 15 billion years, not counting whatever time there may have been before or now, are you prepared to believe that this is the first time God has ever done this? Are you prepared to believe that if the universe could go on again another 15 billion years, that this would be the last time he will ever do it? Well, God has not told us much of his long-range plans and activities. There is nothing in the future of man that qualifies really as long-range on God's scale of time. Everything here is super short. But he goes on forever. And could a creative, active, energetic person stop creating? Stay with me. I'll be back in just a moment.
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Join us online at borntowin.net. That's borntowin.net. Read essays by Ronald Dart. Listen to Born to Win radio programs every day, past weekend Bible studies, plus recent sermons, as well as sermons from the CEM Vault. Drop us an email and visit our online store for CDs, DVDs, literature, and books. That's borntowin.net.
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Here we are, walking up to one of the gates of this New Jerusalem, a city that is so splendid that it would put out your eyes almost, with gorgeous foundations and humongous gates put up that are actually, every gate is a solid pearl, we're told. And so we are ready to walk into the city. What do we expect to find there? There's an isolated scripture back in Hebrews 12 and verse 18 that I thought was interesting in this context. I won't read the whole passage, but portions of it, because without even necessarily meaning to, he opens up a little glimpse or a little door into this question that I've been asking. The writer of Hebrews says this in verse 18. For you are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest. This is a reference to Mount Sinai, when the children of Israel assembled before the mountain, and they were going to get the Ten Commandments handed down to them from God, and they were all standing there trembling with their knees knocking together. He says, that's not what we've come to. In verse 22 he says this, But you are come unto Mount Sinai, unto the city of the living God. Uh-huh, that's what we've been talking about, the city of God. You come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God, the judge of all. And then there's one more category of people. that he says, we have come to, as we come to the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, a company of angels, the church of the firstborn written in heaven, and to God, it then says, we have come to the spirits of just men made perfect. Now, we can't know in this life. There's no revelation to this effect. There are only these little hints that God drops on us from time to time to let us think about it. But is it possible that the great city will already be populated with men and women of other worlds and other times, with more to come later, along with us? But perhaps we shouldn't speculate on these things. I don't know. But it's hard not to. When God gives you glimpses of things which make no sense from our narrow perspective, it is almost as though he is tempting us to look ahead and outward beyond our experience, that he's challenging us to think outside of what we know, to think outside of what we have heard, and to reach for him and to try to grope for him as people will grope in the dark and to understand him. and His greatness, and what He is doing. Oh, I think sometimes for many of us, references to the greatness and the glory and the power of God are just so many words we gathered out of the Bible and we use again because it sounds good. But when you begin to get hints of how great He really is, how can you not speculate? How can you not reach out But then there's Deuteronomy 29 and verse 29 that says this, The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Well, I can live with that. That's satisfactory to me because what it tells me is and what he has hinted at is that there is so much more than I even begin to grasp right now And there is a way of life that I should walk in so that when the time comes that he can tell us all what it is, I'll be there. I'll know. I'll grasp it. And I'll shout with joy when I understand what really he is doing, which is far greater than anything I can grasp or explain. But back to John in Revelation 21, verse 17. And he measured the wall thereof, 144 cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was jasper. And the city was pure gold, like clear glass. Now, wait a minute, wait a minute. 1,500 miles square at the bottom, 1,500 miles high, pure gold. How many floors it has, we have no idea. Do you understand the mass, the weight of this thing? Well, if it were regular gold... What's being described here, of course, is physically impossible. It would spin the Earth off of its orbit and who knows where we would go as a result of that kind of weight being placed on the planet. But this is not physical gold. This is spiritual gold, if you will. This is a vision in the first place. But there is a reality to what John is describing. But the real world is one that could be sitting here on top of us right now, coming and going by with people passing through us, and let's never know it's here. Because it's the spirit world, not the physical world. Now, the New Jerusalem isn't here, but it could be. And we, us grub worms down here struggling with the earth, would not even know that it's here. The foundations of the wall were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth an emerald. The middle of this sandwich is a gorgeous emerald green. The fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth a topaz, the tenth a chrysoprisus, the eleventh a jacinth, the twelfth an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls. Every several gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold as it was of transparent glass. Well, what does that mean? Gold's not transparent. Well, a glass in biblical parlance really oftentimes means a mirror. And what it's telling you is that this gold, streets, walls, whatever it is you're looking at, is so polished that that is like a mirror, like glass. Now, when you really consider what we're seeing here, Remember what I told you earlier? John has only his experience. John has only his life to draw on. He can't really tell you what it is he is seeing. He can only tell you what it looks like to him. Take a gate made out of one pearl, for example. Why do you want a round ball of a pearl that's 16 feet high and wide being a gate? But really what it's probably describing is something that looks like Mother of Pearl. It's kind of translucent in a way and with a shimmering quality of Mother of Pearl. The varied colors that change as you might step from side to side looking into the gate makes it a thing of incredible beauty. Nations? Kings? Well, the Greek word for nations is the word often translated Gentiles, and it's really a rather broad word. It means peoples. So what he's just simply saying that the peoples of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it. The kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it, that those of those who have been rulers upon this planet are now bringing every piece of glory, everything they might have ever had of honor to this city. The gates of it will not be shut at all by day, but then there's no night there. And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations or the peoples into it. No night there. For in fact, the beings who live there need no sleep. They need no rest. They are the children of God. They are like Him with His creativity, His energy, His drive. And He and they lighten the whole environment, in fact, the whole world. There's much more to come in this. I'll be back in just a moment to really wrap this up for you.
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Stay with me. For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only. And request the program titled Revelation No.
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28.
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Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888- Bible 44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
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And so we stand outside the gate of this enormous city, this incredibly beautiful city. And the words of John in verse 27 ring in our ears. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiles, neither whatsoever works abomination, means detestable or filthy thing, or makes a lie, only they who are written in the Lamb's book of life. It makes sense, doesn't it? Why would God allow anyone in this place whose spirit and heart were corrupt? Well, how does one get written into the Lamb's book of life? I'd like to be sure my name is there. The fact that it is the Lamb's book of life is a hint. It is not the book of the warrior Messiah, the one riding upon a white horse. It's the book of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. One is written into that book by repentance, by coming to the Lamb for mercy, accepting the Lamb of God as your own sacrifice for sin. Baptism must follow, and one must make an effort to live a life of holiness before God, but it is the blood of the Lamb applied for you that writes your name in that book. And he showed me a pure river of water of life. John continues in chapter 22, verse 1, "...clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, there was the tree of life which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the peoples. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. And His servants shall serve Him. And they shall see His face, and His name shall be written in their foreheads. Read that, His name will be written in their minds. And there shall be no night there. There shall be no need of a candle nor light of the sun, for the Lord gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. And he said to me, The sayings that I have given you are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show to his servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And I, John... saw these things, and I heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel that showed me these things. As well he might. Then he said to me, Don't do that. I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of them that keep the saying of this book, You worship God, not me. And he said to me, Don't seal the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. This is not a time for dawdling. Don't sew this up to where people can't see it. Lay it out before them. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. You know, without getting technical about this passage, there's something to think about. There comes a time when it is too late to turn around. The time to set your life right is now. If you don't do it now, then the chances are you never will, not even when the world is coming down around your ears. So when the words of the prophecy began to be given and when they really began to come to pass, he says, well, if you're unjust, you might as well go on. Let him that is holy be holy. Let him that is righteous be righteous. And in verse 12, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they who do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates of the city. Now let me deal with one small problem. In the light of what we know about salvation, salvation is by grace, not of works, and there is nothing we can do to save ourselves, then why does he tell me that in doing God's commandments I gain access to the tree of life? I'll try to explain. How can you possibly be washed clean while you are still playing in the mud? On the day of Pentecost, when Peter had convicted his audience of their sins, they asked him, Well, men and brethren, what do we do? He answered, Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. To repent is to be sorry for your sins and to stop sinning, at least to the best of your strength. Get up out of the mud so God can wash you clean, and don't go back in the mud again. Now how hard is that to understand? Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates of the city. For on the outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, idolaters, and whoever loves a lie and makes a lie. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the spirit and the bride say, Come. Let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is athirst, Come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. For I testify to every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of this book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things that are written in this book. He that testifies these things says, Surely I come quickly. Amen, says John. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. And so ends the great book of Revelation. It's been an even greater inspiration than I thought it would be. We've been 28 broadcasts in working our way through the book. If you'd like to know how to get the whole series, give us a call or drop us a line at the address we'll give you in a moment. And don't forget to tune in next time for a new series. Same station, same time. And remember, God does not intend to spend eternity with a bunch of losers.
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We were born to win. The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1-888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
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Christian Educational Ministries is happy to announce a new full-color Born to Win monthly newsletter with articles and free offers from Ronald L. Dart. Call us today at 1-888-BIBLE44 to sign up or visit us at borntowin.net.
In this episode, we delve into practical financial advice rooted in biblical teachings. Ronald Dart unpacks Solomon's guidance on avoiding debt, embracing diligence, and the vital lesson of self-reliance. Learn how to navigate life's temptations and make prudent decisions that lead to long-term success and stability.
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The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
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There are a lot of ways to mess up your life. It's frightening how easy it is, how one small mistake can carry consequences that last a lifetime. I used to know a fellow. He was about 30 at the time. Good-looking, drop-dead handsome. I mean, the girls really would have been chasing him. But for one thing, he was crippled. He dragged one leg behind him most of the time, and one of his arms didn't work right. I thought maybe he had had polio, but it turned out that what had happened is when he was a kid, one day he was showing off, and he dived into the pool in the shallow end and banged his head on the bottom of the pool. And the result was the crippling effect that I saw. He was lucky, I guess, that he didn't spend the remainder of his life in a wheelchair. You know, there's no way to avoid every mistake, and accidents will happen from time to time. But what happened in his case was a moment of reckless behavior. that wisdom would have kept him from, would have prevented, would have headed off some way along the line. Now, you know, kids don't have much wisdom. And so somebody else has got to have it for them. And some level of discipline has got to be applied to children so that they will learn not to run on the edges of pools, just to impress upon their minds that there are things they can do that can hurt them. because they can't see out there far enough like you and I can, and they don't know how much danger there really is. But if you can teach wisdom to a child early in life and begin to implant some of these lessons, it can make an enormous difference. But the problem is, most people assume that knowledge is wisdom, and it's not. Mere knowledge will not do the job. And the reason is very simple. Some things are so tempting that just knowing better won't keep you out of it. What you've got to have is wisdom. And wisdom is more than knowledge. Wisdom includes a sense of right and wrong, a set of values to go with knowledge that puts it together and helps you make the right kind of decisions in your life. King Solomon put it this way. In chapter 5, verse 1, he said, Pay attention. Bend your ear to my understanding, that you may regard discretion, and that your lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of a strange woman drop like a honeycomb. Her mouth is smoother than oil, but her end is as bitter as wormwood. It's as sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death. Her steps take hold on hell. Do you understand what he's saying? He's saying, you better pay attention to me. Gain wisdom. For here is something that's going to be sweet like a honeycomb and smoother than oil. And the end of it, it's going to kill you. Wisdom has the ability to see beyond the moment, to know that some things are right and some things are wrong intrinsically. You know, when we're little kids and Dad tells us to do something, our favorite question is, well, why, Daddy? And Dad's favorite response, well, because I said so. I heard that more times when I was a kid than I'd like to think about, because I said so. I guess I heard it so many times because I asked why so many times. And you know, because I said so has to be good enough for us at certain times in our lives, but it won't carry you all the way. At some time, you have to come to the realization that Dad said no for a reason other than his own convenience. It wasn't just because your dad didn't like to see you running on the edge of the pool that he told you to stop it. So when you ask him why, he just doesn't want to take the time to say, because I'm tired of watching you risk your neck, you little twerp. Stop it. Solomon emphasized the power of the temptation. To help us understand the importance of wisdom and discretion and foresight, we need to understand the end from the beginning. And the problem with kids is that you just can't see very far. And as kids, we depend on people who can. Solomon chooses the strange woman only because she serves as a good example of all the things out there waiting, lurking to destroy your life. And there are more of them than we like to think about. Not only is this woman powerful, and not only is the end of fooling around with her destructive, she's deceptive. Solomon said in verse 6, Lest you should ponder the path of life, her ways are movable so that you cannot know them. She's tricky. And life is tricky. Temptation of all kinds are tricky. And they're sweet. And they're smooth. And you just have a hard time really getting and understanding which of the paths that lay before you lead to life because some of them look so good. Hear me now, therefore, you children, said Solomon, and don't depart from the words of my mouth. Remove your way far from this woman, the strange woman, and don't come near the door of her house. Don't even go down that street. lest you give your honor to others and your years to the cruel, lest strangers be filled with your wealth and your labors in the house of a stranger, and you mourn at the last when your flesh and your body are consumed and say, How have I hated instruction? How has my heart despised reproof? Why haven't I obeyed the voice of my teachers? Why didn't I listen to them that instructed me? Boy, this is a painful song, and it's one we have all sung at one time or another. How could I have been so stupid? It is all so easy to see after the fact. You know, when you're sitting in a doctor's waiting room and he calls you into the office and sits you down and says, Bob, I'm sorry, but your test came back, you're HIV positive. Oh, yeah, you slap your forehead then, and then at that time you're going to say to yourself, Bob, How was it I couldn't listen? How could I have imagined that I could get away with this? And you mourn at the last when your flesh and your body are consumed. Or when you're slapped with a lawsuit for sexual harassment and strangers are filled with your wealth and all your labors go into the house of a stranger. Oh, yeah. How could I have been so stupid? How could I have been so foolish? Where was the wisdom when I needed it? Why didn't I follow God's instructions? Why didn't I go in the right way? It is easy to see it then, isn't it? And don't we all know it? You know, there is always an alternative to evil. Solomon draws a really nice metaphor for faithfulness to your wife or faithfulness to your husband. In verse 15, he said, drink waters out of your own cistern and running waters out of your own well. Don't let your fountains be dispersed abroad in rivers of waters in the street. Don't take your resources and pour them out in the street. Let them be only your own and not a stranger's with you. Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of your youth. Let her be as the loving hind in the pleasant row. Let her breast satisfy you at all times and be you always ravished with her love. You know, the love of one man for one woman and one woman for one man is really a beautiful thing. the closeness, the love, the warmth, the being able to depend upon each other in times that are good and times that are hard, of knowing that when you're in the hospital and lying up there racked with pain, that there will be somebody somewhere who cares enough to come in and wipe your brow and sit beside you and hold your hand. One of the most tragic results of following the strange woman, condom or no condom, is that it takes this away from you. You can't have that kind of relationship with one woman when you're sharing it with another. And the same thing goes for women with men. And why will you, Solomon asked my son, be ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a stranger? For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his goings. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself. He'll be held with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction, and the greatness of his folly he will go astray. What Solomon is saying is it's so much better to learn this lesson beforehand and so much cheaper. Solomon will change the subject a little, and we'll talk about that right after these words.
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Wisdom is not that hard to come by. In fact, through experience, the kind of wisdom that comes from experience will catch up with you whether you like it or not. But sometimes that's a pretty expensive way to get wisdom. It's a whole lot better to learn from someone else's experience. Well, in the sixth chapter of Proverbs, Solomon gives us right off the bat two really important principles that could have an enormous amount to do with your net worth not that many years from now. In chapter 6, verse 1, he says, My son, if you be surety for your friend, if you have stricken your hand with a stranger. What's that? Well, to be surety for your friend would be something like to co-sign on a note with your friend. And to strike your hand is like, well, it's like signing, taking your hand and signing a loan document. And, of course, you're borrowing money from this bank. And you may think, well, he's your friendly banker and you know him. He's Bob or John or Phil. But you could go back there a month from now, and Phil has gone on to another job, and you're dealing with a whole different person in that job. If you go in and sign a note with a bank, you have stricken your hand with a stranger. You're snared, he says, with the words of your mouth. You're taken by the words. You've made a promise. You have to do it. Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself. When you are coming to the hand of your friend like this, you're actually in his power. in a way. You go and humble yourself and make sure that your friend makes that payment. Don't give sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. Get yourself out of that like a deer gets away from the hand of a hunter, or a quail gets away from the guy with the double-barreled shotgun. Well, no, Solomon didn't use the expression double-barreled shotgun, but you know what I mean. Whatever you do, says Solomon, don't make yourself responsible for someone else's debt. If he can't afford it himself, let him do without. Now, a lot of people have gone contrary to that advice to their own sorrow and to their own hurt. You know, if I were giving advice to a group of young people today... I wouldn't tell them to never borrow money. That would be asking a little too much in our world. But I would tell them to only borrow for two things. Two things and two things only. They are basic housing and essential transportation. Now, the reason I think this is good advice is easy enough. You have to have a place to live, and you and your young bride, you're out there getting your life started together. If you rent a house, you're paying interest on the house, and you might just as well, if you can manage the down payment, be paying that interest against your own principal so that eventually you do own the house. That's easy to understand, isn't it? You are going to have to pay interest anyway, so you might as well pay it directly instead of through a middleman and let him make a profit on the whole deal. Second, you have to have a way to get to work. If you don't, if you have public transportation, don't even think about a car. But nowadays, most places in this country, you can forget about working if you don't have a car to get to work. But you don't need a new Firebird that goes 150 miles an hour to get to work. A jalopy will get you to work. My advice to kids is always go out and buy a cheap, ugly car with good tires and good brakes. And if that embarrasses you a little bit, get yourself a bumper sticker that says, don't laugh, it's paid for. And all your friends that are driving around their shiny new cars and making payments on them, you can laugh at them and say, ha, you're making those payments my car's paid for. The payments I'm making, I make to myself. There is a time, by the way, when you can buy a new car. That's when you can afford to pay cash for it. Now, I know that runs counter to what a lot of people think, but the truth is you'll come out way ahead of the game if you'll just follow that simple advice. Because when you have the cash, you've actually managed to save up, and you've put together $14,000, $15,000 in real hard cash in the bank. You're going to think a long time before you go down and you plunk that down all at once on a brand-new Belch Fire 8 special, right? Something about cash in the hand that conveys its own kind of wisdom. And another piece of advice, never finance consumer goods like clothes, CD players, and television sets. Save up and buy cash. Now, I'll give you a little exercise. I'm not going to do it for you. I'll let you do it for yourself. You know that you've got credit cards, and you know that those credit cards have spending limits, and you know that all you have to do every month is pay off a certain part of that debt that you have on the card, and if you pay off part of it, then you can spend that the next month and run your spending limit right back up. Right? Right. Now, let's suppose here you are. You're 18, 19, 20 years old, and you, the first month, you and your bride get a new place and You take your credit card down and charge it all up, and you get your maximum limit, say $2,000 that you can borrow on your credit card, and you buy some things you need to have for your little house. You get yourself a television set so you won't be bored in the evening. Think about that one for just a minute. You get yourself a CD player. You buy yourself some fancy expensive clothes and so forth. Wham, before you know it, $2,000 are gone. Next month, you drag out the checkbook when your bill comes in for the credit card, and you pay off the minimum that you have to pay. And that gives you that much money to charge against your credit card the next month, right? And so you go out and buy something else, keeping it up there. Now, just imagine that you kept your credit card right at the upper limit for the next 40 years, okay? Sit down with your pencil and piece of paper or your handy calculator, because I don't think very many of us remember the multiplication tables anymore, and sit down and work out for yourself, okay? on that original $2,000 loan that you made, how much interest do you pay at your credit card rate of interest over 40 years? And realize something. From that first year forward... Everything you have done has been done on a cash basis. For 39 years, you paid cash for everything. And you kept paying interest on that first $2,000 that you borrowed. Because effectively, that's what's happened here. And for the privilege of having all that stuff... A few months earlier than you could have if you just made the payments to yourself and then went out and bought them and paid cash for them. For the privilege of having that stuff a few months early, look at how much money you have paid out on $2,000 over a 40-year period of time. Can you think of anything that you could do with that much money? Solomon's not through giving advice in this area. In verse 6, he says this, Go to the ant, you sluggard, consider her ways and be wise, who having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provides her meat in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. Now, right here is one of the great rules of life, and it is not very well understood. What would you say is the lesson that Solomon is trying to teach us with the parable of the ant? Go to the ant, you lazy lout. Consider her ways and be wise. She doesn't have any guide, overseer, or ruler, and yet she does her work. What is it? Zeal? Diligence? Well, not exactly. The lesson of the parable is that the ant is able to work without a supervisor, to be a self-starter. Now, with the ant, this is not a matter of character. It's a matter of genes. It's written into the ant's very being. But now imagine the value of writing this idea into your children's character. Let's see if we can understand why this is so. Imagine for a moment that you've got a job working in a factory manufacturing. I'd like to come up with a better name for it, but let's call them widgets. That's what everybody who uses illustrations like this calls them. And you make these widgets, and the widgets sell for $10 apiece. You can make so many widgets in a day, and as a consequence, you can earn so much money. Now, if you were reliable enough to come to work, set up your machinery, do all this stuff yourself, and carry it out and put it all out and get it ready for mailing and everything, and didn't need a supervisor, Why, you could have, let's say, a dollar each out of all the widgets you could make in a day, and that would make you a very good living. A hundred bucks a day, shall we say. Really good. But on the other hand, supposing you can't work like that. Supposing you've got to have a supervisor. Somebody's got to organize the work schedule. Somebody's got to solve your problems for you. Somebody to see to it that you're at work on time. Somebody to get you back from breaks on time instead of letting you linger at the coffee pot and so forth. Well, you see, if you have to have a supervisor, the $100 a day that you might have been going to make, some of that money is going to have to be given to the supervisor because the output isn't any higher, right? We're only doing so many widgets a day, right? And so consequently, if you have to have help to do that, well, then you've got to give up some of what you make. One of the reasons why we don't have any more than we do is because we have to share so much of what we produce with the people who help us produce it. So if you can teach your children early in life to do the right thing without being told, To be diligent in their work without having to have somebody make them go do it. To get up in the morning without having to have somebody kick them out of bed. You have put them a long way down the road to being wealthy. Because in the long run, if you can work without a guide or an overseer or a ruler, you'd only be working in a factory. You need to be working for yourself.
SPEAKER 02 :
in your own business. For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only and request the program titled Making Life Work, number 16. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791 or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44 and tell us the call letters of this radio station. How long will you sleep, you lazy lout?
SPEAKER 03 :
When will you get out of bed, asks Solomon. Well, let me sleep a little longer, you say, a little slumber. Let me fold my hands and snooze a bit longer. And Solomon says, so your poverty will come like a traveling man and your want like an armed man. Cause and effect, folks. Laziness, sleeping a little too long, loving slumber leads to poverty. Now, this isn't to say we don't need sleep. It's a follow-on to the parable of the ant that says we've got to be self-starters. We don't need to have somebody else wake us up and get us to work, not if we're going to be successful and fairly well-to-do. Well, I'm sorry, but that's the way of life. You've got to be able to get yourself moving. And unless you somehow teach your children that, well, you're neglecting your duty as a parent. A naughty person, Solomon continues, a wicked man. He walks with a twisted mouth. He doesn't just tell you the truth. He puts a spin on it. He's got to be clever in the way he puts things. He winks with his eye. He speaks with his feet. He teaches with his fingers. He's got all kinds of secret signs and symbols and movements. He's a fidgety kind of guy, these deceivers. Perverseness is in his heart. He devises mischief continually, sows discord. Therefore, his calamity will come suddenly. Suddenly, he will be broken without remedy. I think this is here to tell us to get away from people like that. Don't get sucked in by them, because they really are smooth oftentimes, and they can offer you this fine little dinner. You know, they say something about swindlers and con men. The saying is, you can't con an honest man. And the fact is that this type of man that's going out there looking for somebody to swindle is looking for someone who himself is trying to pull a fast one, trying to get away with something. And so he comes in and uses our own little criminal instincts against us, and we learn the hard way. Now, you may be under the impression that God loves everybody and everything. Well, it's not quite true. There are some things that God hates. In fact, there are some of them that he says are an absolute abomination to him. Now, I don't know about you, but it seems to me it would be a good idea that if there is something that God hates, that we knew what that was. Well, Solomon is kind to us. He gives us a list. These six things, he says, does the Lord hate. Yea, seven are an abomination to him. Absolutely despicable. Number one, a proud look. Second, a lying tongue. Three, hands that shed innocent blood. Four, a heart that devises wicked imaginations. Five, feet that be swift in running to mischief. Six, a false witness that speaks lies. And seven, he that sows discord among brethren. Well, you've got some attitudes here and some things that people do. And what's disturbing? You know, you always hear these people say, well, you love the sinner, but you hate the sin. Well, unfortunately, we get down to the fact that God also hates some sinners, I guess, because that's the way it's listed. First of all, he talks about the things sinners do, proud look, lying tongue, and so forth. But then he says, first of all, he said he hates a lying tongue. Then he comes back around to it and says he also hates the false witness that speaks lies. That's disturbing. And finally, he hates the man that sows discord among brethren. Now, I know that we could defend ourselves by saying, well, I was just telling the truth. But, you know, there is a time when telling the truth to somebody is going to separate chief friends and will actually do no good. I don't think we can justify ourselves in splitting up people or causing discord between people with the excuse, well, what I was doing, it was just the truth, and I guess people need to know the truth. I think the lesson in these six things, the seven that God hates, is pretty important. It is possible to get on the wrong side of God, and you do it with having a proud and haughty look about you. You do it by having a lying tongue. You do it by giving testimony that might lead to the shedding of innocent blood. You do it by devising wicked imaginations in your heart, so you ought to really give attention to your fantasies. You do it with feet that are in a hurry to run into some kind of mischief. And then the speaking of lies and the sowing of discord among brethren. These things are really important to God, and we ought to regulate our lives taking them into account. Solomon continues, My son, keep your father's commandment, and don't forsake the law of your mother. Tie them upon your heart. Tie them around your neck. When you go, it shall lead you. When you sleep, it shall keep you. And when you wake up, it will talk with you. You got these things in your mind, and they're so deeply ingrained in you that when you wake up in the morning, they come to mind. Folks, that's a recipe for staying out of trouble. For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is a light, and the reproof of instruction is the way of life. Only a loser looks at the commandments of God as shackles and the law as chains. The winners, well, the winners see them as a light in a dark place. Until next time, this is Ronald Dart.
SPEAKER 02 :
And you were born to win. The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1-877-7000.
SPEAKER 01 :
1-888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net Christian Educational Ministries is happy to announce a new full-color Born to Win monthly newsletter with articles and free offers from Ronald L. Dart. Call us today at 1-888-BIBLE44 to sign up or visit us at borntowin.net
This episode takes listeners on a journey through Solomon’s teachings on wisdom and financial prudence. The conversation begins with a gripping personal story that sets the stage to explore the distinctions between knowledge and wisdom. Listeners learn about the devastating consequences of lacking discretion and the vital need to navigate life with an understanding that goes beyond the superficial. Practical advice for financial stewardship, especially for the young, is discussed as Solomon offers timeless wisdom on borrowing and managing resources. With an engaging narrative on the parable of the ant, the discussion underscores the value of diligence and self-motivation. The episode also addresses the spiritual dimension of wisdom, cautioning against traits detested by God, such as a lying tongue and sowing discord. Through these lessons, the episode inspires listeners to seek a life governed by wisdom, illuminating their path with prudence and clarity.
SPEAKER 01 :
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
SPEAKER 02 :
There are a lot of ways to mess up your life. It's frightening how easy it is, how one small mistake can carry consequences that last a lifetime. I used to know a fellow. He was about 30 at the time. Good-looking, drop-dead handsome. I mean, the girls really would have been chasing him. But for one thing, he was crippled. He dragged one leg behind him most of the time, and one of his arms didn't work right. I thought maybe he had had polio, but it turned out that what had happened is when he was a kid, one day he was showing off, and he dived into the pool in the shallow end and banged his head on the bottom of the pool. And the result was the crippling effect that I saw. He was lucky, I guess, that he didn't spend the remainder of his life in a wheelchair. You know, there's no way to avoid every mistake, and accidents will happen from time to time. But what happened in his case was a moment of reckless behavior. that wisdom would have kept him from, would have prevented, would have headed off some way along the line. Now, you know, kids don't have much wisdom. And so somebody else has got to have it for them. And some level of discipline has got to be applied to children so that they will learn not to run on the edges of pools, just to impress upon their minds that there are things they can do that can hurt them. because they can't see out there far enough like you and I can, and they don't know how much danger there really is. But if you can teach wisdom to a child early in life and begin to implant some of these lessons, it can make an enormous difference. But the problem is, most people assume that knowledge is wisdom, and it's not. Mere knowledge will not do the job. And the reason is very simple. Some things are so tempting that just knowing better won't keep you out of it. What you've got to have is wisdom. And wisdom is more than knowledge. Wisdom includes a sense of right and wrong, a set of values to go with knowledge that puts it together and helps you make the right kind of decisions in your life. King Solomon put it this way. In chapter 5, verse 1, he said, Pay attention. Bend your ear to my understanding that you may regard discretion and that your lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of a strange woman drop like a honeycomb. Her mouth is smoother than oil, but her end is as bitter as wormwood. It's as sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death. Her steps take hold on hell. Do you understand what he's saying? He's saying, you better pay attention to me. Gain wisdom. For here is something that's going to be sweet like a honeycomb and smoother than oil. And the end of it, it's going to kill you. Wisdom has the ability to see beyond the moment, to know that some things are right and some things are wrong intrinsically. You know, when we're little kids and Dad tells us to do something, our favorite question is, well, why, Daddy? And Dad's favorite response, well, because I said so. I heard that more times when I was a kid than I'd like to think about, because I said so. I guess I heard it so many times because I asked why so many times. And you know, because I said so has to be good enough for us at certain times in our lives, but it won't carry you all the way. At some time, you have to come to the realization that Dad said no for a reason other than his own convenience. It wasn't just because your dad didn't like to see you running on the edge of the pool that he told you to stop it. So when you ask him why, he just doesn't want to take the time to say, because I'm tired of watching you risk your neck, you little twerp. Stop it. Solomon emphasized the power of the temptation. To help us understand the importance of wisdom and discretion and foresight, we need to understand the end from the beginning. And the problem with kids is that you just can't see very far. And as kids, we depend on people who can. Solomon chooses the strange woman only because she serves as a good example of all the things out there waiting, lurking to destroy your life. And there are more of them than we like to think about. Not only is this woman powerful, and not only is the end of fooling around with her destructive, she's deceptive. Solomon said in verse 6, "'Lest you should ponder the path of life. Her ways are movable, so that you cannot know them.'" She's tricky. And life is tricky. Temptation of all kinds are tricky. And they're sweet, and they're smooth. And you just have a hard time really getting and understanding which of the paths that lay before you lead to life because some of them look so good. Hear me now, therefore, you children, said Solomon, and don't depart from the words of my mouth. Remove your way far from this woman, the strange woman, and don't come near the door of her house. Don't even go down that street. lest you give your honor to others and your years to the cruel, lest strangers be filled with your wealth and your labors in the house of a stranger, and you mourn at the last when your flesh and your body are consumed and say, How have I hated instruction? How has my heart despised reproof? Why haven't I obeyed the voice of my teachers? Why didn't I listen to them that instructed me? Boy, this is a painful song, and it's one we have all sung at one time or another. How could I have been so stupid? It is all so easy to see after the fact. You know, when you're sitting in a doctor's waiting room and he calls you into the office and sits you down and says, Bob, I'm sorry, but your test came back, you're HIV positive. Oh, yeah, you slap your forehead then, and then at that time you're going to say to yourself, Bob, How was it I couldn't listen? How could I have imagined that I could get away with this? And you mourn at the last when your flesh and your body are consumed. Or when you're slapped with a lawsuit for sexual harassment and strangers are filled with your wealth and all your labors go into the house of a stranger. Oh, yeah. How could I have been so stupid? How could I have been so foolish? Where was the wisdom when I needed it? Why didn't I follow God's instructions? Why didn't I go in the right way? It is easy to see it then, isn't it? And don't we all know it? You know, there is always an alternative to evil. Solomon draws a really nice metaphor for faithfulness to your wife or faithfulness to your husband. In verse 15, he said, drink waters out of your own cistern and running waters out of your own well. Don't let your fountains be dispersed abroad in rivers of waters in the street. Don't take your resources and pour them out in the street. Let them be only your own and not a stranger's with you. Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of your youth. Let her be as the loving hind in the pleasant row. Let her breast satisfy you at all times and be you always ravished with her love. You know, the love of one man for one woman and one woman for one man is really a beautiful thing. the closeness, the love, the warmth, the being able to depend upon each other in times that are good and times that are hard, of knowing that when you're in the hospital and lying up there racked with pain, that there will be somebody somewhere who cares enough to come in and wipe your brow and sit beside you and hold your hand. One of the most tragic results of following the strange woman, condom or no condom, is that it takes this away from you. You can't have that kind of relationship with one woman when you're sharing it with another. And the same thing goes for women with men. And why will you, Solomon asked my son, be ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a stranger? For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his goings. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself. He'll be held with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction, and the greatness of his folly, he will go astray. What Solomon is saying is it's so much better to learn this lesson beforehand, and so much cheaper. Solomon will change the subject a little, and we'll talk about that right after these words.
SPEAKER 01 :
Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE-44.
SPEAKER 02 :
Wisdom is not that hard to come by. In fact, through experience, the kind of wisdom that comes from experience will catch up with you whether you like it or not. But sometimes that's a pretty expensive way to get wisdom. It's a whole lot better to learn from someone else's experience. Well, in the sixth chapter of Proverbs, Solomon gives us right off the bat two really important principles that could have an enormous amount to do with your net worth not that many years from now. In chapter 6, verse 1, he says, My son, if you be surety for your friend, if you have stricken your hand with a stranger. What's that? Well, to be surety for your friend would be something like to co-sign on a note with your friend. And to strike your hand is like, well, it's like signing, taking your hand and signing a loan document. And, of course, you're borrowing money from this bank. And you may think, well, he's your friendly banker, and you know him. He's Bob or John or Phil. But you could go back there a month from now, and Phil has gone on to another job, and you're dealing with a whole different person in that job. If you go in and sign a note with a bank, you have stricken your hand with a stranger. You're snared, he says, with the words of your mouth. You're taken by the words. You've made a promise. You have to do it. Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself. When you are coming to the hand of your friend like this, you're actually in his power. in a way. You go and humble yourself and make sure that your friend makes that payment. Don't give sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. Get yourself out of that like a deer gets away from the hand of a hunter, or a quail gets away from the guy with the double-barreled shotgun. Well, no, Solomon didn't use the expression double-barreled shotgun, but you know what I mean. Whatever you do, says Solomon, don't make yourself responsible for someone else's debt. If he can't afford it himself, let him do without. Now, a lot of people have gone contrary to that advice to their own sorrow and to their own hurt. You know, if I were giving advice to a group of young people today... I wouldn't tell them to never borrow money. That would be asking a little too much in our world. But I would tell them to only borrow for two things. Two things and two things only. They are basic housing and essential transportation. Now, the reason I think this is good advice is easy enough. You have to have a place to live, and you and your young bride, you're out there getting your life started together. If you rent a house, you're paying interest on the house, and you might just as well, if you can manage the down payment, be paying that interest against your own principal so that eventually you do own the house. That's easy to understand, isn't it? You are going to have to pay interest anyway, so you might as well pay it directly instead of through a middleman and let him make a profit on the whole deal. Second, you have to have a way to get to work. If you don't, if you have public transportation, don't even think about a car. But nowadays, most places in this country, you can forget about working if you don't have a car to get to work. But you don't need a new Firebird that goes 150 miles an hour to get to work. A jalopy will get you to work. My advice to kids is always go out and buy a cheap, ugly car with good tires and good brakes. And if that embarrasses you a little bit, get yourself a bumper sticker that says, don't laugh, it's paid for. And all your friends that are driving around their shiny new cars and making payments on them, you can laugh at them and say, ha, you're making those payments my car's paid for. The payments I'm making, I make to myself. There is a time, by the way, when you can buy a new car. That's when you can afford to pay cash for it. Now, I know that runs counter to what a lot of people think, but the truth is you'll come out way ahead of the game if you'll just follow that simple advice. Because when you have the cash, you've actually managed to save up, and you've put together $14,000, $15,000 in real hard cash in the bank. You're going to think a long time before you go down and you plunk that down all at once on a brand-new Belch Fire 8 special, right? Something about cash in the hand that conveys its own kind of wisdom. And another piece of advice, never finance consumer goods like clothes, CD players, and television sets. Save up and buy cash. Now, I'll give you a little exercise. I'm not going to do it for you. I'll let you do it for yourself. You know that you've got credit cards, and you know that those credit cards have spending limits, and you know that all you have to do every month is pay off a certain part of that debt that you have on the card, and if you pay off part of it, then you can spend that the next month and run your spending limit right back up. Right? Right. Now, let's suppose here you are. You're 18, 19, 20 years old, and you, the first month, you and your bride get a new place and You take your credit card down and charge it all up, and you get your maximum limit, say $2,000 that you can borrow on your credit card, and you buy some things you need to have for your little house. You get yourself a television set so you won't be bored in the evening. Think about that one for just a minute. You get yourself a CD player. You buy yourself some fancy expensive clothes and so forth. Wham, before you know it, $2,000 are gone. Next month, you drag out the checkbook when your bill comes in for the credit card, and you pay off the minimum that you have to pay. And that gives you that much money to charge against your credit card the next month, right? And so you go out and buy something else, keeping it up there. Now, just imagine that you kept your credit card right at the upper limit for the next 40 years, okay? Sit down with your pencil and piece of paper or your handy calculator, because I don't think very many of us remember the multiplication tables anymore, and sit down and work out for yourself, okay? on that original $2,000 loan that you made, how much interest do you pay at your credit card rate of interest over 40 years? And realize something. From that first year forward, Everything you have done has been done on a cash basis. For 39 years, you paid cash for everything. And you kept paying interest on that first $2,000 that you borrowed. Because effectively, that's what's happened here. And for the privilege of having all that stuff... A few months earlier than you could have if you just made the payments to yourself and then went out and bought them and paid cash for them. For the privilege of having that stuff a few months early, look at how much money you have paid out on $2,000 over a 40-year period of time. Can you think of anything that you could do with that much money? Solomon's not through giving advice in this area. In verse 6, he says this, Go to the ant, you sluggard, consider her ways and be wise, who having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provides her meat in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. Now, right here is one of the great rules of life, and it is not very well understood. What would you say is the lesson that Solomon is trying to teach us with the parable of the ant? Go to the ant, you lazy lout. Consider her ways and be wise. She doesn't have any guide, overseer, or ruler, and yet she does her work. What is it? Zeal? Diligence? Well, not exactly. The lesson of the parable is that the ant is able to work without a supervisor, to be a self-starter. Now, with the ant, this is not a matter of character. It's a matter of genes. It's written into the ant's very being. But now imagine the value of writing this idea into your children's character. Let's see if we can understand why this is so. Imagine for a moment that you've got a job working in a factory manufacturing. I'd like to come up with a better name for it, but let's call them widgets. That's what everybody who uses illustrations like this calls them. And you make these widgets, and the widgets sell for $10 apiece. You can make so many widgets in a day, and as a consequence, you can earn so much money. Now, if you were reliable enough to come to work, set up your machinery, do all this stuff yourself, and carry it out and put it all out and get it ready for mailing and everything, and didn't need a supervisor, Why, you could have, let's say, a dollar each out of all the widgets you could make in a day, and that would make you a very good living. A hundred bucks a day, shall we say. Really good. But on the other hand, supposing you can't work like that. Supposing you've got to have a supervisor. Somebody's got to organize the work schedule. Somebody's got to solve your problems for you. Somebody to see to it that you're at work on time. Somebody to get you back from breaks on time instead of letting you linger at the coffee pot and so forth. Well, you see, if you have to have a supervisor, the $100 a day that you might have been going to make, some of that money is going to have to be given to the supervisor because the output isn't any higher, right? We're only doing so many widgets a day, right? And so consequently, if you have to have help to do that, well, then you've got to give up some of what you make. One of the reasons why we don't have any more than we do is because we have to share so much of what we produce with the people who help us produce it. So if you can teach your children early in life to do the right thing without being told, To be diligent in their work without having to have somebody make them go do it. To get up in the morning without having to have somebody kick them out of bed. You have put them a long way down the road to being wealthy. Because in the long run, if you can work without a guide or an overseer or a ruler, you'd only be working in a factory. You need to be working for yourself.
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in your own business. And tell us the call letters of this radio station. How long will you sleep, you lazy lout?
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When will you get out of bed, asks Solomon. Well, let me sleep a little longer, you say, a little slumber. Let me fold my hands and snooze a bit longer. And Solomon says, so your poverty will come like a traveling man and your want like an armed man. Cause and effect, folks. Laziness, sleeping a little too long, loving slumber leads to poverty. Now, this isn't to say we don't need sleep. It's a follow-on to the parable of the ant that says we've got to be self-starters. We don't need to have somebody else wake us up and get us to work, not if we're going to be successful and fairly well-to-do. Well, I'm sorry, but that's the way of life. You've got to be able to get yourself moving. And unless you somehow teach your children that, well, you're neglecting your duty as a parent. A naughty person, Solomon continues, a wicked man. He walks with a twisted mouth. He doesn't just tell you the truth. He puts a spin on it. He's got to be clever in the way he puts things. He winks with his eye. He speaks with his feet. He teaches with his fingers. He's got all kinds of secret signs and symbols and movements. He's a fidgety kind of guy, these deceivers. Perverseness is in his heart. He devises mischief continually, sows discord. Therefore, his calamity will come suddenly. Suddenly, he will be broken without remedy. I think this is here to tell us to get away from people like that. Don't get sucked in by them because they really are smooth oftentimes, and they can offer you this fine little dinner. You know, they say something about swindlers and con men. The saying is you can't con an honest man. And the fact is that this type of man that's going out there looking for somebody to swindle is looking for someone who himself is trying to pull a fast one, trying to get away with something. And so he comes in and uses our own little criminal instincts against us, and we learn the hard way. Now, you may be under the impression that God loves everybody and everything. Well, it's not quite true. There are some things that God hates. In fact, there are some of them that he says are an absolute abomination to him. Now, I don't know about you, but it seems to me it would be a good idea that if there is something that God hates, that we knew what that was. Well, Solomon is kind to us. He gives us a list. These six things, he says, does the Lord hate. Yea, seven are an abomination to him. Absolutely despicable. Number one, a proud look. Second, a lying tongue. Three, hands that shed innocent blood. Four, a heart that devises wicked imaginations. Five, feet that be swift in running to mischief. Six, a false witness that speaks lies. And seven, he that sows discord among brethren. Well, you've got some attitudes here and some things that people do. And what's disturbing? You know, you always hear these people say, well, you love the sinner, but you hate the sin. Well, unfortunately, we get down to the fact that God also hates some sinners, I guess, because that's the way it's listed. First of all, he talks about the things sinners do, proud look, lying tongue, and so forth. But then he says, first of all, he said he hates a lying tongue. Then he comes back around to it and says he also hates the false witness that speaks lies. That's disturbing. And finally, he hates the man that sows discord among brethren. Now, I know that we could defend ourselves by saying, well, I was just telling the truth. But, you know, there is a time when telling the truth to somebody is going to separate chief friends and will actually do no good. I don't think we can justify ourselves in splitting up people or causing discord between people with the excuse, well, what I was doing, it was just the truth, and I guess people need to know the truth. I think the lesson in these six things, the seven that God hates, is pretty important. It is possible to get on the wrong side of God, and you do it with having a proud and haughty look about you. You do it by having a lying tongue. You do it by giving testimony that might lead to the shedding of innocent blood. You do it by devising wicked imaginations in your heart, so you ought to really give attention to your fantasies. You do it with feet that are in a hurry to run into some kind of mischief. And then the speaking of lies and the sowing of discord among brethren. These things are really important to God, and we ought to regulate our lives taking them into account. Solomon continues, My son, keep your father's commandment, and don't forsake the law of your mother. Tie them upon your heart. Tie them around your neck. When you go, it shall lead you. When you sleep, it shall keep you. And when you wake up, it will talk with you. You got these things in your mind, and they're so deeply ingrained in you that when you wake up in the morning, they come to mind. Folks, that's a recipe for staying out of trouble. For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is a light, and the reproof of instruction is the way of life. Only a loser looks at the commandments of God as shackles and the law as chains. The winners, well, the winners see them as a light in a dark place. Until next time, this is Ronald Dart.
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And you were born to win. The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1-877-7000.
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1-888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net Christian Educational Ministries is happy to announce a new full-color Born to Win monthly newsletter with articles and free offers from Ronald L. Dart. Call us today at 1-888-BIBLE44 to sign up or visit us at borntowin.net
Join us as we unravel the core principles of living a life favored by God and men, as taught by Solomon. From the traits of truth and mercy to the essence of forgiveness, learn how these virtues can bring about harmony and respect in your relationships. This episode also addresses the significance of tithing and generosity, urging us to honor God with our possessions. Embrace these age-old secrets and find out how they can still bring richness and meaning to your modern life.
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The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
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How long would you like to live in the flesh? It depends, doesn't it? It depends on whether that long life is free of pain and hurt and confusion and all that, or whether there's some joy in it. How would you like to have a little more peace in your life? And what if I could tell you of a way you can have both of these, long life and peace? Well, there is a way. It's found in the Bible. But the problem is that the theologians and the doctrinal teachers have confused the issue for us to where a lot of people somehow either miss it or don't understand it or don't deal with it. Take the book of Proverbs, for example. Right here in the book of Proverbs, there is a collection of wisdom from the wisest man who ever lived. His name is King Solomon. His wisdom was a direct gift from God. Now, what Solomon did in his life was to systematically collect all the wisdom he had been able to gather, and he wrote it down in a book for generations to follow. He basically says that there is a basis for wisdom, and hence there is a basis for long life. It is a special revelation about the way life works, a special revelation of God to man about man's nature and God's nature and how these two natures interact on a day-to-day basis. The fact is, human beings work in a certain defined and rather predictable way, And, of course, God is quite predictable. He never changes. Now, out of these two things grow a number of life principles, and this special revelation tells man what these things are. Don't you think it's worth knowing what those things are and what that revelation might be? Well, as I said, it's in the Bible. It's called the Law. And somehow, that poses a big problem in people's minds. Because they look at the law and they see it as a set of handcuffs or shackles around their ankles, and they don't really understand that the law is that special revelation of the way things work. And that being the case, it's really a pretty good idea to inform yourself about what it says. But the problem is, a lot of theologians want to argue that the law has been summarily abolished. Somehow there's an assumption made by many that in the Old Testament, salvation was by the law. But in the New Testament, salvation is by grace. They have it all wrong. Salvation has always been by grace. And the law has always been the basis of true wisdom. The law has always been a guide to life, a definer of right and wrong, and an explanation of the way the relationship between man and man ought to work, and more important, a definition of the way man can relate to and understand God. Listen to King Solomon speaking on behalf of God in Proverbs 3, verse 1. My son, forget not my law, but let your heart keep my commandments. For length of days and long life and peace shall they add to you. Oh, and what were we talking about? A long life and peace? How do you get them added to you? Well, you might get it added by not forgetting the law and by letting your heart keep, retain God's commandments. That's all. What is the law for? It's for long life and peace. It's to keep us out of trouble. It's to teach us about ourselves and about God, and to help us to have a better life. You know, the only sense in which the law has ever saved man is that it saves man a lot of trouble. That's why a Christian should study the law of Moses. Not because it will save you, but to learn about God's will for life, to learn wisdom, to learn the elements of love. What am I talking about? Well, look, all of us know that a Christian is to love his fellow man, right? That's our obligation. Jesus said of his disciples, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. But love is more than a feeling. It's not just that I feel good about you. Love actually is a behavior or a set of behaviors. It has to do with the way we live our life. The law contains the elements of those behaviors. Do not steal, says the law, for no man who loves his neighbor would ever covet his neighbor's property and would ever take something that doesn't belong to him, right? Don't commit adultery, says the law. Love your neighbor, not his wife. Do not have any other gods, for love is not divided. You can't love God while worshiping an idol. Remember the Sabbath day. Take a day off work to meet with God. These are laws that reveal things to man that work as opposed to things that don't work. I heard a fascinating story the other day about this question of the seventh day and the Sabbath day and a day of rest. Someone was saying, you know about those rides down the Grand Canyon on the back of those mules? Yeah, I said I'd heard of that. He said they learned recently that if they will give those mules a day of rest once a week, the mules live longer. What a surprise. Even jackasses live longer when they get a day of rest every week. So what's the law for? Well, the law is to tell you how to live longer. How would you like to have favor in the sight of God and man? How would you like to have other men and other women to like you and to trust you and to respect you? How would you like to have favor with God who hears your prayers and really wants to grant your requests and to walk alongside of you? How would you like to have good understanding of the issues you're going to face today and the decisions that you have to make? Well, there's a way to that as well. Here's Solomon again in verse 3 of Proverbs 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake you. Tie them around your neck. Write them on the table of your heart. So shall you find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. There is a way to having favor in the sight of God and man. It's to not let mercy and truth forsake you. Now, they're not that hard to understand. They're not quite so easy to apply. The truth side of the equation is obvious. A commitment to truth and honesty is about as straightforward a commitment as anyone could ever make. The temptation to lie to gain favor is almost irresistible at times. The temptation to lie to protect your reputation is hard to resist. You know, you've gotten yourself in trouble. Things have gone wrong. And instead of standing up and saying, I did it. I'm sorry it won't happen again. You lie and say, I didn't do it. I don't know who did. But truth works better and is a great cleanser of the soul. It's a great antidote to fear and to shame. God's advice, tell the truth and get it over with. Get it off your chest. Tell the truth, say you're sorry, and get on with life. And there's one more thing. Having a reputation as a truth teller is worth its weight in gold. To have people say to you, look, I know you. Your word is good. It's not so hard to understand the value, then, of truth, is it? But the other side of the equation, mercy, is a little bit more difficult. Maybe an illustration from Jesus would help to clarify this thing. The illustration is found in the 18th chapter of Matthew, beginning in verse 21. Peter came to Jesus and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Seven times? Peter was, like a lot of us, gets a little bit concerned about people who just keep on making the same mistakes and saying, I'm sorry. I know that feeling very well from both sides, I might add. Jesus said to him, no, no, not seven times until 70 times seven. Now, that's mercy. 490 times, if necessary, you've got to forgive your brother. Mercy is the quality of withholding punishment from another person, even when the punishment is richly deserved. Now, he says, don't let truth and mercy forsake you. These are things that are going to help you. Now, Jesus went on to explain what he meant to Peter with a parable. He said, Folks, this is a parable, and so Jesus uses a huge exaggeration. That's a lot of money. But for as much as the man didn't have anything to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and his children and everything he had and payment to be made. So you think you have it tough because they repossessed your car. How would you like to have this kind of banking system where they sell you, your wife and your kids and pay the thing off? That doesn't sound too good. Well, the servant fell down and worshiped the man saying, Lord, have patience with me. I'll pay it all. Actually, the way this thing is worded, the debt appears to be an impossible debt. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, Jesus said, and loosed him and forgave the debt. Now notice what happens. It was not restructured debt. It was written off, and it was huge. So our man, having been released and having been let go and now going out debt-free, goes out and finds one of his fellow servants that owed him a hundred pence. Now, you've got a debt considerably less than one ten thousandth of the one he had just had written off. You'd have thought this guy said, oh, hey, hey, forget it. I just had my debt wiped out. I can sure let that one go. But no, he took him by the throat and said, you pay me what you owe. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and said, Oh, please have patience with me, and I will pay you all. You would have fought. He would have remembered those his own words to the other man. But no, he went and cast him into prison until the debt was paid. The first man was merciful. The second man was not. What happened? Well, his fellow servants saw what he did and And they were very sorry, and they came and they told their Lord what was done. Now, there's a little dynamic at work here that's worth really thinking hard about. Because other people see what you do. They notice your mercy. They notice your lack of mercy. And these things register on them, and they have an effect on the way they deal with you and the way they talk about you behind your back. Well, they told the Lord what was done. His Lord, after he called him, said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt for no other reason than that you asked me to do it. Don't you think you should have had compassion on your fellow servant like I had compassion on you? And he was angry, and he delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due to him. Then Jesus concluded by saying, So likewise shall my heavenly Father do unto you, if you from your hearts don't forgive every one his brother their trespasses. Or as James put it, He shall have judgment without mercy, who has showed no mercy. You know, this is really spooky in a way, because it suggests that having been forgiven, If we refuse to forgive others, we can bring our own sin back on our own heads.
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Think about that. I'll be right back. You were not born to lose. God has no intention of spending eternity with a loser. You can know what God is doing and why. Drop us a letter or give us a call, and we will send you a free CD introducing the series called Making Life Work. Our address is borntowin.com. Post Office Box 560 White House, Texas 75791 Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE-44 So how do we find good favor and good understanding in the sight of both God and man?
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Solomon says, Let not mercy and truth forsake you. Tie them around your neck. Write them on the table of your heart. That means get them internalized to where it's a part of your life. Truth, we understand. And when it comes to mercy, make it a principle of your life to give every man a break when it is in your power to do it. Oh, yes, I know you'll be disappointed once in a while, but you will be on the right side of the ledger of mercy. I guess there is one. James said that he will have judgment without mercy who has showed no mercy. And, of course, apart from God's ledger, You won't make nearly so many enemies. You'll make a lot of friends. Okay, what else does Solomon have to tell us? Well, here's a dandy, beginning in verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord, and depart from evil. What's the result? It shall be health to your navel and marrow to your bones. I mean, we're talking about something to really help your health and to have God actually directing your paths. How do you do this? Well, the first way is don't be such a smart aleck. Take a little while and realize that you don't have all the answers and you're going to have to go somewhere for them. Trust God and he will direct your paths. Now, this is really a tough admonition to take to heart, especially when you're a born problem solver. You're one of these people that see a challenge. I've got to meet that challenge. I have to resolve it. I have to conquer it. But look, if you will just take a moment to consult God about it, it'll work a whole lot better. Now, do I mean in prayer? Well, yes, I do mean in prayer, but I don't mean only that. I mean, if you will just take a moment to consult the law, the teachings, the principles, and the character of God as they are displayed for you in the Bible, you will be much stronger in making your decision and solving your problem. You'll have tools to work with that you don't have right now. Don't lean to your own. Don't trust your own understanding. It can break on you. Trust God. Acknowledge Him. How do you do that? You flop open the Bible and say, how would God handle this? Does God have any instructions on this? Well, I can hear you saying right now, well, I don't know where to look. The reason you don't know where to look is because you haven't been looking. You can't just go to the Bible at some moment in time and you've got a problem, go thumbing through it and hope you fall on something. You've got to study the book as a part of your life. You've got to internalize it. You've got to write it on your heart, as the Bible says. That's how, when the tough problem comes along, you will know where to go in the Bible. Now, there is such a thing as supernatural direction from God. But as far as this proverb is concerned, it could be as natural as sunrise and sunset. There is a wealth of wisdom in print from God. Why in the world should you think you can come down here and whisper in your ear? when you haven't even dealt with what he's long since given you and put in print and have on paper right in front of you. Use that, and it will direct your paths. Read the Bible. Think about what you read. Try first to apply it to any problem you face. You do that, and you will always have a leg up on the competition. How would you like to ensure that you always have plenty of food and drink? That you always have enough of the things your family needs? I'm not talking about wealth. I'm just talking about security. Well, Solomon's got an answer for this one, too. Proverbs 3, verse 9. Honor the Lord with your substance, and with the firstfruits of all your increase. So shall your barns be filled with plenty, and your presses shall burst out with new wine." Oh, so I'll have plenty of food for my animals, my family, my wine, new wine being made from my wine presses. In other words, all my produce is going to be very effective if I honor the Lord with my substance. What does that mean? Well, it means giving something to God. You know, selfishness never works. The man who is trying to get and to keep everything he can for himself is going to end up spiritually impoverished and cramped little man. He will always be a loser, no matter how much money he's got. Whatever God gives to you as increase, honor him with the first of it. That's what Solomon is saying here. How much? Is there a standard somewhere? Yeah, there is. A tenth. A good old-fashioned tithe. Now, you say, well, that'd be hard to do. Give 10% of everything God gives me, I give it back to Him? I suppose it is. But did you ever hear of a thing called faith? You just have to sometimes do it because God says so and trust Him. That's what Solomon says here in Proverbs 3, 9, and 10. will come to pass. And Jesus said much the same thing. So don't just assume this is Old Testament. And Jesus, in Luke 12, verse 13, one of the company said to him, Master, would you speak to my brother that he and divide our inheritance with me? And he said, Man, who made me a judge or divider over you? And he went on to say, Take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses. Oh, you know, it's easy to forget nowadays when we have so much stuff. We have our houses and our cars and our stereos and furniture and everything around us is all, you know, accumulations of things. And it's easy to forget that those things are not your life. That life is something far more important than that. In fact, this may be the first lesson of tithing. Let go of something, would you? This stuff is not life. And he spoke a parable to them, saying, A certain rich man had ground, and it brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do? I don't have any room to bestow all the stuff my ground has brought forth this year. My barns are full. What am I going to do with all this? Well, I know what I'll do. I'll pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and I'll put all my stuff in there. I'll say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you. Then whose shall these things be which you have provided? And Jesus finished by saying, So is he that lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. The message? Look, friend, you can lie down and die tonight. Then where's all this stuff going to be? Who's going to get your stereo? Who's going to have your Pontiac Trans Am? Who's going to pick up all these things and maybe pick up the payments you've got on them? Where's all this stuff going when you die? It doesn't matter much, really. He that lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God... is a man who just doesn't understand that your life doesn't consist in the possessions that you own. I'll be back after these words.
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For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only. And request the program titled Making Life Work, number 14. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE-44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
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Now, you know as you walk with God that you are not going to get everything right. How would you like to have a little help with a course correction now and then? Maybe a little elbow in the ribs that says, don't do that. Perhaps an attitude adjustment. When you just can't find it in yourself to make the change that you absolutely know you must make, but you just haven't been able to do it. How would you like to have a little help? Well, Solomon suggests that you will get that help. But it's important, I think, for you to expect it and to be responsive to it when it comes. That's why Solomon in verse 11 says this, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. For whom the Lord loves, he corrects, even as a father the son in whom he delights. Ah, so there is some discipline in the walk with God. There is a little chastisement that comes our way from time to time. And I suspect that that chastisement is going to smart just a little bit. Now, here's the hard part. Of all the disasters that strike our lives, of all the pain, which of them are chastisement and which of them are just bad luck? You're in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's always been troubling to me. I've wondered when things weren't going right, is this my fault? Is this chance? Is it luck? Is it chastisement? What's going on here? And I've learned something. I'll share it with you. You can treat all these disasters that strike exactly the same. You take it. You pray about it. You think about it. You consider what you can learn from the experience. And you look at the changes you need to be making in your life, and you have a go at them. And you're in good shape if you do this. You will be in the shape of one who does not despise the chastening of God, and who isn't weary of God's correction. You're one who is really trying to get it right, and is willing to listen when God speaks, no matter how subtle He is when He talks. Now, all these examples I've given you are really good at helping you understand the importance of wisdom, of coming to realize that there is a way of life that works better than all other ways, that it really is good to gain wisdom. And Solomon goes on to say, happy is the man that finds wisdom and the man that gets understanding because the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold. There are a lot of reasons for this. One of the reasons for it is because you live better. You feel better. You feel better about yourself. You feel better about your neighbor. You're happier because your neighbors like you instead of being sullen towards you. You just get along better in the world. And the funny thing about it is you even tend to do better in the silver and gold department with wisdom. Wisdom, she is more precious than rubies. And all the things that you can desire are not to be compared to her. Really? Yeah. Length of days is in her right hand. You want to live a long time? In her left hand is riches and honor. You want to be respected and fairly well-to-do and to have enough money and food and so forth? It's wisdom. Her ways are ways of pleasantness. Oh, good aspects, beautiful views, instead of having to walk around in the sewers of life. And all her paths are peace. You don't have to fight with your neighbor. You don't have to be in bickering with people all the time. Wisdom, she is a tree of life to them that lay hold on her. And happy is everyone that holds on to her. You want to know how great wisdom is? The Lord by wisdom has founded the earth. By understanding, he has established the heavens. By his knowledge, the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew. What an example of wisdom this world is that we live on. What an incredible balance. What a beautiful design. This is a real classic of someone who knows how to make things work. So when you get a chance to learn from the one that knows how to make things work, Solomon says, my son, don't let these things depart from your eyes. Hang on to sound wisdom and discretion. They're life to your soul. They're grace to your neck. They make you look good. You're going to be safe and your foot won't stumble. When you lie down, you won't be afraid. You'll lie down and your sleep will be sweet. Yeah. The winners get a good night's sleep. The losers get to toss and turn. You may have thought that some people are just luckier than others, that all these good things are handed to those people on a silver platter, and that you're just an unlucky slob. You would be wrong. You have choices to make, and it is those choices that can turn a loser wrong.
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into a winner. The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560 White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1-888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
SPEAKER 01 :
Christian Educational Ministries is happy to announce a new full-color Born to Win monthly newsletter with articles and free offers from Ronald L. Dart. Call us today at 1-888-BIBLE44 to sign up or visit us at borntowin.net.
In this enlightening episode, we explore the timeless wisdom contained in the book of Proverbs, uncovering how it acts as a guide through the trials and decisions of life. We delve into the essential components that build wisdom, including experience, knowledge, and meditation, highlighting the importance of learning not just from our own experiences but from others as well. The teachings of Solomon come alive as we discuss practical applications of understanding, justice, and equity in today's complex world. Gain insights into how the fear of the Lord serves as the foundational step toward true knowledge and wisdom. This episode also advocates for young individuals to embrace wisdom early in their lives, proving that wisdom is not reserved for the old. Listeners can learn about how simple acts of respect and obedience can lead to profound understanding and the ability to discern right from wrong, enhancing one’s personal and spiritual growth. Moreover, the discussion touches upon the societal pitfalls that ensue from ignoring wisdom's call and the inevitable consequences that follow. With practical advice and guidance, this episode stresses the importance of seeking wisdom as one would seek silver, promising safety and protection for those who listen and apply its teachings.
SPEAKER 03 :
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
SPEAKER 02 :
I suppose we would all agree that it's a good thing to be wise. When you face hard decisions, it's good to be able to decide which way is best and which way is, well, it's going to be hurtful. It's always good to avoid getting hurt, and sometimes wisdom is what keeps us out of trouble. It would be good, wouldn't it, to have a power of discerning and judging what is true or right in all kinds of circumstances, and it would be good to have a reputation for being a wise person. But do you have any idea how men get to be wise people? To tell the truth, I'll bet a lot of people assume that some men are just, well, they just are wise. And some men, well, they just aren't wise. That maybe it's in the genes. Maybe it's just luck. Who knows? But there are people out there who are wise and there are people who are, well, sorry, fools. But what if it's not that way? What if there is something that makes the difference? Something you can do about being wise in any generation. What do you suppose that would be? Well, I think wisdom mainly comes from a combination of experience, knowledge and meditation. Now, meditation is nothing particularly secret about that. There's nothing even necessarily spiritual about it. It's just good old-fashioned thinking. Sitting down, working your way through problems, something that seems increasingly foreign these days. I'm afraid a lot of us really don't like to be alone with ourselves. We never have a chance to just sit on a rock and stare in the distance. It's one of the standing jokes we've got. Where in your house is the reading room? Well, it's the bathroom because, well, we don't even like to be alone with our thoughts in there. So thinking about things, knowledge and experience, these are the things that create wisdom. But experience can be a very expensive teacher. And sometimes the experience comes so late in life that the damage is already done. It's too late to be of any value to you yourself. But there is an alternative, you know, to learning from your own experience. You can learn from the experience of others. Haven't you had the urge to share your experience with someone else, to tell someone who was about to do something really stupid, Oh, don't do that. I did that, and this is what happened. Oh, yeah, you've been there, and you've done that. The alternative is learning from the experience of others. And this is what Solomon had in mind when he collected all the wisdom he could find. and distilled it in a book. I doubt that you even need to buy this book because you probably already have it. It's the book of Proverbs, and it's in the Bible. You'll find it right after the book of Psalms. Now, Solomon started right out in this book of Proverbs by telling us the purpose of the book. In Proverbs 1, verse 1, he says this, The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. To know wisdom and instruction... to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom and justice and judgment and equity, to give subtlety to the simple, to the young man, knowledge and discretion. So what's my purpose? Well, we're going to give wisdom. We're going to give instruction. We're going to give understanding. We're going to give justice, judgment, equity, all these good things to the simple-minded and to the young man. So good grief, you know, you have to start somewhere. Why not start when you're young? And to learn wisdom, one obviously starts from a place of not having an awful lot of wisdom. You don't have to wait till you're old to be wise. You can start learning wisdom right now. He goes on to say a wise man will hear and will increase learning. A man of understanding, well, he'll attain unto wise counsels. All these things are the purposes of this book, to understand the proverb and the interpretation and the words of the wise in their dark sayings. I think it's encouraging to know that you don't have to wait until you're old to be wise. It seems to work out that way because most people wait around about learning things until they learn from their own experience. But you can start when you're young and inexperienced. Now, notice the elements of this thing we're talking about. They are understanding, the ability to look at something and grasp it and understand the elements of it. Wisdom, which is the ability to make decisions and wise decisions based upon your knowledge and experience. Justice, a good solid sense of fairness. Judgment, which means the ability to discern between two different courses of action as to which is likely to be best, which is likely to hurt. Equity, a balance in your dealings with men. Subtlety, that means the ability to back off and be careful and to find your way at something by way that doesn't do harm, doesn't do hurt, or that doesn't generate resistance in the part of the people you're talking to. Then comes discretion, that is the wisdom or the common sense to know when to speak and when to keep your mouth shut, what to say and what not to say, the ability to choose the right word or to choose the right course of action. And finally, knowledge. Now, all these things are desirable qualities in any man or woman, right? The core value in this whole thing, the bottom line in wisdom, is judgment. That's the ability to look at a thing and judge it right. That is, judge it correctly and to know whether you're on the right side of the issue or not. You know, the foundation of our legal system is the jury. But the jury system presumes that citizens who are of age will have the wisdom to judge rightly. I honestly believe that one of the reasons we're in so much trouble in this country now with our legal system is that as far as I can tell, there is no special value at all placed on wisdom and common sense in jury selection. The last time I was called for a jury and was sitting there listening to the lawyers go through their routine, they sat right up there and lied to us. They told us that they wanted people on that jury who would be fair and would simply judge by the law according to the facts. It was a lie. They didn't want wise men and women on that jury. They wanted people who would give them the verdict they wanted. Forget about justice. They wanted results. You could tell. You could tell by the choices they made, the preemptive choices they made in knocking people off the jury. The wise, the people of experience, the people who obviously showed some element of leadership were passed right over. That was not what those lawyers wanted. Well, Solomon says that what we really need in a man is judgment. Then he goes on to talk about the way in which this type of thing develops or grows in a man or a woman. And in verse 7 of the first chapter of Proverbs, he says this, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools? Ah, fools despise wisdom and instruction. Okay? We have the starting point. For all knowledge and all wisdom, it is this, to respect and stand in awe of God. Now, what that means is that you listen to the words of God with great attention and great care. And the reason for this is simple. The law of God is not arbitrary. It defines the difference between right and wrong. Now, remember, what we're talking about in this matter of wisdom is having the ability to judge the difference between right and wrong, right? Well, God's law is based upon a good, solid foundation of right and wrong. He made man. He created woman. And He knows how we work. And he went to great pains then to tell us how we work, what will help us, what will hurt us, what will help our neighbor, what will hurt our neighbor. And in the process of helping and hurting our neighbor, we just help and hurt ourselves, right? Because we can't live in peace in a neighborhood and among our neighbors without taking some kind of consideration for what helps them and what hurts them. So God comes along and tells us what is right and what is wrong, not just arbitrarily, but because of what works and what doesn't work. Now of all the foolish things that children say, perhaps the most foolish one is this, "'Aw, Dad, you never want me to have any fun.'" Again, anything would be more exasperating for a parent to hear from one of their children. Well, that's the way fools approach God. Oh, God, you don't want me to have any fun. Why didn't you say, thou shalt commit adultery, instead of thou shalt not commit adultery? Well, the reason he did was because God could not say that and be honest. The only way God could be honest with us is to say, whatever you do, be faithful to your wife. Don't commit adultery. You're going to hurt her. You're going to hurt yourself. You're going to hurt your children. You're going to screw up your life big time. Don't do it. And that's why Solomon said, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Because it takes you to the Word of God and His law as words of knowledge to tell you right from wrong. How can you judge right or wrong unless you have got some kind of standard? Okay? The fear of the Lord is the first step. What's the second step?
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We'll talk about that after these words.
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Okay, so we know where we start. We start off by having enough respect for God that we pay really close attention to the knowledge and the instruction that he has for us. It's all written down. It's called the Bible. We go on from there to the second thing. My son, he says, hear the instruction of your father and don't forsake the law of your mother. They'll be like an ornament of grace on your head and like chains around your neck. He means gold chains. He doesn't mean binding chains. The second step is a balanced family with a father and a mother who instruct the child, who lay down the rules of life. and who set examples against which this child can judge himself and find out who he is and how he relates to men and how he relates to women and how they're going to run their life. The child who grows up with only a father or only a mother enters life at a terrible disadvantage because a great deal of the foundation of wisdom is simply not there. You know, very early in life, we come into contact with others who lack wisdom and who think there is a shortcut to getting what you want out of life. Solomon begins in verse 10 to develop the theme for a young man to consider. He said, My son, if sinners entice you, don't listen to them. If they say, come with us, let's lay wait for blood, let's lurk privily for the innocent, let's swallow them up alive like the grave and whole as those that go down to the pit, we'll find all precious substance. We'll fill our houses with spoil. Cast your lot in with us. We'll all have one purse. Why, good grief, you've got a bunch of pirates here. They're going to go out and steal and kill and hurt people for gain. and share all their wealth. Well, that's pretty extreme, I suppose, to suppose that a young man would go off and join pirates. But in this little metaphor here, what he is saying is that as a young man, you're going to come into contact with a lot of young fools who think there is a shortcut to getting what they want. And he says, my son, don't walk in the way with them. Keep your foot out of their pathway, because their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed blood. He says then, surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. In other words, if you're trying to catch a bird with a net or a snare, you don't put it out there in plain sight where the bird can see everything. Most birds will be smart enough to stay out of it. And what he is saying in the case of these young men is that they're not even as smart as a bird. They're bird brains. They can't even see to stay out of a net that's being spread for them. They lay wait, not for the blood of others, but for their own blood. They lurk privily, he said, for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who is greedy of gain, who take away the life or the livelihood of the owners thereof. It's really, you know, you've got to learn to respect the property and the rights of other people. And this is one of the things that parents should teach their children early on. Don't look for shortcuts to wealth. Don't take things that don't belong to you. Don't try to fill your purse or your house with other people's property. If you do it, you're killing yourself. These are the ways of those people who are greedy of gain. And that greed for gain will lead you into a lot of heartache and a lot of trouble. Now, he goes on, having made that point, to tell us that wisdom is not that far off, and wisdom is not that hard to come by. What Solomon does in Proverbs, beginning about verse 20 of chapter 1, is to use a literary device called personification to make his point. Personification is where you take an abstract— idea, concept, and you let it speak as though it is a person. In this case, wisdom is presented as a woman who can speak to us, and she says this, "'Wisdom cries without. She utters her voice in the streets. She cries in the chief places of concourse, in the openings of the gate. In the city she utters her words, saying, "'How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?' The image of it is taking it in the world in which it was given, is that no matter which way you turn, if you turn down the right-hand street, if you go left at the corner, if you stand in the gate and you read the newspapers and you're always around where these things are going, wisdom is crying out to you from every corner. It comes to you off the front page of your newspaper. You see it on television. Oh, not that the people who are speaking to you from television are giving you wisdom themselves or are wise necessarily. But they're giving you knowledge, insights, ideas. These things come at you all the time. Your biggest problem, probably like mine, is that you sometimes neglect to take the time to think about what you see, to think about what you read, to evaluate your experiences. Like the simple ones, we tend to love our simplicity. We are what we are. We like it, and we're content to leave it that way. But the truth is, as long as you are content, you're not going to grow. How long, wisdom cries, you simple ones, are you going to love your simplicity? And the scorners, how long are they going to delight in their scorning? And how long are fools going to hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof. Look, I will pour out my spirit to you. I will make known my words to you. Wisdom is everywhere, and she cries out to us. She isn't subtle. She hollers at us as we walk by, reaches out and grabs hold of our sleeve. You know what this tells me? This tells me that anyone who wants wisdom will have no trouble finding it. But what wisdom tells us is that the simple-minded love their simplicity. We go on in life being stupid. Apparently, we love it. And apparently we love the results of it because we have just no desire to do anything about it. Wisdom keeps telling us, hey, this isn't hard. You've just got to pay attention. Life, you know, is a big gambler, and all of us are inherent gamblers. It seems if we can get away with something, we're going to try it. And it's very, very hard for us to take the long view. It's hard for us to see out into the distance and say, you know, this is going to work for now, but it's not going to work later. Later, it's going to cause me a lot of trouble. There is a thing called the law of unintended consequences, and there are too many consequences that we just can't see. And so it's easy to understand why not being able to see long term, we would make a mistake. We'll do what feels good now without worrying about what comes later because we can't see it. Our problem is that we won't listen to someone who will tell us what the long-term consequences are. Wisdom is everywhere, in the experiences of others, in the knowledge of God, the Word of God, and sometimes in meditation, that is, thinking. You ought to try it sometime. You ought to schedule about an hour sometime to go out by yourself somewhere, sit on a rock, stare off into space, or go into a private room somewhere and close the door with no books, no nothing, and just sit there for a moment and think about your life, about where you're going, about what you want, about what you don't want, and about all the ways in which you're lying to yourself. And about all the wisdom that's been clamoring for your attention and you haven't had time to pay attention to it. Think about it. You know, there is a time to get wisdom. And there is a time when it's just too late. In verse 24 of Proverbs 1, it says, Because I have called and you refused. This is wisdom still speaking to us. Because I have called and you refused. I have stretched out my hand and nobody would even look at my hand. But you have said it nothing, all my counsel. You wouldn't listen to my advice or my reproof. Okay. I will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear comes. When your fear comes as a desolation. And your destruction comes as a whirlwind. Then distress and anguish comes upon you. I know what's going to happen. Then you're going to want me. Then you're going to call for me. but I won't answer. Well, there's hardly any point. It'll be too late. Oh, they'll seek me early, says wisdom, but they'll not find me. For that they hated knowledge, and they did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would not have any of my advice, and they despised all my reproof. Therefore, they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. Note well, God doesn't have to lift a finger to punish. The punishment is in the consequences. In verse 32, For the turning away of the simple shall kill them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But the one who listens to me shall dwell safely and be quiet from fear of evil. The prosperity of fools. As long as what we are doing seems to work, we will keep at it until it's too late. Unless we have enough respect for God to listen and to respond to what He tells us. Stick around. I'll be back in a moment.
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What follows here in Proverbs chapter 2 is a classic if-then situation. In other words, if you do this, then this will happen for this reason. Here's the if. My son, if you will receive my words and hide my commandments with you, if you'll do that, so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding. In other words, if you'll do something about this, you actually lean toward it, if you'll apply yourself to it. In fact, if you'll cry after knowledge, if you'll lift up your voice for understanding, if you will seek her like silver and search for her like hid treasures. And it makes a whole lot of sense to do this, folks, because in wisdom and knowledge and instruction and the Word of God, there is silver and there are treasures. That's One of the reasons why some people have it and some people don't is because they apply their minds to the things that work as opposed to the things that don't. So if you do all this, then you shall understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Hey, wisdom's out there looking for you. So if you'll make some kind of an effort to find her, you are going to get together. Why should you do this? Well, verse 6, 4, the Lord gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous. He's a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keeps the paths of judgment and preserves the way of his saints. It really works for you is what he's trying to tell you. And he continues, if you're going to do all these things now, if you really will seek this and work for it and apply yourself to it, then, verse 9, you shall understand righteousness and judgment and equity and every good path. That means when you come to a hard decision, you can take a look at it, and you'll know which way to go. You won't have to flip a coin. You won't have to guess. When wisdom enters into your heart and knowledge is really pleasant to your soul, ah, well then, you see, discretion shall preserve you and understanding shall keep you. When you have the wisdom and you have the knowledge, then along with it comes these other things that are so valuable, discretion, the ability to make discernment between different things, understanding, to be able to grasp the meaning of things that are happening around you. All that stuff will come to you to deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaks perverse things, who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness. What's going to keep you out of the dark? Doing those things, learning those things, understanding the things of God. To stay out of the way of those people who rejoice to do evil and who delight in the perverseness of the wicked, whose ways are crooked and they are perverse in their paths. To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the stranger that flatters with her words, who forsakes the guide of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God. Her house, this loose woman that's going to invite you over to hers, her house inclines to death, and her paths to the dead. None that go to her return again. They don't take hold of the paths of life. You know, that sounds a little severe, doesn't it? But the truth is that once one gives in to those urges, and goes on with a strange woman, as it were. Basically what he's talking about is the adulteress, the wife of another man who's trying to get someone to leave the right paths to go to bed with her. It's a way that leads to death. Now, do all this, he said, that you may walk in the way of good men and keep the paths of the righteous, for the upright will dwell in the land and the perfect shall remain in it, but the wicked... shall be cut off from the earth, and transgressors shall be rooted out of it. I want you to understand something, folks. This is promise. This is true. This is going to happen. There are actually two ways that are set before you, good and evil. And there are two sets of results, good and evil. Now think, pay attention. You don't have to be very smart to realize that the results you want are the good results, not the evil, right? But for some reason, it seems so hard to get through our heads the idea that the good path leads to good results and the evil path leads to evil results. We are deluded into thinking that we can walk the evil path and get good results. Am I making this too hard for you? Or can you understand that? Just back up for a moment to what I asked or what I said earlier. That this knowledge, this understanding, this wisdom and discretion and discernment God gives you will deliver you from the way of the strange woman. That's a way that leads to hurt and harm and destruction. If you walk down that road, you're going to get hurt. The good path, that leads you away from the strange woman. It doesn't take you to bed with strangers. It keeps you from making that kind of stupid mistake. The people that walk down that path... are a pack of losers, and God has better things in mind for you. Until next time, this is Ronald Dart, and don't go to bed with losers. You were born to win.
SPEAKER 03 :
The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560 White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1 888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
SPEAKER 01 :
Christian Educational Ministries is happy to announce a new full-color Born to Win monthly newsletter with articles and free offers from Ronald L. Dart. Call us today at 1-888-BIBLE44 to sign up or visit us at borntowin.net.
