Menu
Years ago, I used to enjoy going up on internet forums and discussing religion there. They had any number of them divided up by category. I tended to hang out on the Christian forums. What was fascinating to me, and something I did not really understand, was the degree of hostility expressed on Christian forums. It seemed a good thing that these people were separated by the anonymity of the forum. If they had been in the same room, they might have come to blows. And I wondered, What generates so much hostility in some people of faith? Why is it that, when faced with a different belief, people don’t adopt one of two rational responses: indifference, or curiosity.
Indifference—when I encounter someone with an off-the-wall religious idea, I can tell quickly enough whether there is likely to be any merit there or not. If the answer is not, I toss it in the wastebasket or click my mouse and go somewhere else. If I am face-to-face with an adverse person, I have a stock reply. You may be right. I’ll give that some thought.
And then I change the subject. Perhaps to the weather. Does that seem disingenuous? Not if you maintain an awareness that even you don’t have all the answers. And why get angry or hostile about it. That goes nowhere.
Curiosity—if I think there is merit, I want to know more, and so I pursue the matter. I may even pursue the matter when I disagree. If the person advancing the idea seems reasonable, well informed, intelligent, well then reason demands that I give him a hearing and try to understand him, even when I disagree with him. I discovered C.S. Lewis a little late in life, and I found that I sometimes disagreed with the man. This would not dismay Lewis in the least. But I never had any difficulty understanding why I disagreed because I tried to understand his point. When you think about it, what’s the point in only reading people you agree with?
Now, realizing that indifference and curiosity are reasonable responses, I wondered why some people found a third response—anger.
Born to Win's Daily Radio Broadcast and Weekly Sermon. A production of Christian Educational Ministries.
Years ago, I used to enjoy going up on internet forums and discussing religion there. They had any number of them divided up by category. I tended to hang out on the Christian forums. What was fascinating to me, and something I did not really understand, was the degree of hostility expressed on Christian forums. It seemed a good thing that these people were separated by the anonymity of the forum. If they had been in the same room, they might have come to blows. And I wondered, What generates so much hostility in some people of faith? Why is it that, when faced with a different belief, people don’t adopt one of two rational responses: indifference, or curiosity.
Indifference—when I encounter someone with an off-the-wall religious idea, I can tell quickly enough whether there is likely to be any merit there or not. If the answer is not, I toss it in the wastebasket or click my mouse and go somewhere else. If I am face-to-face with an adverse person, I have a stock reply. You may be right. I’ll give that some thought.
And then I change the subject. Perhaps to the weather. Does that seem disingenuous? Not if you maintain an awareness that even you don’t have all the answers. And why get angry or hostile about it. That goes nowhere.
Curiosity—if I think there is merit, I want to know more, and so I pursue the matter. I may even pursue the matter when I disagree. If the person advancing the idea seems reasonable, well informed, intelligent, well then reason demands that I give him a hearing and try to understand him, even when I disagree with him. I discovered C.S. Lewis a little late in life, and I found that I sometimes disagreed with the man. This would not dismay Lewis in the least. But I never had any difficulty understanding why I disagreed because I tried to understand his point. When you think about it, what’s the point in only reading people you agree with?
Now, realizing that indifference and curiosity are reasonable responses, I wondered why some people found a third response—anger.
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.
SPEAKER 02 :
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
SPEAKER 03 :
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 02 :
Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE-44.
SPEAKER 03 :
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.
SPEAKER 01 :
in your own business. And tell us the call letters of this radio station. How long will you sleep, you lazy lout?
SPEAKER 02 :
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 01 :
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 03 :
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.
SPEAKER 02 :
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
SPEAKER 03 :
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.
SPEAKER 02 :
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?
SPEAKER 03 :
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.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
SPEAKER 03 :
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.
SPEAKER 02 :
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?
SPEAKER 03 :
We'll talk about that after these words.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
SPEAKER 03 :
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 13. 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.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
If you call yourself a Christian, what can I assume that you believe? If you call yourself a Christian, what can I depend on you to do? One fellow recently wrote to me and commented that he didn’t think that Mormons were Christians. But you know what? It’s even money that somewhere there is someone who wouldn’t think he is a Christian either. Oddly, the term Christian
is not part of Jesus’ instructions to his disciples. He doesn’t mention the term at all. Christian
was a descriptive term applied to the disciples of Jesus by the non-Christians in Antioch. The followers of Jesus seem to have gradually accepted the descriptor.
That said, it appears that all the term means is that you are a disciple—that is, a learner
. Anyone can call himself a Christian. And, if he does, Christ takes a personal interest in him. To whatever extent one actually believes Jesus and acts on the things he said, his life is made better. The Holy Spirit will begin to work on your life. So, if you call yourself a Christian, I'll take your word for it. But what assumptions about you can I make?
Join us as we unravel the story of Paul and Silas, and the miraculous events that unfolded in the prisons of Philippi. This episode challenges us to reassess our understanding of contentment, illustrating how true fulfillment is not found in material success, but in spiritual commitment and trust. Discover how these ancient stories hold the key to overcoming modern existential crises, guiding us to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ and a fulfilled life.
SPEAKER 02 :
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, you have your life together. Everything is working like it's supposed to. You love your wife. You like your job. You're having fun at work. You're having fun at home. Life is just working for you. So tell me, Why do you feel so uneasy? Why do you feel like something bad is about to happen? It's a standing joke, isn't it? People will say, I don't know. This is going too well. Something bad is bound to happen. I'm nervous. Things are going too well. What's the matter with us? Why can't we relax and feel good about life when it is working? Why do we have this nagging fear that something bad is creeping up on us? Well, the truth is, That we're an unfinished work. That God, who created man, created him with, what shall we say, a hole inside of him. And it's a hole that we never seem to fill. There's a yearning that we just can't satisfy. Some people try to satisfy it with food and get 50 pounds overweight in the process. In the end, find out, guess what? I'm still miserable. Others try to satisfy it with sex. They will chase men or women and ultimately find themselves still alone and miserable and perhaps afflicted with a terrible disease. Some people, in the pursuit of filling up that hole, wind up going to prison, some to an early grave. They're looking for power, money, sex, food, fame, house, car. And when they get it, they're not satisfied. It is a lot like King Solomon said. All is just emptiness and a striving after wind. Now, are you ready to know the reason why it is so? Are you ready finally at last to come around to understand why all this is emptiness? Why it's a striving after wind? Why the wisest and healthiest and richest man who ever lived, who pursued all this stuff with total abandon, still in the end of it all felt empty, alone, deserted, A failure. Why? I want you to consider two men. Two men who exhibited incredible peace of mind. They seemed very much to have that hole inside of them filled up to the full. And I want you to think about what it was that made the difference. The two men are Paul and Silas. They were on one of their many missionary journeys. They were out preaching the gospel in different parts of the world. They had come down to Troas because they had not been able to go into Asia and other places they tried to go. And Paul had a vision. It says, come over here in Macedonia and help us. And so he did. They took shipping and went across to a city called Philippi. Now, their custom was to go find a synagogue, and when the time came for people to stand up and speak, they would stand up and speak, and they would tell people the good news about Jesus Christ, about the resurrection from the dead, and all those good things. But in Philippi, there was no synagogue, so they asked about, and they found that the God-fearing people actually went out to a place by a riverside on the Sabbath for prayer. And so they went out there and joined these people in prayer and told them the good news about Jesus Christ and were invited to stay with one of the families while they were in Philippi. And so as they continued in the city, they would go to prayer or they would find an occasion to preach the gospel somewhere. And Luke tells us this in the account in Acts 16. He says, It came to pass as we went to prayer, a certain damsel who was possessed with a spirit of divination met us, and she had brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. It's really interesting. This girl has apparently a demon, but it's a demon that can tell people things that they want to know. And so her masters who owned her would, I guess, hire out her services to people to find lost jewelry or to learn about lost loved ones or what have you. Now this young girl began to follow Paul and Luke and the rest and to cry aloud to everybody around saying, These men are the servants of the Most High God who show unto us the way of salvation. Now she did this for many days. I don't know how long she followed them around, but every time they would come out of a building, every time they would turn a corner, here was this girl crying out these things. And after many days, Paul was a bit grieved by it and finally decided to do something about it. He turned around and said to the spirit that possessed this girl, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And she came out the same hour. Now, there's a problem suddenly generated here. I don't know if you spot it. But the fact is that when her masters saw that this spirit of divination was gone and they weren't going to be getting any more money, Well, they caught Paul and Silas, and they dragged them into the marketplace to the rulers. And they brought them to the magistrates and said, These men, being Jews, which of course was a pejorative, and that got them in trouble right off the bat, do exceedingly trouble our city, and they teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, since we're Romans. And the multitude rose up against them, and the magistrates tore off Paul and Silas' clothes and commanded they should be beaten. And so after they had laid many stripes on them, they cast him into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely in the prison. And the jailer, having received that charge, stuck them in the inner prison, way inside the place, and made their feet fast in the stocks. He didn't just put them in the cell and slam the door and lock the door. He took them down to the lowest part of the prison, put their feet in stocks, locked the stocks, then closed the door, locked the door, and there was a guard outside. Now, their life is really working, isn't it? You've just been beaten within an inch of your life. You've been dragged down to the lowest part of the prison. You've had your feet locked up in stocks, and it's a miserable, uncomfortable way to spend the night. They've had the door of the slammer slammed on them, and he's gone away, and there they are. Not what I would call the way I would want to spend an evening. But at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God, and all the prisoners heard them Now, something's going on inside of these men who, having gone through a beating, who having been locked up, who being miserable and uncomfortable and in pain, could sit there as they kind of halfway sat and lay in those stocks and sing songs of praise to God, who, after all, was the one who got them into this place. How could this be? Well, it's an interesting story, and we're going to think about this a little bit. How is it possible for men who have experienced this to have such happiness, such joy, that they can actually sing songs aloud in the prison at night, and I suppose invite the prisoners to join in? But as they sang, there was a great earthquake. And the foundations of the prison were shaken, and all the doors were open, and everyone's, not just Paul and Silas's, everyone's bands were broken open. And the keeper of the prison was jolted out of his sleep by the earthquake, and he saw the prison door open, and he said, Oh, no, they're gone. And he knew that nothing but torture and death awaited him if he had lost those prisoners. And so he took out his sword and was ready to kill himself. He thought they were gone. And Paul, I guess looking out through the door, could see him. And he shouted at him with a loud voice and said, Don't hurt yourself. We are all here. And then the man called for a light, and he sprang in, and he came trembling, and he fell down before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out, and he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? This man came to realize that that there was a gigantic hole in the middle of his person, his soul, his life. He realized, because I have little doubt, before he dropped off to sleep, that he'd heard Paul and Silas praying and singing, and he knew something about what they had been preaching. He was not ignorant of that because he asked about salvation whenever he had them out. Paul's answer is simplicity itself. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house. So they spoke to him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house, and he took them the same hour of the night, and he washed their backs where the stripes were, and he was baptized, he and all of his, straightway. What an incredible event to take place as a result of a beating of As I said earlier, I want to tell you the story of two men who had had the hole in themselves filled with something. We'll talk about what that something was after these words.
SPEAKER 02 :
What do you do when life has dealt you a bad hand? Where do you turn when everything seems to have turned against you? Write for a free CD of a message entitled Beyond Adversity. Learn what lies on the other side of adversity. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll-free 1-888-BIBLE-44.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, I would like to talk more about that jailer, but for the moment, I've got to stick with Paul and Silas. What was going on in their minds? What were they experiencing? They'd been beaten. They'd been thrown in jail. They had been slapped in the stocks. and humiliated the whole time. And they were able to sing songs, and of course they were miraculously delivered out of there. So the jailer takes them to his house. He not only washes their wounds, he sets food before them, and he rejoiced, and he believed in God with all of his house. And when it was day, the magistrate sent the sergeant saying, Let those men go. And the keeper of the prison told this thing to Paul, saying, Well, the magistrates have sent to let you go, so now therefore depart and go in peace. Now, most people would have said, Boy, am I glad to be out of here. I'm going to get out of here. I'm going to leave this town. I am never coming back here again. No, not Paul. Here is a man who is supremely confident. Paul said, No, they have beaten us openly and uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison. And now they're going to thrust us out privately? Oh, no. Let them come down themselves and fetch us out. I want an apology, basically, is what Paul is saying. Well, the sergeants told these words to the magistrates, and the magistrates were scared to death. They heard that these men were Romans. They hadn't even thought to ask. Roman citizens had rights. You couldn't do this to Romans. You could do it to Jews who weren't Romans, but you couldn't do it to a Roman citizen. So they came down and begged them and brought them out and said, Oh, please leave our city. And they left the prison, but they didn't leave the city. They went down to the house of Lydia, and when they'd finally seen the brethren and comforted them, they left. Now that's an amusing story in some ways, although I don't think there was anything amusing about it while these guys were whipped and in stocks at that time. But think of it this way. There you are, driving down the road in your Lexus, driving from your big house on 10 acres with a big swimming pool out in the back, on your way to have lunch in a great restaurant and planning to play golf with four big spenders after lunch. And yet, you can feel unfulfilled and unhappy and empty. While on the other hand, a couple of jailbirds... whose lives are in doubt, who are in prison, in filth and in squalor, and locked in stocks, can sit there laughing and singing songs and praising God. What's wrong with this picture? You know, I wish I had a quick and easy answer for you. Religious jargon says, well, you should receive Jesus into your heart. Only God can fulfill the longing in the breast of man. And all that is true. But I don't want to just give you religious jargon. I'd really like to tell it to you a little better than that. What does it mean? The jailer wanted to know. He wanted to know, what has got you fellows to where you can do this, and I'm sitting here scared for my life. I'm on the outside of the door. You're on the inside of the door. You're singing songs. But I'm in such terror that the moment I thought you guys were out of here, I was ready to kill myself. My life was over. Paul's answer was not very long. If you really wanted to know, if you really wanted to be saved, Paul said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved and your house. But there is something you should know about this. Paul did not merely tell this guy to believe the facts about Jesus. He did not tell the man that what he needed to do was to believe in the historical Jesus, or that there was a historical Jesus. He didn't even tell the man that he had to believe Christ. And by that I mean Christ said this, that, and the other thing, and you are supposed to believe the things that Jesus said. No, he went beyond that. He told the man that he was to believe in Jesus Christ, to believe in him. Now, to believe the facts about Jesus is one thing. To believe in him personally is another. And it suggests trust and confidence. It even suggests commitment. I expect you've heard a lot of political speeches in your life, and you may even have believed some of them. You might have said about some candidate who is up here speaking to us on the campaign trail, well, I like his proposals on taxes. Or, I like his ideas about welfare reform. I think I will vote for the man in this election because I don't think the other fellow really has the right angle on taxes. I believe what he is saying about welfare reform. And I can connect with his desire to reform the system or the collection of taxes. But tell me this. How often, when you have heard a political speech, can you say... You know, I really believe in the man. I believe in the man. What does that say about your attitude toward him, about your commitment to him? You can't say that about someone you don't know. It suggests not merely promises and programs. It suggests character. It suggests leadership. It says, I believe in this man. I believe that he has the right spirit, the right character, the right approach, and I am willing to support him. That's what you mean when you say, I believe in this man. And when you say you believe in Jesus Christ, you're saying quite a bit there as well. You know, there are many analogies I could draw to try to explain what I'm trying to tell you. That there is a hole in man that we can't fill. That man was designed to be connected to something. That man was designed and made to have a place. Of course, if you were made to need these things, then you have a maker. And you have a maker who has a place for you. If you're not connected, if you're not in your place, you are haunted by a feeling of emptiness, of loneliness, of apartness. You are, to use the modern word, you're just unfulfilled. Now, Paul and Silas believed in Jesus. Paul and Silas were committed to his cause. And being beaten and jailed was a part of the program they were committed to. In fact, being beaten and jailed and with their feet in stocks, they were fulfilled. They were fulfilled because they were in their place. They were doing what they were supposed to do. They had been doing it all the way up until that time. Believe it or not, they were happy to be there. And what is really astonishing is They were even a little cocky about the whole thing, because when they sent them down and said, let them go, they said, I'm not leaving here until you come down here and apologize. These are the actions and words of men who have a great deal of confidence, aren't they? And what's another word for confidence? Well, the religious word for it is faith. Faith. They had faith because they were where they were supposed to be, and they were doing what they were supposed to do, and their imprisonment was a part of the plan for them. You know, at the Last Supper, Jesus laid the foundation for this kind of faith. He said to his disciples, among many other things that he said, and this one is in John 16. You'll find it in verse 21. He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me. And he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and I will manifest myself to him. To who? Well, the fellow that has the commandments of Christ and who lives them, keeps them, walks by them. Now, we've already talked about the fact that these commandments are a part of what makes your life work. And Jesus said it's going to go beyond that. Because he that loves me, that's the one that keeps my commandments, is going to be loved of my Father, and I will love him. There's love coming back down the street from that one to whom you give this love and this commitment. And he goes further than that. He says, I will manifest myself to him. I'll make myself known to him. He'll know me. Now, the Judas, not the one who was the traitor, said, Lord, how are you going to manifest yourself to us and not manifest yourself to the world? And Jesus answered and said, If a man love me, he will keep my words true. And my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and we will make our abode with him. My, do you mean that Jesus and the Father are going to move in with you? Well, yes. Then how could you ever be alone?
SPEAKER 02 :
We'll talk more about this after these words. Or call toll-free 1-888-BIBLE44. and tell us the call letters of this radio station.
SPEAKER 03 :
By now I think you've figured out that this empty place down inside of man that we keep trying to fill with the wrong things like alcohol, drugs, food, sex, you name it, that that empty place can only be filled with Jesus Christ and the Father moving into our lives and making their life a part of ours. Jesus continued to say, He that doesn't love me does not keep my sayings. The word you hear is not mine, it's the Father's who sent me. I've spoken these things being present with you, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, ah, he will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said to you. In other words, that Spirit is going to come in to your empty tank and fill it up. Now, this is going to happen in a way, I guess, sort of suddenly, but don't make the mistake of assuming that this is a quick fix, this filling up of this empty space in your life. You may feel in the beginning like it's there. What you may not know unless somebody warns you that there's a maintenance effort. There's something you've got to do. You've got to stay close to God. You've got to work a little bit at holiness. Then Jesus went on to say something a little bit curious. He said, "'Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'" Now, I want to think a little bit about that with you. Jesus said, Peace I leave unto you, my peace. Now, by saying my peace, he is suggesting there is another kind. And then he continues to say, I'm not giving you this as the world gives it. Now, I will tell you right up front that for me, peace of mind tends to mean, well, a grassy slope underneath a big oak tree in the shade with a nice stream flowing gently by and a lion in the water with a bobber out there and my dog by my side sound asleep and me kind of dozing off and hoping the fish don't bite. I could be content, I think. I think I would feel so peaceful in that environment. And yet, there's something that Jesus said here that's slightly troubling. He said, I'm not giving this to you as the world gives peace to you. Let not your heart be troubled. Don't let it be afraid. In saying that, what he is saying is that you're going to have peace in circumstances where normally your heart would be troubled and you would be afraid. He's actually describing the kind of peace that Paul and Silas had in jail, in the inner jail, with their feet in stocks, having been beaten, suffering pain and humiliation. And then to be able to pray and sing songs of praise and glory to God. They had peace. They weren't worried about the outcome because they were where they were supposed to be and they were doing what they were supposed to do. Now, I want to go back for a moment to that jailer who thought his life was over. He really did. He thought, my life is over. I might as well kill myself. It would be a lot easier than what they're going to put me through tomorrow when he thought those prisoners were gone. And when he suddenly realized that his life was not over, and he came to realize what these men had, and he realized the peace of mind that they had something that he did not have, he wanted it. He wanted it more, and he wanted something more than that. He wanted salvation. So he must have understood somewhat about it. And so he says, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved and your house. And so that man was baptized that night with all that were in his house. There was a day somewhat before this when the Apostle Peter stood up before a group of people. It was on the day when the Holy Spirit fell on the church in power on the day of Pentecost. And he said to them, Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. There was a realization in the jailer that he also had crucified Christ. that with his sins, with the life that he had led, with the way in which he had ruined his life up until this point, that he needed forgiveness. Now, when Peter made this statement, the men listening said, What shall we do, men and brethren? They were pricked in their heart. They realized the truth of what Peter had been saying. They realized that they had crucified Christ. And Peter said to them, Repent. and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. You will receive that Spirit which will fill up the empty tank in your life. And so repentance, that is, sorrow for your sins, the turning of your life around, and baptism are necessary. But you should know that this is not the end of the road. This is only the beginning. You know, it's no wonder that Solomon, when all was said and done, felt empty, that he felt like he'd lived his whole life striving after a handful of wind. He came to realize that there is so much more out there than just things and possessions and work. If you think you're ready to talk about filling up that hole in your life, Maybe you ought to talk to a minister, perhaps to a pastor of a local church nearby. If you don't have anyone to talk to, drop us a line or give us a call. We'll be glad to suggest someone who might be able to help you along the road toward baptism. Remember, there's no way that you're going to make your life work without God in your life. There's no way that you can fill up that empty hole inside of yourself all by yourself. Until next time, this is Ronald Dart reminding you, God doesn't want you to lose.
SPEAKER 02 :
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. 888-BIBLE-44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
SPEAKER 01 :
Stay in touch with the new Born to Win with Ronald L. Dart app. This app has all of your favorite Ronald L. Dart radio messages, sermons, articles, and it even has a digital Bible. Simply search on the iOS or Android app store to download it for free today.
Through powerful biblical illustrations, listeners are invited to explore principles that influence spiritual growth and personal development. Focusing on the concept of giving as described in the Scriptures, this episode paints a compelling narrative about individuals who lived by these divine laws, like Boaz, and the blessings that ensued. Dive into discussion on how these eternal truths can transform not just individual lives but entire communities, fostering a spirit of sharing and cooperation that echoes through time.
SPEAKER 02 :
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
SPEAKER 03 :
When people talk about the laws of success, They often overlook the little laws, the not-so-obvious principles that have so very much to do with how your life works or how it doesn't work, if that's the way it is. The truth is people give lots of attention to the big stuff, like setting goals and objectives. But there are small principles that, well, they get overlooked because they have to do with the spirit of a man rather than his bank account. They have to do with the way you think, the way you are, the kind of person you are. And it's far more important, frankly, than so many of the things and so many of the objectives that we pursue. Another reason why I think they are overlooked is because they involve a discipline. Now, if I could offer you a book with a distillation of these little laws, would you be interested? Now don't tune out, I am not selling a book. Chances are, you already own this book. You just don't know where in the book to look. The book is the Bible. Specifically, the book of Ecclesiastes in your Bible. The book was written by King Solomon, a man with supernatural wisdom. Given to him long ago when he prayed and asked God for guidance in carrying on the kingdom and God gave him one wish. Instead of asking for riches or gold, he asked for wisdom. so he could rule God's people. So God gave him wisdom like no one had ever had before. The book is not hard to read, especially if you get a more modern translation. It can be read in one sitting. But I'll warn you ahead of time, it takes a lifetime to digest this book. It takes a lifetime to really grasp it, understand it, but it's worth every effort. Have you ever heard the expression, just to illustrate what I mean by these little laws, these small principles, have you ever heard the expression, cast your bread upon the waters, or someone speak of casting his bread upon the waters? It comes from the 11th chapter of Ecclesiastes. Now we're in a series of broadcasts here talking about what makes life work and what doesn't make life work, what messes things up. And King Solomon in this 11th chapter says this, Cast your bread upon the waters, for you shall find it after many days. Now that's a very obscure statement, and yet it still has managed to pass into our language. What does it mean? I think it's kind of interesting that modern slang speaks of money as bread. And the comparison is made there, and I think this is very close to what Solomon is talking about. But oftentimes, as I've said before, these things are set in couplets. They're set poetically, and oftentimes you can understand what a given set of phrases are saying by the set of phrases that follow. For example, cast your bread upon the waters, for you shall find it after many days. Then it says, give a portion to seven and also to eight, for you don't know what evil shall be upon the earth. What he is saying, I think, is this. He is saying, and when he says, cast your bread upon the waters, he said, leave. Let your money go on out to people. Let your goods go on out to people. Let your time go out to people. Give a portion to seven. Oh, give it to eight. Give to people because you don't know what kind of friends you're going to need sometime in the future. Jesus, on one occasion, said that we should make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. It's an odd statement that he makes, and people often look at that and say, what does this mean? Well, it's fairly obvious. When Jesus speaks of mammon, he's talking about, well, the shorthand for it is money. He said, make yourselves friends with the money of unrighteousness, so that when the money fails, when everything else comes unstuck, you'll have some friends out there that might take you in when the going gets rough. So this is the idea of what Solomon is talking about when he says, cast your bread upon the waters, give a portion to seven and also to eight. It's going to come back to you sometime when you really need it. Now, what it is calling for is generosity, unselfishness, patience. The adjective in our language to describe this person is magnanimous. He is a big guy. Magnanimous, look it up. It means generous, free from pettiness, noble. It comes from two Latin words, one meaning great and the other meaning soul or life force. This is a person of a great soul, a big person as opposed to a small and a petty person. Now, to illustrate what I'm talking about, this is a discipline in both the Old and the New Testament. No matter where you turn in the Bible, the principle we're talking about today is there. It was from the beginning. It was in the law of Moses. It's in the law of Christ. It's in His instructions to His disciples. It's everywhere. But just to illustrate what I mean, back in Leviticus 19 and verse 9, the commandment is given to Moses like this, "...and when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest." Now, what gleanings means is this, that whenever you're going through there with a big sheaf cutter and you're cutting down all kinds of grain and you're gathering it up into bundles and stacking it, a lot of stuff just falls off and falls on the ground. This is what's called the gleanings, and what it means by gleanings is that this commandment says, when it falls out of there, you leave it lie on the ground. You don't gather all that stuff up. You don't get out your rake and get every last grain off the ground and take it in with you. You leave it there. Why? Well, it goes on to tell you why. You shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather every grape of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God. So, if you're out there with your cutters and you're working your way around a square field, you come to the corner, you don't reach back into that corner and get every nook and cranny. You leave it there. What do you leave it there for? You leave it there so the poor of your community can come by your field, go into that corner, and gather up a little something for themselves and for their family. They can follow along in the rows and find bits of grain that have fallen to the ground or heads of grain that have fallen and not been gathered up by your harvesters. And so they are there. This was Israel's version, folks, of food stamps. The difference is that the people who got the food stamps had to go out and get them. I mean, they had to go down to the field. They had to work. They had to bend over and pick it up off the ground. And it was hard work. You had to get down there and make your way along the row. But that hard work was left for them. It was free. There was no charge. They could take it home. And they could go across into another field where it was a vineyard, and they would find clusters of grapes that had been left. And they were allowed to pluck them and eat them. They were there for the poor and for the stranger. Now, they had to get up early, and they had to work a good part of the day to meet their family's needs. But this was provided for them by God. And so when we read in Ecclesiastes where it says, cast your bread upon the waters for you shall find it after many days, it's saying don't grab at everything. Don't hold on to everything. Let some stuff drift downstream for someone else to pick it up. It'll be to your good in the long run. Now there were other laws back in that time that provided you could not steal from your neighbor. But if you were passing through his field or vineyard, you could eat while you were there. We're in a watermelon patch. We can't bend over and pick up a watermelon and take it home with us. But if we're hungry, we can sit right down there in a row, break that thing open, scoop the meat out of it with our hands and eat it, and fill our empty belly. If you were hungry in Israel, you could eat. And no one was supposed to give you a problem for it. So they would leave something in the gleanings. They would leave something in the corners. And if you happened to be passing through a field before it was harvested, you could eat it there. You just couldn't take it home. Now there is in the Bible a really fascinating illustration of a man with a truly magnanimous spirit. I want to talk to you about it after these words.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
SPEAKER 03 :
The story is in the book of Ruth. It seems that a woman named Naomi who lived in Moab with her husband and with her two sons, her husband died and her two sons had married Moabite women. Her sons died and she's left there all alone and wants to live among her own people, so she heads back to Israel. Her daughter-in-law, Ruth, who was Moabite, decided to go with her. And they returned to the land. And here you've got two women with no men to support them. And this is not a world where women normally go out to work and get a job. You couldn't go down to manpower or someplace like that and get them to assign you to some office. It was a bad time to be a woman alone and without a supporter. So here they are. They are poor and living back in Israel again. And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, you'll find this beginning in the second chapter, verse 2. And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, let me now go into the field and glean ears of corn after him in whose eyes I shall find grace. And she said, go, my daughter. So this is what you do. You say, we don't have any food in the house. I'll tell you what, I'll go down and I'll find someone who is willing to allow us to glean in his field. So she went, and she came, and she gleaned in the field after the reapers. And it just happened that she lighted in a part of the field belonging to Boaz. And lucky for her, Boaz was a very big man. I don't mean necessarily in stature. We don't really know that much about that. But he was a big-hearted man. Boaz came up from Bethlehem, and he saw what was going on out there, and he saw Ruth. And he said, Who's this girl? And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It's the Moabitish damsel that came out with Naomi out of the country of Moab. And she said, Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came, and she's continued from morning even to now. She's been out here all day working hard and getting her food together. So Boaz went over and spoke to Ruth. And he said, listen, my daughter, don't go and glean in another field. Don't go away from here at all. You stay close to my girls that are here. Let your eyes be on the field that the girls are reaping in, and you go after them. I've charged the young men that they're not to touch you, and I suspect that that was something that often happened, unfortunately, when a young woman went out to reap in fields. I have little doubt that some of the young men took advantage of them. Boaz was not having any of that. And he told her, when you're thirsty, you go to the vessels and you drink of that which the young men have drawn. He treated her just like one of his own. And she was really, really moved by this. She fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground and said, How have I found grace in your eyes that you should take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? Now, this word stranger, you know, essentially what she did, she played the race card, as we'd say today. She said, Look, I'm of a different race. How is it possible that you have looked upon me and you're willing to let me do this? People don't do what you have done here. Well, Boaz answered and said to her, I already know all that you have done to your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I've heard the whole story. I know how you've been loyal to her. I know how you've stayed with her. You left your father. You left your mother. You left your country. And you've come to a people that you didn't even know before now. He said, I hope that the Lord will recompense your work and he'll give you a full reward because you have come to trust under the wings of the Lord God of Israel. And she said, let me find favor in your sight, my Lord, for you have comforted me. I have taken a great deal of encouragement from this and you have spoken friendly to your handmaid, though I be not like one of your handmaidens. And Boaz said to her, At mealtime you come here and you eat of the bread and you dip your morsel in the vinegar. So she sat there beside the reapers and she was able to eat there. He gave her parched corn and she ate and was sufficed and left. And when she was risen up to go back to work, Boaz commanded his young men, said, Let her glean among the sheaves. Don't reproach her. Right? Even among the sheaves that they were cutting, mind you. Now, this is something that was not normally allowed to be done. You know, you're cutting them, you've got them bound up, and you've put them there. The poor are supposed to be out there where you cut, not where you have put the sheaves. He said, let her come even in there. And let some of the handfuls fall on purpose for her and leave them so she can pick them up and don't rebuke her. In other words, he just said, I want you to go out of your way for this young woman to leave something for her. Now, why am I telling you all this story? Well, it's because here we have a really magnanimous spirit in a man who understood the discipline in the law from two different perspectives. One is you're going to leave something here for the poor. And when you find somebody who is in need, you leave some extra. Cast your bread on the waters. It'll come back to you after so many days. Go ahead. Give a portion to seven. Give a portion to eight. It may be the time will come that that will be more important than you could ever realize. You know, what's interesting about this, that Boaz, an Israelite, married Ruth ultimately. You never know how things are going to work out. And Ruth, who was a Moabitess, turned out to be a mother in the lineage of the Messiah. Yeah. So generosity, open-handedness, magnanimous spirit. It pays off. It's a part of what makes life work, as opposed to being a pinched, dried up, wizened little guy who won't leave anything for anybody. You know, in Exodus 22, there is another one of these little laws, small commandments, that are so important. It says in verse 22, "...you shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child." If you afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry. And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your children shall be fatherless. Now, I don't know about you folks. I take that very seriously. I know someone who used to be a real estate agent, who whenever she came into a real estate deal with a widow, who had children whose father was not there. She bent over backwards, did everything in her power, looked after them, and she almost cited the Scripture. The passage in Exodus 22, 22 that says, You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. And she, apart from the fear of not wanting God to come back upon her, well, there's also the matter of not wanting to fail to cast your bread upon the waters, to be generous. You don't have to squeeze the last drop out of people. He then goes on to say, If you lend money to any of my people who are poor by you, you shall not be to him as a usurer, and you shall not lay upon him usury. In other words, if you lend money to a person who is poor, you're not allowed to charge him interest. Now, if you lend me money to help me out in my business, and I'm going to use your money to make money, there's not a thing in the world wrong with me letting you share in the profits. We call that interest. But if I'm lending to a person who is poor and trying to dig his way out of a hole, I am not allowed to charge him interest by the law. Just don't do it. He goes on to say, If you at all take your neighbor's raiment to pledge, you're to give it back to him by sundown. For that's his covering. It's the raiment for his skin. What's he going to sleep in? It'll come to pass when he cries to me, I'll hear because I, God says, am gracious and you are not. Well, I think I'd rather be gracious myself. Here's a time in which, you know, a poor guy, all he's got is clothes. And clothing in that time was far more valuable than you and I realized. There was an enormous amount of labor and cost that went into the making of a garment. Today, they're knocked out by machines in such abundant numbers that anybody can afford them. You can go buy Goodwill and buy some, or you can stop off probably some churches and get clothes free. So clothes are no big deal. But I will tell you, in this time, it was. And when it got cold at night... All a poor man had to wrap himself in to sleep warm was his cloak. So if you lend him money in the morning and he says, I'm going to pay you back on this. Here's my cloak. I'll leave my cloak with you as a surety. It's okay to take it. But by sundown, you're supposed to give it back to him. Why? So he can sleep in it. Now, I realize that doesn't sound like very good collateral. I realize it doesn't sound like very good business practice, but that's not what God's talking about. What God is talking about is casting your bread on the waters, being generous to the poor. You know, open your hand, you tightwad. Let somebody else have a little bit of life's good for a change. You don't have to gather up everything that's around you. You don't have to pull in every last dollar, every last cent, every last grain of wheat, or every grape off the vine. Leave something for someone, would you please? It's his covering. Give it back to him. I'll tell you this, God said, if he cries to me about you, I'll hear him, for I am gracious. Now, if you're worried about that, and you're afraid, well, if I lend to the poor, I'll just never get it back. Well, let me give you another thing from King Solomon, Proverbs 19, verse 17. He that has pity on the poor lends to the Lord grace. And that which he has given will he pay him again. You want a cosigner? If you lend to the poor, the Lord cosigns on his note. You'll get it back. You may not get it back today. You may not get it back tomorrow. You may not even know when you got it back. But you will get it back. God is gracious. I'll be back in a moment with what Jesus had to say about that.
SPEAKER 02 :
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 11. 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. So, what did Jesus have to say about all this?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, He said this, Give, and it shall be given unto you. That's a pretty good deal. I give it out, it comes back. Give and it shall be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over shall men give into your bosom. That's wonderful. You know, if I'm a generous person, if I'm an open-handed person, magnanimous, there's that word again. If I'm a big guy and I give, he says, it's going to be given back to you. Good measure. I mean, you fill up the measure and then you press it down. You bang it up and down and shake it real good and pour some more on and let it run over. That's the way the basket you're visualizing. He said, men are going to give this sort of thing back to you. Why are they going to do that? Because of the kind of person you are. They know you're not trying to stick them. They know you're not trying to take advantage of them. This principle is bedrock Christianity. And, well, here it was all the way back in Ecclesiastes and Leviticus and Deuteronomy and the law. It's a fundamental part of the discipline God lays upon men. It's a fundamental part of the character we're supposed to have if we call ourselves godly people. Back in 2 Corinthians, there's an interesting little passage that has to do with an offering that the Corinthian people are putting together for Paul to take to the poor saints in Jerusalem. There had been a famine prophesied and it had struck. And it was time for food to be delivered, not just money, but real goods to be delivered to the poor saints down there because people were liable to die of starvation. And so in this letter, in the ninth chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul writes to them, and he's talking about what they're doing and gives a little background material with it. And finally, he says in verse 7, Every man, according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. Yeah, you know what? So do I. I like generous people. It's fun being around that kind of person. You know, if you go out and you're having a meal with somebody and the guy grabs the check away from you, that's the kind of guy you like to go to dinner with, isn't it? I mean, somebody that's not trying to always get you to pick up the tab. Somebody you have to fight with. A friend that you have to fight with over the check as to which one of you is going to pay it, that's a good relationship. It makes you feel good about people. Well, does it ever occur to you that God also feels good about you? generous, open-handed, magnanimous people. Well, he does. At least Paul certainly said he did. God loves a cheerful giver, and God is able to make all grace abound toward you so that you, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound unto every good work. As it is written, he has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness remains forever. Yeah, God is always giving, always turning stuff over to people. And God wants us to be like him. He actually says that coming back to you because of the prayers of the people you are helping are going to be great gifts from God. And then he says, ending this chapter, thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. What gift? The gift that allows us to give. The gift of generosity. So if we go back to Solomon, cast your bread upon the waters means be magnanimous, be generous, be big-hearted, exercise the discipline of giving. Don't assume the government's going to take care of the poor. I'll grant you they've taken enough money to do it and there's enough coming out of your taxes and so forth that should be able to take care of every poor person in the country. But there's one thing you can count on because the government's in Washington and the poor people are down the road from you. The government will botch the effort. So don't depend on them. They'll botch the effort. You won't. You'll know the money has gone where it should. You'll know how the money was spent. You'll know whether the people really needed it or whether there was fraud because you're there, right? You can see. Count all the money that the government takes from you for its anti-poverty programs as basically mostly lost. Just write it off and go do something about it yourself. Now, the principle involved in this is also expressed in Proverbs 11 and verse 24. He says this, "...there is that scatters and yet increases." And there is that withholds more than is proper, but it tends to poverty. Now what does that mean? It means simply this, that there are people who distribute what they have and yet get more. There are people who cast their bread upon the waters and yet they don't seem to be diminished by it. There are people who are generous and open-handed and yet they don't wind up being poor for some reason. On the other hand, there are people who are stingy, There are people who are grasping. There are people who are clutching at the things that they have. And he says it tends to poverty. It's almost like there's a law, a law of inverse returns, that if you grasp it, you'll lose it. If you let it go, you'll gain it. You know how it boils down in life? Don't squeeze the last drop of blood out of somebody. Don't eat the last scrap of food on the table. Don't bargain the last dollar out of every buyer or every seller. Aren't you bigger than that? Aren't you a magnanimous, big-hearted, open-handed, generous kind of guy, or a woman who is willing to help and give and open her home and pass things on to children, grandchildren, neighbors, and to see to it that the poor in her community are fed? That's the kind of person you are, isn't it? I hope so. Because, in fact, what you're describing in all this is the character of God in and in turn the character of a godly man and a godly woman. Now we've talked a lot over these past several programs about what makes life work. And yet in spite of everything I've told you, you can probably get all this right and still be an unhappy person. For there is one more thing that I've got to tell you about what makes life work and why it doesn't. But that's going to have to wait. Till next time. Until then, this is Ronald Dart reminding you, givers don't really lose.
SPEAKER 02 :
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... Stay in touch with the new Born to Win with Ronald L. Dart app.
SPEAKER 01 :
This app has all of your favorite Ronald L. Dart radio messages, sermons, articles, and it even has a digital Bible. Simply search on the iOS or Android app store to download it for free today.
In this enlightening episode, we delve into the timeless wisdom of King Solomon as preserved in the book of Ecclesiastes. We explore the profound teachings on mortality, the purpose of life, and the urgency of action. Solomon's assertion that there is no work, knowledge, or wisdom in the grave challenges the conventional ideas of the immortal soul and encourages us to make the most of our time here and now. Ronald Dart takes us through a journey of self-reflection and practical living. By examining common human behaviors and drawing parallels to modern-day scenarios, the episode reminds us of the importance of balancing hard work with joy and companionship. Inspired by Solomon’s words, we are urged to embrace our finite existence, strive for balance, and to live joyfully with purpose. Whether it’s understanding the value of perseverance or learning from the industriousness of the ant, this episode provides a compass for making our lives work. Through a philosophical yet practical discourse, listeners are invited to engage in self-discovery and embrace principles that foster productivity and happiness in everyday life.
SPEAKER 02 :
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, how did your week go? Did you get all the way to the bottom of your list of things to do, finally ticked off every one of them at the end of the week? You thought, hey, this is good. I got everything done I intended to do this week. Or do you still have a whole bunch of big stuff hanging over your head and think maybe you'll get to it someday? We're talking about the things that make life work. And we've consulted the wisest man who ever lived. His name is King Solomon. His words are so important that they are preserved in the pages of the Bible. In fact, his work is like a gold mine. We've already, in these broadcasts, been able to mine a treasure of ideas and attitudes and laws that have everything to do with how your life works. The keys to success and the warnings of failure stored up in Solomon's books are priceless. There's one. Very special statement from the ninth chapter of Ecclesiastes that deserves to be put on the wall where you can read it every day. I mean, put it up there in needlepoint or carve it out of a piece of wood somewhere or print it out on your computer with some special fonts and tack it to the wall. It says this. It's in verse 10 of Ecclesiastes 9. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave where you are going. Now that's a sobering piece of work there. Fundamental to understanding what Solomon is saying here is the fact, inescapable, that Solomon does not believe that man has an immortal soul. I know that's fundamental to a lot of Christian belief, but Solomon doesn't think so. Listen to what he says. Whatever your hand finds to do, you do it with your might because there is no work, no device, no knowledge, no wisdom in the grave where you and I are going. What Solomon is saying that the only chance you have of getting anything done is here and now. In fact, none of the Old Testament writers teach that man has an immortal soul. It's a concept that I would think was foreign to them. In fact, the earliest teachings that we know about of the immortal soul are actually found in Greek philosophy. And we have to ask ourselves, in the New Testament even, where we come across concepts that we think teach an immortal soul, are we really drawing our faith from the Bible, or are we reading a philosophy into the Bible? But that's another subject, and I'll leave it for you to get your Bible in concordance down and study for yourself to see what you think. But it's plain that the Old Testament writers believed in a resurrection of the dead and life beyond death, but there's no suggestion anywhere there that they believed in the immortality of the soul as is commonly believed today. In fact, Solomon expressly denies that. He says, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, because you're not going to get a chance after you go to the grave. Whatever work or device or knowledge or wisdom, it's not in the grave. That's where you're going. So what does Solomon say to me here about making my life work? One of the most important things about this passage of Scripture is that I have a finite period of time in which to do whatever it is I am going to do. I don't have forever to get this thing done, and I had better get with it if I'm going to get anything done at all. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Get after it, pilgrim. because you only have a limited amount of time in which to get it done, and it's over. You know, Jesus said something rather similar. He said, I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The night comes when no man can work. And that's a simple analogy or metaphor for the fact that you must work while you're alive, because when you're dead, you can't get anything done. Listen to the context of what Solomon had to say from verse 1 of Ecclesiastes 9. For all this I considered in my heart, even to declare all this, that the righteous and the wise and all their works are in the hand of God, and no man knows whether love or hatred awaits him. All things come alike to everybody. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the clean and to the unclean, to him that sacrifice and to the guy that doesn't sacrifice. In other words, to the religious person and the one that's not. It comes to the good person. It comes to the sinner. It comes to he that swears an oath as to the man that fears an oath. What is this evil that happens? There is an evil among all things that are done under the sun that there is one event to all. Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live. And after that, they go to the dead. What Solomon is saying is, I don't care how you live your life. If you're good, if you're bad, if you're wicked, you're evil, you're indifferent to life, you're all going to the same place. You're going to die. And they're going to take you out and bury you in the graveyard. And that's all there is, he says. He says, there you go, you're dead, you're buried. Now, there may be a resurrection for you later. But Solomon says, in the grave where you're going, you're not going to get much work done. Now, keep in mind that Solomon is taking a human's eye view of all of this. And from that point of view, you cannot dispute what he says. In the end, the same thing happens to everyone, doesn't it? We die. I mean, do you know anybody that's 150 years old? Who do you know that's not dying, that isn't on their way toward the grave? We watch them, the great men, the noble, the entertainers, the George Burns of the world. They live for a long time, but they all die. Well, aren't I the cheerful soul today? But the earlier in life you adopt this thought and make it your own, the greater person you are going to be. And that is that you're not going to live forever. You are going to die. It will require a miracle from God to give you life after death. And what you're going to get done, you'd better do it now. Now, I'm not suggesting that you get in a hurry to go to the grave, only that you accept the fact that you have to go there sooner or later. But Solomon is saying, whatever you are going to do about your life, you ought to be about doing it now and diligently. For to him that is joined to all living, there is hope. For a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die, but the dead don't know anything. Neither have they any more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Now, he's not ruling out the resurrection here. He's talking about life as you and I experience it. And he's saying that you're better off being alive than you are dead, because if you're alive, you at least know you're going to die. If you're dead, you don't know anything. And no more is there a reward. In a sense, he means that you're not going to earn anything. You can't work and produce something and then enjoy it as a result of your work. And the memory of them, that is your memory of life when you go to the grave, is gone. Also their love, their hatred, their envy is now perished. Neither have they any more apportioned forever in anything that is done under the sun. Just gone. Now, do you see what I mean about Solomon and the immortal soul? He knows nothing of it. In fact, he specifically denies it. He says the dead don't know anything. which is a little different from the idea that we die and we go to heaven and we sit there and look back down on the earth and we can see the things that are going on down here and maybe we can weep for things that happen here or rejoice in things that happen here. But apparently, according to Solomon, no. At least he sure didn't know anything about it. The theologians will have to wrestle with the implications of a man of Solomon's wisdom and knowledge who denies the idea that man has an immortal soul. Now, and by that I mean the traditional idea of the immortal soul. He does not warn you that if you are wicked, you will burn in hell forever. He just says if you're wicked, you're going to die. If you're righteous, you're going to die. He just puts us all in the same boat and says this is what's going to happen. Well, how does this affect me? What do I do about this? What does this have to do with making life work? Stay with me and I'll come back and we'll talk more in a moment.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
SPEAKER 03 :
So now that Solomon has us thoroughly depressed, he's told us we're going to die and told us we better get busy with life because it may not be so terribly far away. How do we live the rest of the day? What are we going to do with this day? Well, he continues on and actually in the process helps us with one of life's niggling little problems. In verse 7 he says this, Go your way. Eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, because God accepts your works. Let your garments be white, and let your head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vanity which he has given you under the sun, for that's your portion in this life and the labor that you take. And then he gives us our phrase, Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, because you're not going to get a chance in the grave. Now, I think a lot of us go through life with nose to the grindstone and working so hard that we never get a chance really to take a break and enjoy the things that we've earned. In fact, there's a perversity in human nature that makes us feel guilty if we do. I take a day off work. I feel guilty. I ought to be in the office. I ought to be mailing out more of these widgets. I ought to be sending out some promotional brochures. There's stuff to get done, and here I am on the golf course. What am I doing? And you can't even enjoy a nice round of golf because you're worried about getting back to the office. You can't enjoy your wife, and you can't enjoy your kids, and you're – running yourself ragged in your business or whatever it is you're doing, and your kids are left to themselves. Solomon says, hey, what do you think you're doing? Life is here. You've got it now. You'd better start living some of it now. Eat your bread with joy. Drink your wine with a merry heart. For God accepts your works. Treat yourself to some nice clothes. Let your head lack no ointment. In other words, get yourself a nice hairdressing, or rather yet in modern terminology, maybe a little cologne or for a lady a perfume. Live joyfully with the wife whom you love. Have a good time together, folks. It isn't all work. If it is all work, you're going to be one miserable so-and-so. Now, from what Solomon says, we derive some serious life principles. Life is short, so get to work. Failure is easy, so work hard. Enjoy your life. Enjoy your work. Enjoy your family. God gives you that. Keep your life in balance. Now, sure, all of us are going to have to work long hours at times in order to get a breakthrough in business. But you do that too long, and you neglect your family. And when all is said and done, it's going to wind up being gravel in your teeth with no joy. Now, there is yet another principle buried in this passage here. Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. It is a principle called second effort. Football coaches try to teach it, but frankly, some runners have it and some of them don't, and it's a hard concept to get through people's minds. Maybe you can get hold of it. If you ever watch football at all or know anything about it, you know that the ball is handed off to a runner and he hits the line and the men grab him and try to throw him to the ground. Ordinary runners go down when they get hit. Great runners, when they get hit, give it one more surge, one more effort, one more push. And if you watch the game, you'll notice after a while that it's the ones who keep struggling, who keep the knees pumping, who keep the legs going, who keep struggling and straining that break loose on occasion and go all the way. When you're hit, when you are stopped, sometimes in life, all it takes is one more push to break through, a little extra effort, second effort they call it, pushing onward. Sometimes people give up when one more push would have got them through. You know, it doesn't matter if it's a business or a game. You can't afford to give up if the end is in sight. How many businesses are there out there that have gone in the tank because the owners gave up just short of the point where they would break through? How can you know that one more push will not get the job done? Well, yeah. Of course, there comes a place where if you're lying on the bottom of the pile and you've got about four big 300-pound linemen lying on top of you and the whistle has been blown, it is time to stop struggling and give up the ball. And so there is a time when you have to recognize that you're flogging a dead horse, when there is no point in going on. But you know, the point in making that decision is not when you first get hit. It may not even be on the second hit or the third hit or the fourth hit. Because sometimes you can get knocked around pretty bad in life. But if you keep the legs moving, if you keep driving, if you keep working at it, you can break out of it. Also buried in this principle is another one that Jesus gave to us. He said, which of you having a servant plowing or feeding cattle will say to him by and by when he's come into the field, go sit down and get yourself something to eat? Now, the passage in question is found in Luke 17 and verse 7. And, you know, politeness says, you know, we've got this servant. He's been out in the field working all day. He's been feeding your cattle, plowing your fields, and working his tail off. And so he's come in the house. He's sweaty and he's tired. You know, humanly, you'd say, yeah, let's tell this guy, go get yourself something to eat. You've worked hard today. You deserve a break. Jesus didn't say that. He says, rather, what you'll say to him is, You make ready so I can eat. You dress yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you shall eat and drink. Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I don't think so, Jesus said. No, that's not me speaking, folks. This is Jesus saying this. I don't think he would, he said. So likewise you. Now here comes the lesson for you, the person who's in the position really of the servant who's just drug his tail in from the field and sweaty and tired and worked all day long. When you have done those things which are commanded you, say, we're unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do. So you got yourself a job. It was a contract, and you went out and you did the job that was contracted. You came back to the office. You pick up your money, and you go home. Nobody owes you anything. You worked. You were paid. You went home. No one owes you a bonus. No one even owes you a pat on the back. You just did your job. Now, there's an enormous difference out there in the working world between people who do that and people who give more. People who will go above and beyond, people who will deliver something beyond what you pay for, either in the form of service or a little extra goods, good measure, pressed down, running over, to use a biblical term. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find an employee who will do more than he's required to do? Who will go above and beyond? Jesus here, as well as Solomon, leave us with a life principle. You've got to work hard and you've got to go above and beyond if you expect to really be successful. And the fact is that if you want to get a job and hold a job and be appreciated by your boss, your employer, you're going to have to give him more than he's paying for. If you want him to feel any sense of obligation to you, any thanks toward you, you may not get that anyway, but you certainly have no right to it if you haven't done something above and beyond. Now, there's a funny little life thing in here, a doctrinal thing, if you will, concerning the Bible that's also important, I think, to understand. There's a long-standing argument that goes back and forth between those who believe in works and those who believe purely in grace for salvation. And many do not understand at all the role of the law or the commandments in the life of a Christian. But maybe if I can put it to you this way, you can understand it. Jesus said, Likewise, when you shall have done all these things which are commanded you, you say, We are unprofitable servants. We have just done our duty. Okay, then, the commandments of God are our duty, and when we have done them, we have earned nothing. The truth is that whenever you tell your neighbor the truth instead of lying to him for personal gain, you don't deserve any reward. You've just told him the truth. That's what you're supposed to do. If you lie to him... There is a penalty, and you become guilty, and you lose your reputation, and there are consequences to that bad behavior. The good behavior is simply your duty. It's not anything that earns you a reward. And so keeping the law is merely keeping out of trouble. It's odd, you know, but the Pharisees seemed to think that they were doing God a favor by keeping his law. Whereas in actual fact, all they were accomplishing in the observance of the law was to live a clean life. That's what they were supposed to do. So in keeping the law, you have no special reward coming. You're an unprofitable servant if that's all you've done. You have only done your duty. Salvation is much more than that and is a gift of God that comes to us by grace through faith.
SPEAKER 02 :
I'll have more for you after these words. 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 10. 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.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now there's one more thing that comes out of this, and it's also reflected in Proverbs the 6th chapter in verse 6. I didn't understand this little proverb the first time I read it. I'll read it to you and see how it grabs you. Go to the ant, you sluggard, consider her ways and be wise, which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provides her meat in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. Now, if you're going to follow the example of ants, these little fellows are really diligent. Diligent, persistent, hardworking. I mean, just try to keep them out of the house. Just try to solve the ant problem in the summer when the weather's dry and they're coming through the woodwork hither and yon. You want to shut off the flow of ants. They are among the most resourceful of creatures. I used to read that scripture, and I think when I originally marked it in my Bible, I marked it as an example of diligence. And I guess sort of it is, but it's not exactly the point. Listen to what he says. Go to the aunt, you sluggard. I know what that means, you lazy lout. Consider her ways and be wise, who having no guide, overseer, or ruler, does her job. In other words, she does her job without having to be told what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and to be motivated to do it and pressured to do it and whipped to do it and driven to do it. You know, if you think about it, if we got down there and we went out and got ourselves a job in a factory somewhere making, what shall we say, widgets. That's what everybody says today when they want to talk about making something that nobody knows what it is. We're going to get us a job in a factory making widgets, and there are going to be ten of us in here on the floor making these things. Now, if all of us could go rolling in there and didn't need any supervision or any help or any guidance or any training or any equipment or tools or anything of the sort, we can go in there and turn these things out and sell them and get the profit back to us. Let's say we might be able to make $10 an hour. But on the other hand, if we're the kind of people that if somebody doesn't watch us, We're going to turn out an inferior product. If somebody doesn't check on us, we're going to take 30-minute breaks instead of five-minute breaks. If somebody doesn't watch us, we're going to do careless work or we're going to disappear from the job or come to work drunk and turn out who knows what we might turn out. If somebody doesn't watch us – now, if we're that kind of people – What the manager of this plant is going to do, he's going to find one of us, one of us 10 guys or gals, and he's going to appoint that one as a foreman, supervisor, director over all of us, right? Now, how's that guy going to get paid? The rest of us kind of get paid per widget. I mean, we're turning out the work. We're actually producing a product, and we can actually get the product. But how does the guy who's working for us get paid? Well, the way he gets paid is, and about the only way it can work is out of the total profit and loss thing. The manager's got to pay $10 an hour, approximately $100 every hour, for the widgets he gets out of there. And if he has to give some of that $100 to a supervisor, where does that leave you and me? Well, it means we've got to take $9 or $8.50 or $8.00. So he can pay this other person who is diligent, who doesn't have to be supervised, who in fact can supervise others, part of the produce of this factory. So we, us lazy louts who don't really apply ourselves and are careless in our job, we're not entitled to earn as much money as we would otherwise get because we have to be supervised. There's a real lesson right there for you in the way you live your life. And if you're going to go to work for somebody else, you're going to wind up giving a certain amount of your production to the person who has to supervise you on the job. You're going to have to give up some of your production to the person who provides you with the tools. You're going to have to give up some of your production to the person who puts the roof over your head, who does all the bookkeeping. You're going to have to share some of your production with the people who actually go out and sell these things to the public, you know, and so on it goes. Now, there's a little lesson in there, and that is if you really want to make your life work, maybe you ought to think about going into business for yourself. But I'll tell you this, don't do that until you have learned the lesson of the ant, who can work without a guide, who can work without an overseer, who can work without a ruler, and will do the things that ought to be done when they need to be done. And also, if you're going to work for yourself, you need to be prepared to be a profitable worker. That is, you need to be ready to go above and beyond and do more than anyone would normally think you're going to do. Because you can't manage your own business nine to five. You can't do your own work like that and only just work nine to five, Monday to Friday, and forget about it the rest of the time. If you're going to succeed in your own business, you're going to have to really work hard. And that takes us back to the principle we started all this thing with where Solomon said, Whatever your hand finds to do, my friend, do it with your might. Do it hard. Work at it. Drive yourself at it. And then this little caveat, be sure to remember your family and take some time for yourself and enjoy the fruit of your labor, or else you're just going to burn yourself out. It's interesting, isn't it, that when you start thinking about what makes life work, it slowly becomes clear that there are reasons why it does and there are reasons why it doesn't. And it's a shame in a sense that a lot of us live our lives, we go muddling on down the road just sort of assuming that things happen. And that it's good luck or it's bad luck or, boy, that guy sure is lucky. Look how well he has done. And we don't really realize that this fellow is working like a dog. That's one of the reasons he's as lucky as he is. Nor do we consider that one of the reasons that we're not any luckier than we are is because we're letting down on many very important things. We're not working with our might. We're not going above and beyond. We're not working without a guide or an overseer or a ruler. We're not really keeping the nose to the grindstone. If you'd really like to study some of these principles about making life work, drop us a line or give us a call. We'll tell you how you can get a hold of the entire series of Making Life Work. Our address is Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas, 75791, or call us at 1-888-BIBLE44. Until next time, this is Ronald Dart saying, Reach for the Stars!
SPEAKER 02 :
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 :
Stay in touch with the new Born to Win with Ronald L. Dart app. This app has all of your favorite Ronald L. Dart radio messages, sermons, articles, and it even has a digital Bible. Simply search on the iOS or Android app store to download it for free today.
In this episode of Born to Win, the profound question of satisfaction in life is examined through the wisdom of ancient teachings. Ronald L. Dart delves into the elusive nature of satisfaction and happiness, drawing from the insights of King Solomon as well as personal anecdotes and observations about life. Despite the common belief that material wealth might bring fulfillment, this discussion emphasizes an inner understanding that goes beyond mere possessions. Dart paints a vivid picture of how wealth and the accumulation of things can often lead to more anxiety than joy. Through Solomon's timeless wisdom, it's revealed that the pursuit of riches is more of a burden that fails to yield satisfaction, leading to a deep exploration of what truly brings real contentment in life. This episode challenges listeners to look inward, find satisfaction in creative work and accomplishments, and consider the deeper meaning of life's endeavors. The episode also reflects on a classic biblical story of a young rich man and the teachings of Jesus on wealth. These narratives serve as a mirror for modern listeners, prompting a reevaluation of priorities and a call to find real solace in the simplicity of good work and a life not dominated by possessions. Join Ronald L. Dart as he brings unparalleled wisdom to navigate a fulfilling life, encouraging us to break free from material desires and focus on what truly matters.
SPEAKER 02 :
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
SPEAKER 03 :
Are you satisfied with the way your life is working? Chances are you have a mixed answer to that. There are things that are okay and there are things that are not okay. There are things that are working fine and there are probably quite a few things you wish were better. Satisfaction. Are you satisfied is what I'm asking you with the way your life works. But satisfaction is a very elusive quality. The words a lot like happiness. You could almost substitute them. And the pursuit of happiness is something that all of us are freely engaged in. And yet, so much of the time, it eludes us. But they have a great deal to do with – I don't know if it has as much to do with how your life is actually working as it does with how you feel about how your life is working. And actually, that latter part may be the most important of all. We make an assumption that causes us a great deal of dissatisfaction. We assume that satisfaction comes to us from outside of ourselves. Now, the wisest man who ever lived gave us a clue about this. His name is Solomon. He was a king, and he had bestowed upon him a supernatural gift of wisdom. He was wiser than any man before him or any man was ever going to be after him because God bestowed upon him this great clarity of vision, the ability to experience and understand, and he was good enough and kind enough to sit down and write out for us his thoughts about what makes life work and what doesn't make life work, what makes things boogie on down the road and what things foul life up and leave you miserable and unhappy. This man, Solomon, made this statement. He said this, "'He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver.'" Now, that's curious because normally if you love something, you really love it, and you get it, wouldn't you be satisfied to get what you love? And yet I know that what he is saying here is true, and I think you probably do too, that the man who loves money is just not going to be satisfied with money. I mean, how much money is enough? You can have money running out of your ears, it seems, and these people who have it are out there busy looking for more. They don't quit. They don't go out and live on a Greek island somewhere and paint pictures. They go to work and try to make more money. He that loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loves abundance with increase. This also, he says, is emptiness. Money is a powerful influence in your life. I don't care how much of it you have. I don't care how much of it you don't have. It dominates a big part of your life. I ran into an old friend a few years back at a class reunion, and we were standing around talking about our lives and what was happening and what we were doing. And I knew that he had made a lot of money, and I knew that he had retired. And I figured since he was retired, he probably had some time on his hands. And so I said, friend, what are you doing with your time these days? And he looked at me sober as a judge and says, well, I'm very busy. He said, I manage my money. Money, management, he said, takes a lot of time, you know. And I thought about it and I said, yeah, I suppose it does. I don't have all that much, but what little I do requires some management. Every once in a while, I've got to look at how much is in the bank, and if I've got some money invested in an IRA somewhere, I have to think about where it is and what I've done with it and whether I need to make a change with it or not. Money, if you've got a lot of it, you've got to spend a lot of time managing it. And if your wallet is empty, well, you've got to spend most of your time trying to fill it up. It can be terrifying to find yourself without any money at all, no cash, and no credit cards, at least no credit cards that anybody will take anymore. It's terrifying because it translates into no food and no shelter. So really, it isn't just money, it's things. Money is a short word for what Solomon called abundance. He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loves abundance with increase. They're just not going to be satisfied. And it's odd, but it's true that filling a need does not leave us satisfied, at least not for long. He went on to say, when goods increase, they are increased that eat them. I guess we all know that. We've heard the stories of the lottery winners who suddenly find out they've got relatives they didn't know they had, friends they never had met before, and so on it goes. The more you have, the more there are that eat them. And he said, what good is there to the owners of them, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? And I thought when I read that how true it is. I've lived a few years on this planet, and I've managed to accumulate some stuff. I have a house, and I've got pictures on the wall, and I've got clothes hanging in the closet. And I can wander through my house, and I can look at the pictures on the wall, and what good are they to me? Except for the beholding of them with the eyes, I get a little pleasure out of them. But there's a funny thing about that. I don't know if you've noticed this or not. But after a while, you wander through your house, and you don't even see the pictures. You're not aware of the knick-knacks. They're just a part of what's in your background. They become a part of you. Now, you probably would miss them if they weren't there because you've gotten used to them. I've even thought about how much time I've sometimes spent deciding what color car I want. And then I come to realize that after a while, I don't even know what color car I have and don't even care. You get used to it after a week or a month or six months. And it's just a car. It's wheels. It gets you where you want to go. And you enjoy it when you think about it. But Oddly enough, so much of the time, we don't have time to think about it. So what good are all these things that we accumulate to them, except we can look at them and say, isn't that pretty? Then he says this, and I think this is fascinating. The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much. But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep. And I suppose that's true. that the more you have, the more you've got to worry about. That if all of a sudden through a tornado coming through your neighborhood and tearing your house down and sweeping everything you have right down to the foundation and carrying it off into the wild blue yonder, you realize how that would simplify your life, assuming you weren't in the house, of course, and assuming you had insurance to cover your losses, but whatever. The fact is that all of a sudden your life becomes very simple again. It's all the way back to food and shelter and clothes. The simple life. The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much. Now, why is that true? I know it's true because the laboring man is tired at the end of the day. He worked hard. Your muscles are sore and so forth. You get a little back rub from your wife and hit the sack and go straight to sleep because you're tired. Sleep's sweet, sound. But you know, there's another side to that. The laboring man, carpenter, been out there framing a house all day, when he goes to bed at night, knows that he has actually done something. He actually could have taken a picture and brought it home and showed it to his kids and said, look, this is what Daddy built today. Even a ditch digger, when he gets through, has got a hole in the ground to show for his efforts. He's actually done something. He's moved this dirt from here to there. We're going to lay some pipe in it tomorrow and hook it up to the septic system, and it will carry away the waste from my house. He's actually done something worthwhile. He's produced something. Now, here are two great principles for making your life work. Don't let these get by you. You might even want to write them down. One, there is great pleasure in creative work. And two, there is enormous satisfaction in a completed work. Now, I learned the first of these lessons as a mere boy. I was out playing cars in sand piles. Great fun. Would spend hours building a road system. You know, I had two or three little cars. A friend was out there, and he had his two or three little cars. And we had our little sticks that we used as graders, and we graded roads, and we built embankments. And we were actually engineers engaged in the great process of building highways in a sandbox. Now, I had a lot of frustration, though, in this, because Mother would always call me into supper, or lunch, or what have you, before I was finished. And overnight, the rain would come and wash some of it away, or the next morning, the workmen would be out, and they'd dig up the sand, and all my roads were gone, and I would have to, after they went home, start all over again. But one day... My mother didn't call me. I made roads and roads and more roads, and I finished making all the roads. Now I was ready to play with my little cars on the road. And I discovered to my surprise that playing with the little cars on the roads was not nearly as much fun as building the roads had been. Now, to my credit, I did not tear up my roads and start over. I was proud of them. I just gathered up my cars and went home. And somehow, playing with cars was never the same after that. I learned a simple little lesson of life. that actually the work, the creative work, and what it was, it was not merely an enjoying of somebody else's creative work. It was the creation of something with my own hands that gave me the pleasure. The play afterward was not where the pleasure was. The second lesson I learned a bit later, and I learned it in many ways. I learned to take great satisfaction in a completed work. I learned that the bigger and longer the project, the greater the satisfaction was when the thing was over. That I had done something. I had put work into it, and it really meant something. I'll explain a little more when I come back in just a moment.
SPEAKER 02 :
1-888-BIBLE-44 And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
SPEAKER 03 :
But there's a strong streak in man that causes us a lot of grief. It's the streak in us that wants us to acquire things, things that are not going to satisfy us because it isn't the things that we acquire that give us the feeling of satisfaction. It's the work that we accomplish. It's the things that we actually do that help us to become satisfied. It's hard. It's really hard to get through our heads that the things in our life come as a byproduct of doing the really satisfying things in life. If the things themselves are the objective that we're pursuing, happiness, satisfaction will forever escape us. Solomon said, There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owner's to their own hurt. Now that's funny, isn't it? That you could actually have riches come your way and hang on to them and hang on to them to your own hurt. There was an encounter Jesus had with a young man that I think is really interesting in this regard. It's found in Matthew the 19th chapter and verse 16. Behold, one came and said to him, Good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And Jesus replied, Why are you calling me good? There is none good but one, that is God. But if you will enter into life, keep the commandments. Now, that's a simple answer. What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? Jesus said, keep the commandments. You want to live forever? Live a good, clean life. And he said to him, which ones? And Jesus said, well, don't murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself, pulling it all in together. What he's talking about is the Ten Commandments. And the young man said to him, well, I have done these things all my life. What do I lack still? Now, one of the other gospel accounts, when it comes to this place in the account, says this, Jesus looked at that young man and loved him. Now, Jesus obviously loved everybody, but this young man was special. He looked at him, he really cared about him, and then he made a truly devastating statement to the young man. It's a statement I think that's troubled a lot of people. He said this, he said, if you will be perfect... Go and sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. And come and follow me. Now Jesus wanted this young man as a member of his entourage. He wanted him to be one of that unique band of brothers. who would carry the gospel into the world, would turn the world upside down, would bring a totally new approach to God, to the Gentiles, to the rest of the world, and to break out and to show the world that this is not merely a Jewish religion, that the eternal, that Jehovah is the God of all the world, not just a part of it. And this young fellow had a chance to get in on the ground floor. Jesus wanted him, wanted him. But the young man had responsibilities. Now let me read you the rest of this little story and then perhaps correct a misconception about it. When the young man heard that saying, you know, go sell it, give it to the poor, and you'll have treasure in heaven and come and follow me. Let's get completely unencumbered here. When the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful because he had great possessions. Now, I know a lot of people look at that and think what a failure this young man was, but let's have a little understanding for him. Could we just for a moment? The holding of great possessions includes also enormous responsibilities. Great possessions to people at that time in that place had to include a lot of real estate, cattle, and the like. And if he had great possessions, he had a lot of servants. He may have had family. The truth is that anyone with the kind of wealth this young man had has an enormous responsibility for the lives, the employment, the work of a lot of people. A lot of people depend on him. And when he heard the saying, He just couldn't shed the responsibility. And in order for him to be of service to Jesus and to travel with Jesus and be on the road with Jesus, he had to be free from that. He could not carry that responsibility, drag it around with him. He had to dispose of it. And he just couldn't shed the responsibility. It's important, I think, also to see that Jesus said, don't give me the money. Don't go sell what you have and give it to me. Let's dispose of it. Get rid of it. Give it to the poor. Let's get it out of the picture here. because I don't, again, he didn't want this young man going up and down the road with him, saying, well, I gave Jesus all this money, and here we are, and how's he spending it, and asking all those little uncomfortable questions. He just said, let's get unburdened here. And when the young man had gone away, Jesus said to his disciples, I'm going to tell you the truth. A rich man shall hardly enter the kingdom of heaven. In fact, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Now there's an old saying, you can't take it with you. And I guess in a way that's what Solomon and Jesus are saying. You can't carry wealth, riches, into the kingdom of God. You're going to go in there bare to the skin. Nothing's going but you. Not your clothes, not your house, not your possessions. It's not going to be a question of servants, manservants, maidservants, wives, children, nothing. You bear naked before God. That's what goes. And so what Jesus is saying and what Solomon is beginning to address in his way, although he did not have nor could he have had the depth that Jesus had, what they're both trying to help us to understand is that Don't get so acquisitive in this life. Don't worry about building up a lot of wealth for yourself, because all you're going to do is stack it up in a corner, spend the rest of your life worrying about it, and then die, and it's going to go to somebody else, and you're not going to have it anyway. Jesus said that all those possessions are a burden and a responsibility, and you just can't carry them with you up and down the road in doing the work that I've got to do. And so Solomon continues his theme by saying this, Behold that which I have seen. It's really good and proper for one to eat and drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he takes unto the Son all the days of his life which God has given him, for that's his portion. Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth and has given him the power to eat of it and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labor, this is the gift of God. I mean, to be on this earth, to be able to acquire a few things, to have a little income coming in, to have, let's say, completed some good projects, to be doing a good work and having some satisfaction in your work, and to be able, as a result of your work, to have some things come your way which you are able to turn around and enjoy and share and have a good time with, this is a gift of God, folks, because there are a lot of people out there who, even though they acquire and get rich and are not happy and can't enjoy it and don't have the power to eat of it and to really rejoice in their work. There is no satisfaction for them. He said, A man is not going to much remember the days of his life. When it's all said and done, all the days of his life and all the things that he's done and all of his great accomplishments are just not going to amount to much. Solomon really wrestled with the question about what was really important in life. What made it work and what didn't? And it is the question of what is really important that lies at the core of a life that works. Now, he goes on to say this. There is an evil which I have seen under the sun. It's common to all men. A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor so that he wants for nothing of all that his soul desires. And yet God does not give him the power to eat of it, but a stranger eats it. This is empty, and it's a sickness. Yeah, I guess it is. A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, and yet... He does not have the power. What do you mean power? Well, he doesn't have the ability. He can't bring himself to enjoy the things that he has. He can't relax. He does not have the love of a good woman. He does not have the affection and the respect of his children and the family who are around about him. He doesn't have loyal friends who will share with him in the things that he has without trying to grab them for themselves. He's a poor guy. I feel sorry for him, Solomon says. In fact, it's a sickness sometimes that people live with, that they are able to acquire things, but they're not really able to enjoy them and to have a life that works for them. He continued and said, If a man beget a hundred children and live many years so that the days of his years are long and his soul is not filled with good and that he have no burial, I say that an untimely birth is better than he. My, to say that it would have been just as well if you had never been born? To live a long time and beget a hundred children? What's he talking about? Well, he is saying this, that wealth and longevity, these are two things that preoccupy us in this life. That's the acquisition of wealth, money, things, and what have you, and living a long time. These are the two things that we worry about, and yet Solomon, in one short paragraph, puts them in their place. He said you can live a long time and you can have a whole bunch of stuff, and your life, well, it really would have been just about as well off if you hadn't even started it. What he is saying is that there is a sickness in man that causes him to acquire things he never uses and never enjoys. He stacks up money and he won't spend it on his family, his friends, or his loved ones. He won't let himself enjoy it. For in the enjoyment of wealth, you know, there is the diminution of wealth. If you spend it, it goes away, and you don't have it anymore. And so people who sometimes have it are afraid of letting it get away from them. Solomon's point is, hey folks, it's going away anyhow. And if you can't enjoy good in your life and to be honored in your death, well... you might just as well have never lived at all. I'll let you think about that, and I'll be back in just a moment.
SPEAKER 02 :
and tell us the call letters of this radio station.
SPEAKER 03 :
All the labor of a man is for his mouth, said Solomon, and yet the appetite is not filled. So we pursue it, we work hard at it, we drive away, and we're still not satisfied. For what has the wise more than the fool? And what has the poor that knows to walk before the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wondering of the desire. What Solomon is trying to tell us is that we all need, from time to time, a little dose of reality. What's really here? No, no, not what do you wish were here. What do you hope will be here? But what's here right now? So seeing that there are many things that increase vanity, what is man the better? I mean, there are so many things that just run into so much emptiness. What is there that actually makes things better, that makes things work? For who knows what is good for a man in this life? All the days of his vain life that he spends like a shadow. For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? Well, go ahead. Try to tell him what's going to be after him. In fact, try to get somebody to consider the fact that there is an after him, if you know what I mean. The first challenge is to get a man to believe that there is a time that will be, quote, after him. For we generally tend to think, I think, that the world will end when we do. But it won't. The sun will come up and shine in a world where you and I are missing. Birds will sing, even though you and I are not there to hear them. The mockingbird in the tree behind my house will be out there and he will sing his heart out as always, whether I am there or whether I am not. So you've got two things to think about. You have a life here and now that can work for you or that can unravel and leave you miserable. You have a life after this life to think about. And how you live this one has something to do with how that next one's going to go. Solomon knows this, but he's not entirely sure what to make of it. So he struggles on to understand life and to convey a wisdom about this life that is priceless to you and me. This principle he gives us of satisfaction, that he who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loves abundance with increase, and of the sickness that sits upon someone's life who spends his whole life acquiring things and never finds a way to enjoy them, this principle is priceless. And these two things I told you, that there's great pleasure in creative work, and there's enormous satisfaction in a completed work. These things are the basics of character that make a life work. Because in truth, having a framework in which to make your decisions, knowing the difference between right and wrong, deciding to do things in a way that is consistent with character, brings a life that works and satisfaction to you and regret when you're gone. so that those people who come to your funeral when it's all over and say, he was a good guy. I enjoyed him. I'm sorry he's gone. He helped me in my life. You know, the truth is the Bible is an incredible resource in making your life work. The teachings that show us how to react to situations and how to deal with people, how to think about things and how to respond to life are priceless. Tune in next time and we'll talk more about what helps make your life work. Until then, this is Ronald Dart reminding you, you were born to win.
SPEAKER 02 :
You may call us at 1-888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
SPEAKER 01 :
Stay in touch with the new Born to Win with Ronald L. Dart app. This app has all of your favorite Ronald L. Dart radio messages, sermons, articles, and it even has a digital Bible. Simply search on the iOS or Android App Store to download it for free today.
