Proverbs 2:6-15 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. 7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. 8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. 9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. 10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: 12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; 13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; 15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths …

There is a reason that salvation is based on a relationship with the Lord, and not on your human works. Human works are flawed, suspect. We err. A summary of Romans 3:9-26 makes our position and God’s Grace very clear.

Everyone has sinned; Whether Jew or Gentile, we are under sin. we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. God gave us His Law to show us how far we are from perfect. Yet God in His Grace freely justifies us, brings us into His Family, and makes us right in His sight. He does this through Jesus. We are made right with God freely, without our works or worthiness, through the redemption God offers all in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the payment for and the covering of our sin. If we heed His call, and comer to Christ repenting of our former life, God brings us into a saving and joyous relationship in Him.

Once we are saved, we begin to walk with God in a personal relationship.

Proverbs 2:6-7 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. 7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

Notice how the Bible phrases this. True “knowledge and understanding” come from God. The definition of WISDOM is knowledge and understanding. Not just to know, but to apply. Notice that it says, “out of his mouth” is where this knowledge and understanding for life comes. As I speak, you hear what comes OUT OF MY MOUTH because you are either in my presence, or under technology like Facebook and are hearing what I’m saying. People who are outside of my presence cannot hear what comes out of my mouth. Likewise, the person who has no personal relationship with Christ cannot hear the Words of God, for the only way anyone can approach God is through Christ. Jesus said:

John 14:6 (NKJV) … I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

You cannot hear wisdom from the mouth of God apart from a saving relationship with Christ. The Apostles preached:

Acts 4:12 (ESV) And there is salvation in no one else {but Jesus}, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Ephesians 2:18 (ESV) For through {Jesus} we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

1 John 5:11-12 (ESV) And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

God speaks to His Children giving us “sound wisdom”. Not the wisdom of this world, but the wisdom of God. God’s Word is to us “A BUCKLER” (Hebrew māḡēn, pronunciation maw-gane’) which means “a shield, that which defends you from harm”.

We live in a world today where we are encouraged to ignore sin, to rename sin, to tolerate sin. This is foolish. What comes of ignoring sin?

Illustrate: This past Monday I started smelling a funny smell in the Fellowship Hall. I didn’t think much about it. I sprayed “Febreeze”, thinking it was just stale odors because the Hall had been shut up. After spraying, I opened the windows and vented everything out. Tuesday the smell was back. I tried ignoring it, spraying “Febreeze”. I figured a mouse had died somewhere. Wednesday I went in the Hall, and what I smelled could have knocked a buzzard off a gut wagon. It was horrible. So I put on my gloves, picked up mouse bait stations, pulled out the refrigerator and stove, and looked through every cabinet. I couldn’t find mouse droppings, nothing! I went to push the stove back in to its cubby hole, and it bound up, so I emptied the bottom drawer. I opened the stove door, then picked myself up off the floor. Something was in a metal disposable pan in the stove on to top rack, all the way back. You couldn’t see it unless you bent over, but you could smell it. It was a unused pan of macaroni and cheese – and it had a longer beard on it than I have! That stuff had sat in the stove, my best guess, probably a month or a month and a half. And it was rank. It was all I could do to get it to the dumpster – and the buzzards were grinning when I left!

Sin is like that. You cannot ignore it, or make light of it, and hope that it goes away. Sin will, if ignored, get worst and worst.

The wages of sin is death – sin unrepented of and unforgiven leads to death. The way of life is to walk with God.

Proverbs 2:8-11 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. 9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. 10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

When you decide to live your lives walking with God, you become a “saint” (Hebrew ḥāsîḏ pronunciation khaw-seed’), which means “one set apart to belong to God”. When we walk with God we are, like Jesus, salt and light. Jesus said to those who follow Him:

Matthew 5:13 … You are the SALT of the earth

Matthew 5:14 … You are the LIGHT of the world

Salt is a preservative. It was used in the ancient world – and even today – to keep foods from spoiling and rotting. “Those who are in the FLESH cannot please God” (Romans 8:8). Those who chase after self satisfaction, self identification, self promotion – these people do not better the world, but darken it.

Salt was also used as a flavor enhancer and a nutrient. We need salt to live. As one commentary put it:

“salt has a positive influence on the flavor of the food it seasons. Where there is strife, we are to be peacemakers; where there is sorrow, we are to be the ministers of Christ, binding up wounds, and where there is hatred, we are to exemplify the love of God in Christ, returning good for evil (Luke 6:35).”

Light is directly tied to God. The first thing that God created when He made all things was light. “Let there be LIGHT, and there was LIGHT” (Genesis 1:3). Before God made anything, there had to be light. Light was made before God made the stars, the sun and the moon (Genesis 1:14). Light is wisdom and knowledge from God. God’s light keeps us from stumbling. “righteousness, and judgment, and equity” can only be understood properly when it comes from God Himself. When we walk with God heeding His Word,

Proverbs 2:11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

Word Study: You will be PRESERVED (Hebrew šāmar, pronunciation shaw-mar’), that is God will put a HEDGE about your life. If you follow the Lord you will be KEPT (Hebrew nāṣar, pronunciation naw-tsar’)or GUARDEDfrom the evils of life.

Evil People Are Harmful To All

Proverbs 2:12-15 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; 13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; 15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

Word Study: There’s a word we need to define before we can understand this passage, and that is the word “froward”. What the heck does it mean to be “froward”, or to “speak frowardthings”? The word translated “FROWARD” is the Hebrew tahpuḵôṯ pronunciation tah-poo-kaw’, which means “something which is perverse, totally against faith in God”. In verse 15 we are told these people “froward in their paths”, which literally means “deliberately walk after perversity and deviousness”. These people do not stumble into perverse things – they actually seek them out.

When a person seeks to follow a perverse path apart from a righteous walk with God, they destroy themselves and others. Perhaps you’ve been following the trials of the Michigan School shooter Ethan Crumbley, and his parents James and Jennifer Crumbley. On November 30, 2021 Ethan entered Oxford High School with a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol, and murdered four students and injured seven others. Crumbley was sentenced to life without parole plus 24 years. His parents were arrested on involuntary manslaughter charges, and sentenced to 10-15 years in prison.

Four days before the shooting, James Crumbley bought his 15 year old son the gun. The boy showed signs of mental illness and instability. Several hours before the shooting, the school counselor called the parents in to discuss some disturbing drawings that he had made of him killing someone, along with the words “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me. My life is useless. I want help but my parents don’t listen to me so I can’t get any help. It’s causing me to shoot up the … school”. The parents refused to do anything, but were in a hurry to get back to their jobs, and left the boy at school. And four people died.

If you ask me, the parents got off lucky with a 10-15 year sentence.

There is no blessing in walking a crooked or perverse path. It came out during the trial that the father was inattentive, the mother in a extra-marital affair, and the boy ignored. Sin ignored can lead to death. It did in this case.

People need the Lord. I pray that this young man will be found of Jesus, and those so horribly hurt by the perversity of the parents will find peace in Christ. Oh, how our America needs the Lord!