Proverbs 4:15 Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.
16 For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
Biblical separation is an important doctrine. Adam was told not to eat of the forbidden fruit because the day he would eat thereof he would surely die. Adam chose to disobey God and the result was that he became a sinner. Sin defiles the righteous man. The wise person will not be wise if he follows the way of the wicked.
King Solomon is a prime example of this. He chose foreign women for wives. They turned his heart away from God. Solomon was a wise man, and yet those women could turn his heart away from God. Biblical separation is not because God’s people are better in and of themselves. The saved person is a child of God. God is holy and His children need to be holy. You cannot be holy if you are aligning with that which is unholy.
We also cannot help the lost person if we are wallowing in sin with them. We have no voice. The New Evangelical crowd thinks they can reach out to others with their message. They use a form of the world’s music. They dress like the world and they are involved in similar activities like drinking and smoking, that the world is actively involved in. The New Evangelical crowd has a lot of activities, but they have no power. They have a form of godliness but they deny the power thereof.
God says the wise son needs to avoid the way of the wicked. He should not even pass by it. He needs to turn away from it and pass away. It is better to find a detour than to go past that place.
In verse 16 we see that the wicked are always scheming for some type of wickedness. They are not content unless they can do some mischief. They are not content to go to sleep unless they have caused someone to fall. That is why wicked people like to stay up late at night. There was a news report of three teenagers who stole a car and then went “joy riding”. One of them sat on the roof while they were driving. One of them hung out of the window while they were driving. They were driving on the sidewalk. They were being fools. I do not know where their parents were but those young people need to face some severe punishment.
There is a young man in the U.S. who had two different “girl friends”. He was very abusive to them both. Why they kept going with him is strange. He lusted after their bodies and one of them allowed him to defile her. He was finally arrested and his mother was very supportive of him. He used a loophole in the law to be tried as a juvenile even though his crimes were such that he should have been charged as an adult. His sentence was a slap on the wrist. Two young women will have to carry that for the rest of their lives, but he will likely go on to defile and maybe even kill some woman yet. His parents will be accountable as well.
The ungodly try their best to diminish sin and its consequences. The wicked love to make someone else fall.
In verse 17 we see that the wicked feed on wickedness. They love the wine of violence. Violence can take many forms. The wicked are busy thinking up some evil scheme.
In verse 18 we see the contrast to this. The path of the just is as a shining light. The longer the saved person lives the brighter his light will shine for the Lord. That is what God’s Word says. Often we see people who profess to be saved who seemed to have a good testimony, but the older they get the more worldly they become. This again is a description of New Evangelicalism. It was much “tamer” when I was a young person than it is now. Most New Evangelical churches are just “glorified” social clubs. They are just places of entertainment. They have no idea about the holiness of God.
Verse 19 again reminds the wise son that the way of the wicked is darkness. They cannot even see that they are stumbling and they do not identify what the problem is. Immorality, drunkenness, drug abuse, foul language, abusive attitudes, etc. We have schools today where the students are very abusive to the teachers. That never used to be the case. Wickedness becomes more and more open in its activities. Parents and other adults scratch their heads but cannot figure out what causes this.
There is a university in the U.S. that has “found the solution to mental illness”. They say we need to eliminate the grade structure in schools because it puts too much stress on the students. It does not matter if the students cannot read and write and do math. Just push them through and then when it comes time to operate on you, they might take out the tonsils instead of the kidney but they are trying their best so it all works.
That is the foolishness of a godless society.
In verse 20 the wise son is advised to attend to sound wisdom. Incline, or bend the ear to hear the wise words of the wise father. Pay attention to what God’s Word says. Stop trying to justify compromise. The blessing is in knowing the Lord and walking in His way
Pastor Bartel