Keep the Vision!
Proverbs of Wisdom for Today's World • Sermon • Submitted
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· 13 viewsSpiritual discernment is necessary for spiritual man
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Keep the Vision
Keep the Vision
(Slide) Vi-sion (n)
The faculty or state of being able to see
An experience of seeing someone or something in a dream or as a supernatural apparition
There you go with a couple of definitions, but today we are here to look at what scripture says about vision. I want to start with this.
14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,
I wanted to get you to think about the spiritual things, and you can only understand spiritual things with spiritual discernment. Simply put God has given us His Word so we can spiritually understand Him. No special revelation needed since the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Then there is
20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you
20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,
As we have discussed before there are times when people take scripture out of context or they misused them, I know with lack of knowledge at times I did, maybe that is why I try to be so careful to let the scripture speak for itself. I know I have taken a right truth but from a wrong passage, in hence a good intentioned misinterpretation. God only has one interpretation.
(Slide) J. Vernon McGee said “Spiritual discernment is one of the gifts that God has given to the church - that is, an understanding of God’s Word.”
Unrestrained
Unrestrained
18 Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law.
(Slide) When you think of vision, what do you think of?
(Slide) When you think of unrestrained what do you think of?
(Slide) Un-re-strained (Adj) Not restrained or restricted (uncontrolled, rampant, unchecked, unbridled, uninhibited . . .)
So the people without vision were unrestrained.
How about looking at some other versions
18 Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.
18 When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful.
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18 Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.
So now we have
(Slide) Vision
(Slide) Revelation
(Slide) Divine Guidance
(Slide) Prophetic vision
(Slide) But then we also had more than just unrestrained we have
(Slide) cast off restraint
(Slide) Run wild
(Slide) Another question, what is the book of Proverbs major focus?
(Slide) WISDOM!
17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.
So everything good comes from above, wisdom is pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable . . .
(Slide) In the O.T. it is from vision, prophesy, divine guidance and prophetic vision wisdom was given to the man of God for the people of God
Now today we have the benefit of God’s Word, the full counsel of God
27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
Any if anyone lacks wisdom then we have
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
So remembering that this passage, this verse is in the O.T. and written in a time when if the people wanted wisdom they would go see the prophet (seer) to inquire
9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he used to say, “Come, and let us go to the seer”; for he who is called a prophet now was formerly called a seer.)
1Sam
But it was coming less and less that people would even inquire, so even the Word from God was rare.
1 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli. And word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.
So without the vision, the word from God to them the people perish
(Slide) Perish, they cast off restraint, become corruptible
(Slide) they are lost and go to hell
Now, again this was written mainly for the people of the time, to the people of Israel who were forsaking God, forsaking wisdom and doing what they wanted
6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.
So now to bring it down to a personal level, when one does not know the wisdom of God, does not have vision (knowledge) of God’s will, he casts off restraint and leads them to the same thing.
People cast off restraint and do what they want. What they want will not get them into the kingdom of God. For there is only one way.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
(Slide) So what are we to do?
(Slide) Store up God’s wisdom
(Slide) Share God’s wisdom
By soing so
So when we do this, we have like what Paul told Timothy
16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.
So now, that brings us to the 2nd part of the verse (I know lot’s of stuff on just 1/2 of a verse)
Happy is He
Happy is He
18 Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law.
Where we just looked at where the Word is not proclaimed people do as they please, things are a mess, and we have a responsibility to carry the message to the mess, now we see the results.
In most other versions it says this.
18 Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.
Happy or blessed, both are good are they not?
When we have vision, knowledge, wisdom then we
2 How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart.
Psm119:
We are blessed because we seek Him and we observe His commands.
Jesus said .
15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
Jn15:
Keep what? His Word, when we love God, we want to keep His Word and we are happy, we are blessed and we are then concerned about the souls of others.
For there is joy in heaven when a sinner repents (thinking of Lk15:7) - We get to share in the happiness, in the joy when we carry the message to the mess and they respond to the wisdom of God as revealed through His Word and they are added to the numbers daily those being saved ()
Happy is he who walks with Christ, it is a life that is safe and secure.
For the word heard and heeded leads to salvation (Expand) - when we hear, believe, repent, confess, are baptized and our sins forgiving then we have (advance slide now)
no evil can harm you
It leads to successful living (Expand) - no greater success is there than the success we have over sin through the blood of Christ and that (advance slide now)
Leads to true happiness that is eternal! (Expand) - not controlled by circumstance but by what God’s Word says.
In conclusion:
18 Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law.
On a personal level you hold God’s vision, his revelation, His divine guidance in your hand, not just for you, but for others. Think about this, are you sharing it with others? Is your happiness or lack of it directly impacted by God’s Word or lack thereof? Israel it was, today’s world we see that it is declining and it is too. We have the power to change that, we have the Word and the Word brings faith and faith brings salvation. - Lead to invitation now!