Proverbs 1:8-19
1. Present yourself as a follower of inherited wisdom.
What do you want people to know first about you? What characterizes you at first glance?
2. Sin sneaks up by enticement and consent.
“Misery loves company” we like to say; so does evil.
Blood: the highest symbol of taking what is not yours to take.
-Evil loves the ambush, rather than a sustained fight or a prolonged effort.
-Evil loves ridiculous impressions and expressions of itself. No matter how
great this gang becomes, can it truly imitate the power of death, occupying people like Sheol, the place of the dead?
-Evil loves false promises. Will not Sheol, the very place they speak of, separate them from their “precious goods” and “plunder”?
The speech from the gang-recruiter concludes in verse 14 and applies to all of us more than we would think:
3. A man or woman not walking in the way of God desires deeply to band together with others.
Especially when our efforts no longer have the seal of approval from God—we desire to invent our own seal of approval by our commonality.
Do you intend to wander in and out of your relationships? Do so at your own peril!
Set your relationships on a clear path through prayer.
4. Greed for unjust gain will suck the life out of you.
“Life” – a constant choice, a path
2 Cor. 2:15-16
