A Tale of Two Sons Proverbs 22:6

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. 5/29/2018 Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

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I. Beauty 1. When it is lusted after A. How Beauty can be a Killer B: 5/29/2018 I. Beauty A. How Beauty can be a Killer B: 1. When it is lusted after

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5/29/2018 1 Samuel 2:12, 22-24 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord. 2:22-24 Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting. And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad.

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5/29/2018 2 Chronicles 33:1-3 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.  And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.

5/29/2018 2 Chronicles 33:4-7 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.” And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever,

5/29/2018 2 Chronicles 33:8-9 and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses.”  Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.

5/29/2018 Train up a child in the way he should go and when he grows up he shall not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Questions to Consider Is this verse a guarantee? Does this verse imply parental guilt when children grow up and go the wayward path? What is the role of the child’s decision making in all this?

Proverbs 22:6 Train a child according to his own way, 5/29/2018 Proverbs 22:6 Train a child according to his own way, even when he grows old he shall not depart from it. It is highly likely that certain translators missed this understanding of the text as a warning not because of any difficulty in the Hebrew, but because it construes the first clause as an ironic command. It tells the reader to do something he should not do.

5/29/2018 Proverbs 19:27 Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

This is a warning against allowing a child to go his or her own way. 5/29/2018 This is a warning against allowing a child to go his or her own way. Because all humanity has a sin nature, children will naturally gravitate towards sinful thoughts and behaviors. Left unchecked, sinful thoughts and behaviors naturally become habits, which given enough time, become a part of the child’s character.

5/29/2018 What wisdom does Proverbs provide here concerning this common parenting approach? Children need biblical instruction! Don’t expect children to magically change from their foolish thinking and sinful habits when they grow older!

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, 5/29/2018 Proverbs Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him. - 22:15 Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death – 19:18 The rod of correction imparts wisdom, a child left to himself disgraces his mother. – 29:15

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5/29/2018 2 Chronicles 33:10-13  The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.  

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5/29/2018 2 Chronicles 33:10-13  And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.  He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.

What of the infamous debate concerning nature vs. nurture? 5/29/2018 What of the infamous debate concerning nature vs. nurture?

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What should be our attitude towards discipline? 5/29/2018 What should be our attitude towards discipline?

5/29/2018 Hebrews 12:7-11 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

5/29/2018 Hebrews 12:7-11 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Is the instructing of fellow believers of any consequence? 5/29/2018 Is the instructing of fellow believers of any consequence?

5/29/2018 James 5:19-20 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,  let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

5/29/2018 Concluding Thoughts Humans are made in the image of God and capable of making real decisions. People’s decisions can be influenced by an innumerable amount of factors, but they alone are the one’s making their decisions and they alone will be held accountable by God for their decisions.

5/29/2018 Concluding Thoughts There is NOT a one-to-one correspondence between wayward offspring and negligent parenting. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. – Isaiah 1:2

Concluding Applications 5/29/2018 Concluding Applications What kind of son (or daughter) are you going to be? Are you willing to be instructed by God’s Word and other believers? Wisdom is a choice, a choice to submit to the Lord’s instruction.