When you come along
and some pretty girl
who is very worldly
is trying to pull you away
from the things that you've been instructed with
from the godly people in your life;
when you're confronted by that,
or the bad companions that are set
to corrupt your good morals,
when you've got guys come along
and entice you to come with them,
when the proverb says don't go with them.
When you've got the girl who comes along -
the woman folly,
or the loud woman,
this adulterous woman,
this woman that's described
in various places in the Proverbs,
you look at these things
and you say, yes, that is enticing.
That has a promise of fun.
But I want what's best.
I want what's better.
It's better if I cut that off
and I get this rather than get that,
because if I get that and I forfeit this,
that isn't better. That's worse.
Ben, like I said before,
most people in this world are fools.
(incomplete thought)
You're probably familiar with Pilgrim's Progress.
We have the audio version.
I was just listening in the car the other day.
You remember Pliable, right?
Pliable.
Pliable is the kind of guy that you don't want to be.
Pliable is the kind of guy
that when he's home with mom and dad
and they're Christians,
well, yeah, he's kind of partial to that.
Pliable means kind of bendable.
You know, then when he's over
with the guys from school
who are wicked and perverse
and all about all manner of wickedness,
well, then, he bends and conforms
to their shape.
That's pliable.
And it was interesting,
you know, he fell back.
He went the race a little ways.
You don't want to be one of these guys
that goes the race for 17 years
or however so long,
and then you fall out of the race.
And when Christian got to the gate,
the guy - what was it? Good Will?
He was there and he said,
"did you come alone?"
He said, "Well, I actually started out with Pliable."
And he said, "What? Did he count
eternal life as such a small thing?"
Ben, that's a fool that does that.
Look, you're young right now.
You feel like you're going to live forever.
But you're not going to live forever.
And the day is going to come
when justice and wisdom
are going to catch up to you.
And if you despise both those things,
it doesn't matter - they're both realities still
and they're going to catch up to you.
You have a word there.
The day's going to come,
if you scoff at wisdom,
there's going to be a day coming
when she's going to scoff at you.
Justice.
You can sin and find there isn't
immediate justice,
but that doesn't mean that there's never justice.
They're both dogging your tracks.
And the day's going to come
where you're going to get to a place
(incomplete thought)
All these fools out here in the world,
they're all going to find
that they get to that day,
when wisdom and justice
smack them right in the face,
and they're going to realize,
they did not have wisdom
and they did not understand justice,
and it's going to be too late.
Look, you've been given a lot of teaching.
And I'll tell you this - I'll warn you this,
those warnings, I know a lot of times,
you get a lot of guys that like
to diminish what's said in Hebrews 6
and Hebrews 10
because we believe that once somebody's saved,
they can't lose that.
So very often when you see these warnings
that come at us about people
who can't be brought again
back to repentance,
people who walk away,
and look, their later end is worse,
and it would have been better for them
to have never known,
and having once known, to walk away.
We find that kind of thing in 2 Peter.
But Ben, I just tell you, take warning.
Wisdom.
Ben, really think about
what is for your greatest good
for the longest amount of time.
Think about justice.
Think about these things.
Let them fill your thoughts.
Don't run out of there into the world
and get so caught up.
It will take you away.
Listen, if you're not founded on that Rock;
if you're not founded on Christ,
it will tear you up and spit you out.
But take heed.