Notes from Adrian Rogers' sermon:
"How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?
Proverbs 1:22Level One
The identifying marks of being simple (naïve):
• He loves simplicity
• He lacks understanding
• He is led easily
• He is living in danger
A child loves simplicity and living his lifestyle. Who can blame him if he isn’t taught differently? Proverbs 1:22 “How long, O Simple ones, will you love being simple? He doesn’t want any restrictions put on him. He also lacks understanding: Proverbs 9:4-6: “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!" To him who lacks sense she (wisdom) says, come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.” He is led easily. Proverbs 14:15 “The simple believes every word.” Madison Avenue loves the teenager, because they believe anything and are easily led. The Hebrew word for simple means “open”. If grown people feel a strong compulsion to conform, how much more will your teenager do it? They are living in danger: Proverbs 22:3 “The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.” If you give a young teenager the keys of your car without warning him and instructing him and praying for him, he will take the keys of your car, get a friend and go get beer and get drunk and go through town at 80 miles per hour and get into an accident. They do not have the ability to see the danger that is down the road. He thinks he is going to live forever. He doesn’t understand and he doesn’t see the problems that are out there. Sound familiar? You were like that when you were a teenager.
Level Two
The identifying marks of being a scoffer (smart aleck):
• He delights in his scorning
• He defies instructions
• He despises the one who corrects him
• He is destined for destruction and damnation
He delights in his scorning. Proverbs 1:22 “How long will scoffers delight in scoffing?” It gives him a feeling of superiority. He defies instruction: Proverbs 13:1: “A wise son hears his father’s instruction, but a scorner hears not rebuke.” You can’t tell a smart aleck anything…he already knows everything. You might as well be talking to a brick wall; he will tune you out. He despises the good and the godly. Proverbs 15:12 “A fool despises his father’s instruction.” You correct a scorner and he may not open his mouth, but he will look at you with his eyes he’ll be saying “I hate your guts.” Proverbs 9:7, 8 “Whoever corrects a scoffer get himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.” Tell him what is right, and he will insult you to your face. He is destined for destruction. Proverbs 13:1, 13 “A wise son hears his father’s instruction, but a scorner hears not rebuke.” “Whoever despises the words shall be destroyed.” He can laugh his way to hell, but he can’t laugh his way out. He is destined for destruction, but you can’t tell him anything…when you talk to him, it is like pouring water on a rock. At one time, he was gullable, naïve and open. But now he’s not that way.
Level Three
The identifying marks of being a fool (rebel):
• He rejects wisdom
• He ridicules righteousness
• He rejoices in sin
• He is reserved for hell
He rejects wisdom. Proverbs 1:22 “fools hate knowledge”. The other two are known by what they love; the fool is known by what he hates. He literally hates knowledge. Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” He ridicules righteousness. Proverbs 14:9 “Fools mock at sin.” Anything that is holy they put down, anything that is unholy they laugh at. He rejoices in sin. Proverbs 10:1”A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is the grief of his mother. Folly is a joy to him” Isaiah 5:20 “Who unto them who call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” He is reserved for hell. Proverbs 17:10 “A rebuke is more effective for a wise man than a hundred blows for a fool.” The problem is his moral sense has been destroyed and his conscience has been perverted. You take a fool and beat him, you won’t change him. Lock him up in prison and he’ll come out a worse criminal. Take away his privileges; he’ll just hate you more and more. He is SET. There is hardly (if any) hope for a fool according to scriptures. But God is merciful.
The difference between a godly man and a fool is the difference between David and Pharoh. When David sinned, Nathan rebuked him and he repented. But when Pharoh sinned, and Moses rebuked him, the bible says he hardened his heart all the more. And as the plagues got worse, Pharoh got further and further away from God. The more the stripes were laid on his back, the harder the fool called Pharoh went deeper and deeper into sin.
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