The Fifth Sunday in Lent, commonly called
Passion Sunday.
The
Collect.
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W
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E beseech
thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon thy people; that by thy great
goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A
Prayer for Understanding
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O
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God Most High,
Giver of light and love, I consecrate to Thee my understanding, my heart and my
will, my whole being for time and for eternity. May my understanding be always
obedient to Thy heavenly inspirations and the teachings of thy Holy Word, of
which Thou art the infallible Author; may my heart be ever inflamed with love
of God and of my neighbor; may my will be ever conformed to thy Divine will,
and may my whole life be a faithful following of the life and virtues of Our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom with Thee, and the Holy Ghost be honor
and glory for ever. Amen.
10 My son, if sinners
entice thee, consent thou not. 11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay
wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: 12 Let
us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into
the pit: 13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses
with spoil: 14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: 15 My
son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: 16 For
their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. 17 Surely in vain
the net is spread in the sight of any bird. 18 And they lay wait for their
own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. 19 So are the ways of
every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners
thereof. (Prov 1:10-19)
Before proceeding with the verses of today's devotion, I would like to remind
you of a profound truth of yesterday's devotion which I do not believe I
covered sufficiently. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Prov 1:7) May
I aver that the "fear of the LORD" must ALWAYS
precede a LOVE of the LORD? It is you and I who stand in the great NEED
of the Lord. It is a concern that we must receive justice from God that drives
us in FEAR to the Mercy Seat. To FEAR man, or ANYTHING, more than God is
to be in transgression of the First Commandment of God. All of our primary
emotions of righteousness must be owned by the Lord our God. When we first
learned to drive a car, we were practically terrified when we first drove in
heavy traffic, but after we came to know the wheel and feel of the car, we
began to enjoy driving. But we still have not forgotten that our driving
skills, improperly applied, may lead to disaster. When we first came to terms
with our lostness and sinfulness, we greatly feared God because
of His JUSTICE; but when we came to Him in earnest, confessing our sins and
leaning wholly upon Jesus Christ as a propitiation of those sins, we came to
LOVE the Lord with surpassing gratitude for His Mercy. Instead of a cold and
deathly fear of the Lord, the Christian- as He learns and knows Christ better –
has his deathly fears of the Lord transformed into a loving and respectful fear
– a fear that worries about hurting and disappointing our Lord instead of worry
of His wrath.
Our concern for those less gifted with wisdom than that with which we may have
been blessed and privileged to know is illustrated by the tenderness with which
Solomon addresses the youth who will hear his voice – "MY son!"
When I was a young boy, I held elders in great respect and esteemed their
wisdom and knowledge. I was always gratified if they spoke to me in tender and
familial terms (and they always did). Wisdom desires, above all else, to be
made known. It is the fundamental of righteousness. Wisdom means to seek the
most righteous means by which we may procure the most righteous result. Its
teaching must begin at the elemental level – most desirably when the child is
yet young and innocent, and from parent (the closest of authority standing in
the stead of God) to the child…"Train up a child in the way that he should
go…" So Solomon, a great King and son of David, refers to his
charges as sons. In these verses today, Solomon switches his emphasis from the
blessings of wisdom to the curses of a lack thereof. 10 My son, if
sinners entice thee, consent thou not. The most effective
moment to quench a fire is at the first spark before it grows into an
all-consuming Inferno. Likewise, the most expeditious means of remaining
virtuous is to avoid the temptations of sin as much as possible. Lydia
Sigourney said it well in the concluding lines of the Camel's Nose:
O youthful hearts to gladness
born,
Treat not this Arab lore with
scorn!
To evil habits' earliest wile
Lend neither ear, nor glance,
nor smile.
Choke the dark fountain ere it
flows,
Nor e'en admit the camel's nose!
It is always wise to refuse to follow sinners, for their very ways lead to sin.
Do we remember that the way of sin is also a DIRECTION that spirals always
downward to the gates of Hell? Sin is not passive or patient – it always
beckons and draws its victim. There are only TWO ways in this life. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the
gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow
is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that
find it. (Matt 7:13-14) King David, father of Solomon, must have
taught Solomon in his childhood of that direction that leads to destruction,
for he says in Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the
counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth
in the seat of the scornful. When sinners entice us to follow, STAND
FAST. If we follow, we will begin to converse with sin as did Eve
before the ill-winded Tree. And once we have grown close to sin, we sit down
there and make ourselves at home in the wilderness of sin. Wickedness has no
compassion and no heart for tender youth. 11. If
they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the
innocent without cause; 12 Let us swallow them up
alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit.
Sinners always seek alliances for their sins, and they always seek strength in
numbers. It is for this reason that nations, who are populated by greater
numbers of unbelievers, are burdened with far greater national sins than those
whose God is the Lord. (Ps 33:12) A Godly nation always tends toward freedom
and liberty for its people, for only a Godly people can appreciate liberty in
Christ. 13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill
our houses with spoil. An ungodly people will always seek for
wealth for which they have neither labored nor sacrificed, and there is never
ENOUGH to satisfy their hungers.
Now follows a very telling warning for a free people, for the wicked always
seek to have a common purse (socialism): 14 Cast in thy lot among
us; let us all have one purse. They bind together in gangs and
movements to usurp laws and boundaries to conduct their dishonest thievery. Of
course, the Word warned us against such in many places, namely, "…..if
any would not work, neither should he eat. (2 Thess 3:10) and the
teaching of Christ concerning the laborers being paid that which the Lord of
the Vineyard found acceptable regardless of time contributed in labors: Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me
for a penny? 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this
last, even as unto thee. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will
with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? 16 So the last shall
be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
(Matt 20:13-16) A wise people will never be deceived by a common purse, or
scales of measure that are unjustly rigged.
THE WAY OF THE WICKED: 15 My son, walk not thou in the way
with them; refrain thy foot from their path: 16 For their feet run to
evil, and make haste to shed blood. If the first step of a
journey is never taken, then we shall not be moved. If we refrain from taking
the first step toward sin, then we cannot fall for that sin. The sinner's
destination always ends in the shedding of innocent blood. This is the result of
sin when it is fully consummated.
THE CUNNING OF THE WICKED: 17 Surely in vain the net is
spread in the sight of any bird. The motive to sin is always hidden
just beneath the green grass. No one, desiring to trap a bird in a net, will
spread the net in open view of the bird. The bird must be taken by craft and
deceit. So the innocence of youth is marred by the sinner who entices him.
THE FATE OF THE WICKED: The fate of the wicked is to suffer the
self-same destruction that they commit against others. 18 And
they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
The old Anglican priest, John Donne, wrote these words:
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to
know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
The above lines fit the sinner with perfection. 19 So are the
ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the
owners thereof. The Way of the Lord is the Way of Life. The Way and
Wages of sin is death. Simple enough?
Dear Friend, can you name a single issue facing America today that could not be
satisfied through Godly morality and Christian faith? But why is that the one
solution that is most wholesome and efficacious is never acceptable to the
world? It is because, long ago in our emergence as a great nation, we began to
regard our greatness with vain pride to the exclusion of the God who made us
great. We put expensive and exclusive labels on everything, but demeaned and
trampled upon the banner of Heaven. Unless the Lord sends forth His Holy Spirit
once more to "move upon the face of the waters" of
America's soul and speaks those wonderful words of Power; "Let there
be Light," the future of our beloved Land may be dark indeed.
