TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - May 26, 2025 - Proverbs 1:8-12 - Hear the Instruction of Your Father

Episode Date: May 26, 2025

On this special Memorial Day edition of Morning Manna, Rick and Doc explore Proverbs 1:8–12, highlighting God’s divine blueprint for family, wisdom, and obedience. The lesson emphasizes the parental roles of instruction and discipline, the visual imagery of wisdom as a crown and chain, and the dangers of succumbing to the enticement of sinners. The conversation also honors generational wisdom, the spiritual authority of godly parents, and the responsibility to resist temptation. Through memorable stories, cultural commentary, and biblical truth, the episode encourages believers to wear their crown of wisdom boldly and walk like royalty.Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart. Airdate 5/26/25You can partner with us by visiting FaithandValues.com, calling 1-800-576-2116, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961.Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves!AmericanReserves.comIt’s the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today!Amazon.com/Final-DayApple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books!books.apple.com/final-dayPurchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today.Sacrificingliberty.comThe Fauci Elf is a hilarious gift guaranteed to make your friends laugh! Order yours today!Trunews/faucielf

Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome to Morning Manor. And today is Memorial Day in the United States of America, a very solemn day as we remember those who have fallen on battlefields in previous wars for this country. And so America is closed today. No work, no schools, banking or anything. And most people are home today. But those of you who are in other countries, it's a normal day. And so Doc and I are at our homes today and we're delighted that you have stopped by for today's Morning Man of Bible lesson. We are now in the book of Proverbs and we're in chapter one and we're going to tackle a number of verses because it's all part of

the scriptures. Our dear Heavenly Father, Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And Father, as we will learn in these verses, you are our good Father who instructs us in the right ways to live. And so, Father, we ask for the presence of your Holy Spirit to instruct us to open our hearts and minds to receive truth and wisdom and understanding and to make our lives better. But also Father, that we may impart these truths to others. In the name of Jesus, amen. Amen. Amen. God bless you. Welcome, morning men. If you're with us live today, God bless you for taking and making the effort to be with us. And for those that are watching the other time, God bless you as well. We're glad that you're here and eager to learn the Word of God.

We ended on our last time together in Proverbs, verse 7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. And there are passage today is that first instruction that Solomon gives, verses 8 through 19. And I'll begin with verse 8 in the King James, my son, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother, for they shall be an ornament of grace

unto thy head and chains about thy neck. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, come with us, let us lay wait for blood. Let us look privily for the innocent without cover. Let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit. We shall find all precious substance. We shall fill our houses with spoil. Cast in thy lot among us. Let us all have one verse. My son walk not thou in the way with them. Refrain thy foot from their path. For their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird, and they lay wait for their own

blood. They lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone that is greedy of grain, which take us away the life of the owners thereof. God bless the reading of his word today. You know it's still amazing Rick that this book, the book of Proverbs is as elegant and as poetic in its description of things today as I'm sure it was in Solomon's day. It's really amazing.

It is. It's a beautiful book, and filled with wisdom that has never gone out of style, never grown old. It's still relevant today. And so let's start with verse eight. My son, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother. Okay, so my teaching style, I think you know by now,

is to break up each verse into segments and to focus on each segment, drill down deep into the segment, extract all of the understanding and wisdom that we can get from each segment, then put the all the segments together into the complete sentence. So we have here, segment one, okay, my son, hear the instruction of thy father. And then the second segment will be and forsake not the law of thy mother. So let's start with, we can actually make this three segments. It starts with my son, okay, and this is a loving call. My son, it's an address, it's a loving call to attention. It's appealing to young people to receive godly counsel under the care of a wise We have, as believers in Christ, we have a heavenly father. Yes. Not all of us were blessed in this life with a godly father.

I wasn't. I had a godly grandfather, but I didn't have a godly father. I had a godly grandmother, but I didn't have a godly father. I had a godly grandmother, but I didn't have a godly mother. But we are blessed as believers that our heavenly father fulfills both roles. Yes. He is our divine heavenly father who made us, created us, gave us a soul, breathed life into us. But he's also, he exists in our lives in the role of an earthly father. Yes. And so it took me many decades to come to that realization. I knew Him in the beginning as God.

Then I knew Him as my Holy Father. And then in recent years I've come to see him. He's my papa. He is my Abba. Abba is Arabic for daddy. Aramaic. I think Arabic is baba. Okay? So they all mean the same thing. It means daddy. And so that's the role he desires to have in our lives. Now, Solomon wrote this in the mindset of a godly earthly father and a godly earthly human mother. But again, for us, keep this in mind,

we have, we are under the care of a wise, loving, divine, heavenly father. So it says, there's a command, hear the instructions. So it says there's a command, hear the instructions. Hear the instructions. You have ears. Turn them on. Listen. There must be active listening. Pay attention to the instruction of the Father. Embrace the Father's guidance. Make it the foundation for your life. So the Father's instruction represents authoritative wisdom. Again, in context as Solomon wrote it, he's writing to young Jewish boys and girls, teens, young adults, and he's assuming that their parents understood the Torah, understood the law of Moses, and were

upright, godly people. For us, again, as believers in Christ, we need to read this as our Heavenly Father is speaking to us. He's saying, I gave you two ears, listen, pay attention to what I'm teaching. My instruction is rooted in truth, and you need to apply these teachings to shape your character and the decisions that you make in life So the phrase highlights the father's role as the primary teacher of spiritual and moral principles and That is a that is a divinely assigned role that most earthly fathers are Completely failing in carrying them out.

Yes. Absolutely failing. And this has been part of, I mean, this has been Satan's strategy, I would say for the past 50 years, and that is to break up the family, destroy the nuclear family, destroy the God-appointed role of the father, the husband, lead the father off into self-absorption and neglecting his duties. Right. If fathers were carrying out their duties, there wouldn't be so many child support cases in the country, would there? That's true. I mean, it's sad. We have roles.

And God established a family, and he put Adam at the head of the family. I mean, I could go into an entire teaching here about Adam and Eve. How did Adam get into the mess that he got in and got all of us in it? Because somewhere he failed to either teach Eve what God told him or to correct Eve when she went astray. One or the other, he failed. He was told to dress and keep the garden, take care of the garden, protect the garden.

The moment that serpent, that talking serpent showed up, the devil, he should have picked that rascal up and tossed him. That was his duty. He was not supposed to engage in, or Eve engaged in a conversation with the devil. See, things went wrong really fast. And Eve is the one who sinned, but Adam's sin was not dealing with her sin. And Adam's sin is what condemns all of mankind. That's the thing to remember. His sin is what condemned us.

Yes. He didn't sin the way Eve did. I don't know how God would have dealt with that if if Adam said, hey, hey, girl, I'm not going there with you. I don't know what he would. I don't know how God

would have worked that out. You know, Adam had was good. I've been in the ministry 45 years, Rick. And that's the first time I've ever heard that. Adam had more ribs. I'm sorry, off guard on that one. I mean, think about it. The Lord could have said, Adam, you know, you didn't sin, but your wife did. I'm going to put you to sleep and I'm going to take another rib out. We're going to start this over. Okay. But it didn't go that way.

Adam sinned and his sin introduced sin to the human race. Right. So this verse is telling us to listen to a Father's instruction, to embrace godly wisdom and godly discipline, embrace godly wisdom and godly discipline. To recognize discipline as a good thing. That wisdom and discipline from a godly father is a divine gift. And so you have to have an attitude of humility.

If you're going to listen to somebody else's advice, you have to be humble. You have to assume you don't know it all. And maybe somebody else knows something more than you. Yes. And so hearing the Father's instructions fosters this heart of humility. Now the second part of verse 8, and forsake not enduring value of maternal teaching. And it encourages us to uphold godly mothers, the standards of godly mothers. Again, in my life, I don't recall my mother teaching me anything. But I do remember my grandmother teaching me.

My grandparents were devout Christians. My parents weren't. So you know, when I think of this, I have to think of my grandmother. And I would say to you, if you're a grandparent, you have no idea the influence you have on your grandchildren. You need to use all of it that you can, in part to them, all the wisdom and love and sound advice that you can give them, even when it looks like they're not listening to you at all.

They are some years later, they will remember. They will remember you as a godly grandmother, a godly grandfather. You know, my image of my granddad is I, you know, I see him sitting in his rocking chair reading his Bible. He had a third grade education, but he read the Bible every day. Praise God. That's the memory I have of him. So mothers are vital instructors of their children, of moral and spiritual truths. In too many families, mothers are doing both jobs. They're doing the job of the mother and

the job of the father, because the father's out to launch AWOL. the father because the father's out to launch AWOL. And you know, if you're in that situation, you've got to be praying for your, your husband or your son, your grandson to come to the realization of his, his role against society, our modern society is designed to destroy young men. I mean, it's deliberate to break them down, to destroy their manhood, to make them... Go ahead, Doc. And how do they do that? Primarily by removing the father or the father's influence from

the family? You either remove the father or you minimize the father's role or you question the father's authority. I mean, look at modern entertainment today. And you can't think of a single person in movies or TV or anything like that, that has a positive father role right now. I mean, you know, when I was a kid, there were still a few left out there. But back remember in the 50s and 60s, father knows vest and you know, all these different

things, they were still even though they were secular, they still recognized the authority of the Father in the home. But now, sons are told, you don't need fathers, it's optional. And anything a father would tell you anyway, you don't need to listen to, you need to do your own thing. That's right. I need a father. Yeah, to do your own thing. That's right. Yeah, you mentioned Father Knows Best. That was a very popular show. Fred McMurray, my three sons. Fred McMurray, Ward

Cleaver and Leave it to Beaver. Yeah, you Beaumont. Yes. and leave it to Bieber. Yeah, you Beaumont, yes. All right, so, you know, look at Ozzy and Harriet. Look at the couples that were in TV. They were presented as solid, upright, morally strong husband and wife couples. That's not what you have today. And it's not been this way for decades,

because the entertainment industry has been on a mission to destroy the human family. It's not just that they got a warped idea of what life is like. No, they have a mission. Yes. It is a it is a plan to destroy the family. And they've just about done it. But it'll come back. It this there's going to be a reset. Yes, there's going to be a reset. it's coming really soon So generation coming that's right. There's a first first turning coming after this fourth turning So the mother is the instructor of moral and spiritual truth She's supposed to be and

The the mother's rules, the mother's law, are supposed to convey a consistent framework for living. Children are to grow up and become young adults and have good memories of their mothers, what they taught them. Yes. This is the ideal way. It's not what's been happening in our country for quite some time, but this is the ideal way that if families are to be brought up children to be brought up by a godly husband and

godly father and mother now the third segment of this verse is Well, it's not a third segment it's just that I would say The third message I want to deliver is it's a call to obedience. Yes. I mean, at the heart of this is obey, obey godly counsel. Hear it, listen to it and obey it. Now we go to verse 9. For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck. What will be? What will be an ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck?

Godly counsel, godly wisdom, the teachings of a godly father and a godly mother. So the parental instructions that we read about in verse eight are now described in verse nine as an ornament of grace. Blessing, yes. Yes. So an ornament of grace reflects divine flavor, a favor. You say this again. The teachings of a godly mother and father are described as an ornament of grace.

And an ornament of grace means divine favor. Yes. adorns the believer's life with a radiance, and it testifies to their commitment to God's Word. The grace that it's speaking about, the ornament of grace, is God's unmerited favor. In the elegance of a character shaped by obedience, we have to see wisdom as a precious gift, like a valuable gem, diamond. You wear it as an ornament. This is the imagery of a beautiful ornament. That wisdom is not a burden, but it's something beautiful that you should proudly wear.

So this grace-filled ornament elevates us above worldly values. The second segment is Unto Thy Head. The head signifies the mind. The mind is the recipient of this ornament. You wear this ornament of grace unto thy head. Like a crown. Yes. What's in your head, your mind? Godly instruction shapes your thinking, your worldview, the decisions that you make. the decisions that you make, godly advice, godly wisdom,

worn as an ornament unto thy mind, unto thy head. It means that your thinking is in alignment with God's will. So placing the ornament on your head represents wisdom's role in guiding your intellect, that you prioritize biblical truth over worldly wisdom. Cause people in the world think they're wise. I just recently bought a book doc on financial success. And I read the review and I thought, Oh, this sounds like a really good book. I got the book and the first couple of pages I thought, this guy is so unbiblical. But people think he's wise.

I mean, just the first couple pages of the first chapter, it's like this book is so worldly. But again, in the author's mind and in the minds of the fans of this man, he's very wise. But his wisdom is contrary to God's wisdom. So the head also represents authority and your identity. Where's your face on your head? I recognize you by your face. Your face is attached to your head. So adhering to wisdom establishes a person's reputation as one who knows God and honors God and obeys God. Right.

So, Doc, you mentioned the crown. That's exactly what this means. This ornament is an image of a crown that bestows regal dignity, encouraging you to carry yourself through life like a son or daughter of the Most High God. Think about it. If you were a prince or princess of some monarch in the world, and you're wearing a crown, how would you walk in public? You'd stand very tall. You'd honor the crown, right? Isn't that what you would do? What kind of behavior would you participate in?

You would be regal. You'd you'd be royalty. Yes. How would you talk? Like a royal. Yes. Yes, absolutely. I think I've told this story before. I always got a kick out of many years ago Queen Elizabeth, her butler from many, many years retired and he requested permission to write a book about being the Queen's butler and the Queen granted permission.

I'm sure the manuscript was read quite carefully at Buckingham Palace before it was published. But one of the stories that he told that just made me chuckle is he said that one evening at bedtime, he opened the Queen's, the door to the Queen's private residence. Of course, he was in the private residence, but he opened the door to where I guess her bedroom was at and he just was checking on her before the night, you know, before they all went to bed. He said, the queen was in her nightgown and wearing her crown. Oh, Doc, she wore that crown to bed.

She was the queen. Well, Rick, if you had a crown, would you prance around the house in your pajamas? I never thought about it until I read what he wrote in his book. I thought, yeah, you know, she was the queen and she wanted everybody to know it, and she wore that crown to bed. But think about that. She was alone, or maybe Prince Philip's there too. There wasn't the adoring crowds or anything like that. That was just her. And she had to be convinced she was still queen, I guess.

Yes. Every day, she had to put that crown on and go, I'm the queen. I got a responsibility. I have to act a certain way. I, I'm the queen. I got a responsibility. I have to act a certain way. I have to talk a certain way. I have responsibility. I'm a queen. Look at, here's my crown.

See, we should be thinking like this. I've got a crown. Hallelujah. Oh, glory to God. We would fix a lot of emotional mental problems if we thought like that. It sure would. Wow.

So the third segment of this verse is, and chains about thy neck. So the neck is the focal point. First we talked about the head. Now chains about your neck. So this is pointing to, it's highlighting wisdom's visibility. The crown, you wear the crown and you let the world know, I am a child of the King. I think like a King.

I think like a prince. I think like a princess. But now you have this neck chain and it's not hidden. It's visible for everyone to see. What do they see? Godly wisdom. That our lives are to display godly wisdom. Now Satan wants you to take that chain off. Right. And when we take the chain off and take the crown off is when we get in trouble You know when Satan say hey, what are you doing prancing around with a crown and a chain?

Don't you be like everybody else yes, that's when we get in trouble Because he's getting his down on the street level with him level. He's getting his down on the street level with him. So you have to say, I'm going to wear my crown. I'm going to wear this chain. I desire everybody to see that I am a son or daughter of the Most High God. So wisdom is now displayed outwardly. Yes. Don't be ashamed of your wisdom. It's not your fault other people are fools. It's not your responsibility that they're fools.

Right. And isn't a wise person easy to recognize? I mean, you know a wise person. Fools are easy to recognize, too, generally. But wise people, yes, you can recognize. It's like having a gold chain around your neck. It's like, hey, it draws attention. It signifies authority. And so,

it's a throwback to Joseph. When Joseph was made ruler over Egypt by Pharaoh, it says that Pharaoh gave him his signet ring and then put a gold chain around his neck. Yes. Doc, what just popped in my mind, you'll probably be able to guess which meeting I'm talking about is maybe about five, six years ago, I was invited to a meeting here in Florida on the other side of the state. And I was actually surprised that I was invited. It was a private meeting of Christian leaders. I would say maybe there may have been a dozen people in that room and discussing a very important project.

And our ministry was invited to participate. Okay. And so I was surprised again that I was I was there I'm not going to tell you the names as it was a private meeting so I'm not going to tell you names, I'll just say there were some very influential people there. Now, I took Susan with me. And Susan didn't know most of the people there. She knew they were important, but she didn't she didn't know who they were. Okay. One gentleman flew in and landed in the in the yard of this of this church in his private helicopter. this church in his private helicopter. Did I give you an idea of what this meeting was like?

So anyhow, we were there all day. When it was over and we were driving home, I said to Susan, who was the wisest person in that meeting? And she spoke up right away. She goes, oh, that's easy. The older man down on the end of the table who said very little. Isn't that interesting? And that's exactly who I thought was the wisest person in that meeting.

The man who said the least, he was taking it all in. He was processing. He was restraining his remarks. Interesting. He was the wisest one there. And he's the one who flew away at the end of the meeting in his private helicopter. Just think about that, all right?

The wisest man there came in a private helicopter. God had blessed him with wisdom and worldly success. Now he's passed away, he's not with us anymore. But that was my only encounter with him. And what did I come away with? That's a very wise man. That's somebody I'd like to know. See, he was humble and yet his wisdom

was displayed outwardly. And the paradoxical explanation of this, he displayed his wisdom outwardly by not talking. It was the few words that identified him as being wise. The ones who were running their mouths were the ones, I was like, I don't want to do anything with you guys. The guy down there on the end, I was watching him the whole time. What is he going to do about this opportunity, this project that's been presented? I'm watching signals from him.

Right. So the chains about the neck symbolize the precious nature of wise instruction. And they are, where do you wear a chain? Close to the heart. Yes. Okay, so the ornament is at the mind, the chain is at the heart. It's a constant reminder of God's truth. of God's truth. These chains are not restrictive. These aren't chains that bind you. These aren't prison chains. These are ornamental chains that are, that says wisdom is beautiful and I have voluntarily chosen to pursue it and I value wisdom like fine jewelry I mean if you if you're with a wealthy person who is wearing chains of pearls or diamonds, they're not hiding it.

Right, they want you to see it. Yeah, hey, look at this, count the pearls. So what God is saying here is when you have wisdom, wear it like a fine chain of diamonds and pearls, but be humble. Don't be cocky and arrogant about it. Be humble, but don't be ashamed that you have wisdom. Let the world see it. Again, that man in that meeting, he was a very humble

man and yet the thing that was radiating from him was his wisdom. Praise God. Man, I want to be like that. I know. I know, Doc. You know, it was towards the end of his life. He would probably say, Oh, Rick, it took a long time to get like this. You have no idea what I went through to become like this. Okay. You have no idea why I learned to shut my mouth and just listen. So the chains are protective, they guard the heart and they guide the path of those who wear them. And the chains represent a lifelong pursuit of wisdom Now verse 10 my son if sinners entice thee

Consent thou not My son if sinners entice you, don't consent. Once again, we're back to my son. He's repeating the tender parental call that was expressed in verse eight. Saying to daughters and sons, you're my child, listen to me. Again, son, whether it's son or daughter, the message here is be a son or daughter who has a teachable spirit. Yes.

who has a teachable spirit. Yes. Adopt a humble posture, ready to learn. And there's also when by saying my son, and this could be my daughter, my son, my daughter, it's emphasizing the generational transmission of wisdom. Yes. One of the most important things that, especially grandparents are tasked with doing

is passing on to the other generations, the wisdom that they gain in their long lives. Yes. Unfortunately, one of two things happens, either the grandparents fail to convey it and see no importance in it, Or number two, the children and grandchildren refuse to listen and just see as grandma and grandpa talking about old times. Now, a wise person says, I desire to hear what you know, what you've learned.

Oh, Doc, how I wish I could go back now and talk with those elderly people who were in my life as a teenager and to extract from them the wisdom that they knew. Yes. You know, one, it's actually a good thing. Because my parents were AWOL, most of my childhood and teenage years, I was around my grandparents a lot. Well, they were born in the 1890s. It's hard to imagine, isn't it? Yes.

In the 19th century. Yes. So their siblings, their brothers and sisters, were all born in the 1890s. All their friends, all their school classmates, everybody that they grew up with came from the 1890s. There was actually some I remember, Doc, that themothers, and they were born after the Civil War. Right.

And I remember them. My grandmother arrived in Missouri as a little girl in a covered wagon. Your grandmother? That's my grandmother, yes. Wow. And so it's, you know, but the wisdom that they had, it doesn't matter whether you're in a covered wagon or you're in the age of artificial intelligence. Wisdom is eternal. Wisdom cuts through all the noise, cuts through every strata of society,

every change of technology. Wisdom itself is eternal because true wisdom comes from God. That's what makes it eternal. Amen. So Doc, I can remember my mother's grandmother and my father's grandmother, my great-grandmother's. And the one thing that they had in common, besides the, you know, the centuries, the century that they were born in, is that what I remember about them is their style of dress. They wore long dresses and bonnets.

All right, so they were still wearing bonnets. I don't I can't recall ever seeing my great grandmothers without a bonnet. Well, same here. Yeah, I'm trying to think. Maybe. Well, even in the house. That's what I mean. Even to bed, even to bed. I don't remember going to their homes and seeing them not wearing a bonnet. That's how far back in time they went, again, born after the US Civil War.

So it's a responsibility of grandparents to pass down wisdom. The second segment of this is if sinners entice you, this is a warning to avoid subtle temptations, subtle seductive invitations. These subtle temptations and seductive invitations come through words, actions, the look of eyes. They're tempting. And he says, if sinners entice you.

Again, it can be, it can just be through the way words are spoken, the glance of eyes, the expression on faces. They're enticing. They're saying, get closer to me. I have something. We have a different way of living. It's the easy life, my friend. Easy life, the pleasurable life.

So obviously the word center here refers to anyone who willfully lives contrary to God's laws. That's a sinner. If you are living contrary to God's law, you're a sinner. At least you're sinning at that time. And then there's the conditional if that acknowledges the inevitability of temptation. It is going to happen. You're going to be enticed at some time at some point. And enticement always appeals to pride, greed, pleasure, or Satan will appeal to your weakest part of your life. He will provide somebody at that time, wherever you are the weakest, Satan will show up with somebody to fill that void. And it's an entrapment.

And so the warning is telling us to recognize that temptation can come from the people closest around us. The third segment is consent thou not. Do not consent, do not give in. It's a call resist temptation. Don't think about it, don't ponder it. At some point if you continue to think about it and ponder it, At some point, if you continue to think about and ponder it, at some point, it will germinate and give birth and a sin will be born. Yes. It's the same process. It just repeats itself over and over and over. Remember the head, the mind, the heart. Satan's trying to get tempting thoughts into your head,

which goes into your heart. I mean, we have all fallen for these things, all of us. And we have all fallen for these things, all of us, okay? Don't condemn yourself, don't beat yourself up. Satan will do it after you have succumbed to his temptation, then he'll turn around and just beat you with a mallet. It's a, what a stupid move. Not only will he say what a stupid move, he'll tell you you're worthless and you don't belong in God's kingdom.

Yes. No longer called my son. Yes. You can't be called a son. Look what you just did. If temptation is inevitable, yielding to it is a choice. We all have to admit that when we have succumbed to temptation, we chose to do it. You can't. I mean, I'm going back in time. Some of you are old enough to remember Flip Wilson and Geraldine. And he'd say that she'd say the devil made me do it.

No, no, it didn't make you do nothing. You did it all yourself. Oh, there's a, I can't think of his name right now. Um, he passed away a few years ago, country, uh, country music singer, mostly a songwriter and in one of his songs, his lyrics, his lyrics say the first time the devil made me do it. The second time I did it all by myself. I remember that song. his lyrics say, the first time the devil made me do it. The second time I did it all by

myself. I remember that song but I have news for him the first time. He did it. He did a choice too. That's right. That's right. Consent down on it's a choice. Verse 11, if they say come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause. Modern English says, if they say come with us, let's lie and wait for blood. Let's lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.

The invitation, come with us. It's like a magnet. That magnet is pulling on your sin nature that's supposed to be in the grave. to be in the grave. But that invitation, come with us, is knocking on the casket lid, saying to your sin nature, get out of there. Come on, go with us. Remember old times. Remember what it's like to sin. Come with us. Have you had enough of that church stuff? Let's go back to being what we used to be. Join us in our wicked schemes. That's what it is. It's an invitation to join sinners in wicked schemes. A deliberate attempt to exploit their vulnerability. Again, Satan looks for the place where you are vulnerable. Where are you hurting the

most? Where are you the weakest? He's not going to send a tempter to your strongest point. He's sending the tempter to your weakest point. Amen, Rick. Amen. Why would he waste time tackling your strength? If he's going to bring you down, he's got to find the weakest spot in your life and just pound and chisel until you collapse. So again, we have the word if, which implies that these invitations are common and that we should recognize and resist manipulative appeals from people who are enticing us. Yes.

Doc, many years ago, I mean, I'm talking eons ago when I was a young man, young Christian. I had a close friend, loved him dearly, but he was a PK, creatures kid. And he was always, I loved hanging around him. He's a great guy. But there would always be this, at some point this invitation, hey Rick, let's go do something. Okay. Which I didn't go with him.

But there was always this invitation. He told me later, years later, he admitted to me years later. He said, Rick, when I first met you, I thought, this guy's too good to be true. I've got, he literally said this. He said, I told myself, I've got to literally said this he said I told myself I've got to defile him He actually said that to me and he apologized That he was deliberately tempting me to commit sins with him See to commit sins with him. See, the people closest to you can be the most dangerous. They can be the most dangerous. Yes. You put down your guard. You're relaxed, you're at ease with this person. Now in this case, it says, and this is the second segment, let us lay weight for blood.

Okay, so now they're revealing their violent intentions. That their schemes often lead to harm and destruction. Even for those who are accomplices with them. So this picture, this imagery of laying weight, let's wait, let's get down in the grass and lay and wait. Let's get behind this building and hide, let's wait. Let's get down in the grass and lay and wait. Let's get behind this building and hide and let's wait. Okay. Planned and premeditated.

Yes. It's the premeditated nature of evil. That sinful actions are not spontaneous, but they are rooted in a heart turned from God. And so this idea of hiding and waiting, it suggests cunning, deceit. And when you're around people like that that you need the Holy Spirit to discern their motives, reveal their traps. The mention of bloodshed reveals to us the ultimate cost of rejecting God's wisdom.

reveals to us the ultimate cost of rejecting God's wisdom. That ultimately, somewhere in your life, you're going to pay a terrible price. Yes. And so it shows, it warns of the moral slippery slope that small compromises over time lead to serious sins. And the scary thing is that we know these things and we still fall for it. The third part says, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause. What this means is let's hide and sabotage this innocent person who hasn't,

we have no reason to hurt this innocent person, but let's sabotage him let's Not sabotage ambush ambush is the word I want let's ambush him Let's jump out of the bushes and ambush him Evil operates in secrecy and That makes it more difficult to detect its presence. And the only way you can do that is with the Holy Spirit. Yes.

Wicked people deliberately plot to ambush innocent people. So targeting the innocent says it speaks of the cruelty of unprovoked evil. Right. And we're not talking about necessarily gang members in the ghetto, are we Rick? No, because sometimes those that look privilege to take advantage of the innocent are wearing business seats. That's right. They're plotting how they're going to steal everything you own.

How they're going to cheat you out of your share of the business. How they're going to push you out of the company and take your job. Yeah, I've seen this happen in my lifetime. Over my lifetime, I've seen people plot to remove me from my job. Somebody wanted my job. Somebody wanted my job. That really happened to me a long time ago. A person that I trusted dearly and I found out he was actually working with the, one of the executives to get rid of me so he could get the job.

Yeah, they plot. People plot without cause. Without cause. That speaks of the senselessness of their wickedness. This person is innocent. There's no cause to do harm to that person. It's not even your enemy. It's not even your enemy. Verse 12, let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole, and those that go down into the pit. The phrase swallowed them up alive. This speaks of the ruthless ambition of sinners to utterly destroy their victims. Their violence represents an insatiable hunger of death itself.

Yes. Let us swallow them up alive as the grave. What does that mean? Burying them alive. This verse portrays evil as a force that seeks to consume an innocent person's life entirely. Take everything, destroy them. By speaking of the grave, it's emphasizing the finality of their intent. The grave's nature is a reminder of sin's ultimate end. And then anho, this is the second part, and whole. All right, so let's go back and look.

Let us swallow them up alive as the grave, and whole. The second part of this is the two words, and whole, W-H-O-L-E. whole. W-H-O-L-E. So this word intensifies the sinner's cruelty. It says their desire is to completely destroy their victims, to leave no trace of life or hope, utterly destroy their life. Doesn't necessarily mean physical death. It means we're gonna wipe them out, they'll never recover. Right. We might wipe them out financially, they go bankrupt.

They live the rest of their life in poverty. You wipe them out. Believe me, there are people like that in the world. They're greedy. So we see the evil's ambition. That if it's unchecked, it will consume every aspect of another person's existence. So destruction, the emphasis on wholeness in destruction warns of the danger of partial

compromises. On whole everything you make small compromises the enemy is saying, hey, you might you might only be going in with your toes. I'm taking everything. You step over that line with your toes, I'm taking everything. You step over that line with your toes, I'm taking your head. The third part, as those that go down into the pit. So this segment of verse 12 warns that those who plot harm ultimately bring themselves closer to the pit of hell. That's right.

So go down into the pit speaks of death and judgment. that sinners, plans of sinners, mirror the fate of those who reject God's ways. It's a place of no return. The pit is a place of no return. Once you go there, you're not getting out. So, the pit, which is associated with death, speaks of the stakes, the high risk, the high cost of temptation. Like, if you continue on this path, you're going to the pit. And so descending into the pit is a call to repentance. Because the phrase, go down into the pit, it's speaking about the downward spiral of sin. That if you don't stop it, if you don't reverse it, you're just going to continue to descend

until you are completely destroyed and you're trapped in the pit. Right. You put others in the grave, but you're going to wind up in the pit. Yes. All right, Doc, I'm not gonna make it to verse 19. We'll pick it up tomorrow. We'll pick it up tomorrow at verse 13. All right, very good. Well, we appreciate the lesson today, Rick, and I hope everyone received something good from the Lord today out of today's lesson. And

just want to remind you that Morning Man is now available on Rumble, YouTube, Facebook, X, and several other outlets as well. But I encourage you to check us out online and share our content with others that you would feel would benefit from that. Of course, we are still continuing to post to truenews.com for now. And so every day you can go to true news, but that's only going to be for a certain window of time. So we want you to understand that you'll have other places where you can access

the information and always here on faith and values, of course. So we appreciate you being here with us today. Rick, any final words before we sign off for this Memorial Day edition of Morning Manor? No, that's it for today. Ponder what we talked about today, think it through, and wear your crown on your head and your chain about your neck.

Amen, praise God. Walk like royalty today, everyone. God bless you, we love you, and we'll see you on the Tuesday edition of Morning Man.