Proverbs 16:25

Beware of instruction that leads to destruction

Well, good evening, church. When you're driving somewhere, how do you get your directions? Google Maps? Apple Maps? Apple Maps? David Ashcomb says yes. Waze? Anybody still print their directions off of MapQuest? I see a hand, yeah. Anybody roll down the window at the stoplight and ask the local on the corner where the building is that you're trying to get to? No? Fun fact about me, I normally, when I need to get somewhere, I don't pull up directions. I start driving in the way that I think I'm supposed to go. I get lost. Then I pull up Google Maps, put in the address, and proceed to make a U-turn. Bad directions, or in my case, no directions, take us to the wrong destination. This isn't just true for driving a car, but for all of life. And while there may be ways that seem right, our verse tonight warns us that looks can be deceiving. Proverbs 16.25, our passage for this evening, says,

there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

The book of Proverbs contains many short sayings that convey truth for godly living. This verse, like the majority of Proverbs, was written by King Solomon. We learn in 1 Kings 3 that God blessed King Solomon with wisdom, or with the understanding to discern what is right. It's a simple definition for wisdom that we find in 1 Kings 3. The understanding to discern what is right. In Proverbs 1, we learn that God inspired Solomon to write these Proverbs so that anyone can know wisdom, to receive godly instruction, and gain prudence, discretion on learning and guidance. Proverbs 16.25 is a warning, and this warning will serve as our main idea. The warning is this. Beware of instruction that leads to destruction. Beware of instruction that leads to destruction. We're going to consider two questions from this text tonight. First question, why does the deadly way look right? Second question, how do we discern the right way? So question number one, why does the deadly way look right? Well, simply the deadly way looks right because we are prone to foolishness. All throughout the book of Proverbs, there's two ways to live that are pitted against each other. There's the way of wisdom and there's the way of foolishness. We're encouraged to get wisdom and to store it up, but warned to avoid foolishness and to avoid the fools who entice us to participate in their wickedness. Foolishness is marked primarily by despising wisdom and instruction. Fools despise wisdom and instruction because they ultimately despise God. Proverbs 1.7 tells us that

the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

True wisdom and knowledge comes from God. He's all-knowing and He's perfect in all of His ways. And in order to gain wisdom and knowledge for ourselves, we must first embrace God. But foolishness occurs when the truth of God is exchanged for a lie and the truth is suppressed by unrighteousness. It's when the honor and the fear that is supposed to be given to God is instead given to created beings. See, foolishness undermines and rejects God's good authority. This exchange, this suppression, These are the effects that sin has on our lives. Sin places a veil over our eyes and dims our spiritual sight. It makes us see life through a filter. It's common on social media for people to put filters and effects on their photos to make themselves look more attractive. And that's what sin does for us as well. It makes the bad look good. It makes foolishness look wise. and it makes evil look virtuous. As our verse tells us, it makes the way to death seem right. On this side of heaven, sin will always try to filter our spiritual eyesight. No matter where you are in your Christian life, there will always be the temptation to reject God's instruction and his wisdom. So for some of us, there's going to be the temptation to think that God's instruction doesn't apply in certain situations. One situation that comes to mind is when we're sinned against. So if someone lies to you, or they lash out at you in anger, or they slander you behind your back, how do you respond? Are you guided by God's instruction to not repay evil with evil? Or do you make sure that nobody crosses you and gets away with it? You know, for others of us, there's a temptation to put off God's instruction until later. You're young. Your life is long, there's a lot to experience. Why follow God's ways if it means jeopardizing your friendships or freedom or your future plans? There's some of us that have the opposite temptation. Some of us have lived a long and full life. It's tempting to think that you don't need any more guidance. Why would you take instruction from someone that's younger than you or less experienced than you? What advice could someone give you that you don't already know? You see, these are some of the instruction we need to be wary of. Instructions that exalt the self. Instruction that dishonors God. There's nothing life-giving about such instruction. You see, both the temporal effects and the eternal ramifications are deadly. So yes, it may seem right to get ahead on your career by neglecting your marriage. It may seem right to earn an A by cheating. It may seem right to enforce obedience by disciplining your children with harsh anger instead of patient gentleness. But sin never fulfills what it promises. It only leaves us in the wake of destruction. Broken relationships, endless cycle of lies, exasperated children, No, sin never accomplishes what it intends. It just perpetuates more sin. And eternally, the death in view here, it's not just a physical death. The way of foolishness earns God's righteous judgment against sinners. It ends with God's wrath being poured out. It ends in eternal punishment in hell. Friends, don't be deceived. Those who ignore or reject or hate God's wise instruction will pay the penalty for their sin. This is you. I urge you to repent of your sin and submit yourself to God. This brings up our second question. How then can we discern the right way? We've been warned by scripture. So now let's see how God's word instructs us in the way that we should go. So with our time left, I want us to look at four instructions from scripture that helps us rightly walk with God. The first instruction, to fear God. We already saw in Proverbs 1-7 that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fearing God is the natural response to rightly knowing God. When we recognize who God is, when we come to know his attributes and his ways, it quickly becomes clear that God is bigger and way more glorious than we can comprehend. When we get a glimpse of the magnitude of God, it will cause fear and trembling. This fear, though, this fear of the Lord, it's not supposed to be like a fear of heights or a fear of spiders. It's not supposed to push us away from God, cause us to avoid God. Instead, it should produce reverence for God and motivate obedience to Him. Philippians 2.12 calls us to employ godly fear to work out our salvation. When we're following God's instruction, walking in his ways, receiving the knowledge of God, we're told that God in those moments is at work in us. It's no small thing. Wisdom and knowledge belong to God, and fearing God is the first step for walking wisely. Second instruction, is to be humble. Elsewhere in Proverbs 16, we read that