Video Transcript: How Teachable Are You?

How teachable Are you? That's a pretty important question for people who are getting back  into the swing of school, or returning to college. How teachable? Are you? And how good are  you at absorbing new information and learning new stuff? When you get into certain kinds of  education, you need to be pretty teachable because if you think you already know you're  going to have a lot of difficulties. Take the English language. For example. Here's a little  English lesson that's been floating around on the internet we'll begin with box in the plural is  boxes, but the plural of ox is oxen, not oxes. Then one fowl is goose, but two are called geese, yet the plural of moose should never be meese. You may find a lone mouse or a whole lot of  mice but the plural of houses of house is houses not hice is the plural of man is always called  men. Why shouldn't the plural of pan be pen and I speak of a foot and you show me your feet  but I give a boot would appear be beet? If one of the tooth and a whole set his teeth? Why  shouldn't the plural of booth be beeth? If the singular is this and the plural is these? Why  shouldn't the plural of Kiss the kese? Why shouldn't then one may be that and three may be  those yet the plural hat would never be hose. We speak of a brother and also brethren But  though we say Mother we never say metheran the masculine pronouns are he his and him but imagine the feminine she shis and Shim so our English I think you will agree is the trickiest  language ever did see. Beware of heard a dreadful word that looks like beard and sounds like  bird watch out for meat and greet and threat they rhyme with sweet and straight and debt. A  moth is not the moth and mother nor both in bother broth and brother. And here is not a  match for their nor deer in fear for barren pear, dreadful language why men alive I learned to  talk when I was five. And yet to write it, the more I tried I hadn't learned at 55. So how  teachable are you if you think you know English, because you learned one or two patterns or  rules, you would have a very great deal to learn. And you'd be wrong very often, if you just  kind of projected based on what you know how the next thing is going to go. So in your  classes, whether it's at college, at school or at home, you need to be teachable in order to  learn more. And the theme of being teachable is at the very heart of the book of Proverbs.  Proverbs is a book that is filled with wisdom. And as God imparts that wisdom to us through  the book of Proverbs, He not only gives the wisdom but again and again and again and again,  he says, You need to be teachable. Because if you're not teachable, all the wisdom in the  world is not going to help you. And so I want to look with you at what it means in the book of  Proverbs to be teachable. I'm not going to cover everything but then to cover quite a bit. Kind  of 10 questions that you can ask based on Proverbs, that will indicate how teachable you are.  First, do you trust God? Or yourself? Second, Are you wise in your own eyes? Third, do you  treasure truth? Fourth, are you taught or just being suckered? Fifth, Are you calm and sober?  Six, do you listen to advice? Seven? Do you talk too much? Eight, how do you respond to  rebuke? Nine? Are you facing your faults? 10 Are you in a ruinous rut? Many of these  questions are related to one another. And there are a whole variety of Proverbs about them.  And the overall question that runs through them is how teachable? Are you? First of all, do  you trust God or yourself? Some of the great words in proverbs are in Proverbs three verses  five through eight. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own  understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do  not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body  and nourishment to your bones. Now when we think about knowledge and are considering the ways that we know things we've already seen that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of  knowledge to take God seriously is the start of really knowing and Anything else even being  able to trust your own mind or that there are patterns in creation, and all of that's true. But  there's also a more personal level at which it's true that the fear of the Lord is the beginning  of wisdom. You trust that the God who made everything, and who is able to make sense of all  things, according to his own great mind, is also the one who designed you and knows you  better than you know yourself. And so you keep looking to Him. And not just to your own  sense of how things are or ought to be. You don't lean on your own understanding. You're not  wise in your own eyes, you trust the Lord, you fear the Lord. These are the kinds of phrases  that come up again, and again and again. In Proverbs, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of  wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, trust the Lord, Count on God. And if you want to know how teachable you are, perhaps one good question is when I'm facing a 

problem, what's my first response? Try to figure it out, or turn to God in prayer. Now, prayer is  not just a silver bullet where you get to turn off your mind and not have to think anymore. But be a turn to God in prayer to ask for his wisdom. The Bible says, if any of you lacks wisdom,  let him ask of God, let him ask of God. And one sign of really trusting the Lord and not your  own understanding is that you ask God, to bring to mind the things that he wants you to think about and you turn to God's word, and to people who are well versed in God's word, when  you're seeking guidance on a particular kind of problem, or difficulty. So this is the first and  foremost question really, in how teachable you are. Do you take God seriously? And very  closely related to that, then is Do you pray to Him for guidance? Do you read His word  regularly? Because you know that the way of wisdom comes from knowing what God says,  closely related to that? Is a second question. Are you wise in your own eyes? If you're already  wise, you really don't need to go to God, you already know everything you need to know. The  way of a fool is right in his own eyes. But a wise man listens to advice. Whoever trusts in his  own mind is a fool. But he who walks in wisdom will be delivered. Do you see a man who is  wise in his own eyes, there is more hope for a fool than for him. So I could cite more that  ought to be enough to make the point that being wise in your own eyes is not a good thing. If  you already think you know English grammar, you're going to be in for some nasty surprises.  And you'll make a fool of yourself repeatedly. If you think you know it all, when you've hardly  begun to study it. And this is far more true in the things of the Spirit, in relationships in  dealing with other people. If you're always right. You're always right in relation to others,  you're always right. And on top of things, never have a question, never struggling to figure  things out, then you've got a real problem. Are you wise in your own eyes? Again, this these  questions at one level, are very difficult to even take to heart unless the Holy Spirit of God is  helping you to think about them. Really, honestly. Some of us will say no, I'm not wise. My  own eyes. I've got a lot of questions. I don't pretend to know it all. But how often do we  actually seek other people's insight? How often do we actually change our mind? Those are  some important questions to consider in relation to Are you wise in your own eyes? A third  question about how teachable you are as Do you really treasure truth? Do you want to learn?  Do you believe that truth can be learned that there's this whole realm of wisdom out there  that can be discovered that there are a lot of tremendous facts to learn, and also the ability to apply those facts? If you're not curious about astronomy, let's say you're never going to learn  much about stars and galaxies. If you don't believe that stars and galaxies exist, you're really  not going to learn very much about them. If you don't care, about biology, about how plants  and animals operate, and all the science of that, you're not going to learn very much. If you  think science is just a bunch of bunk and you don't want to study it anyway. And it doesn't  really get you out the truth at all. You're not going to learn much scientific fact you need to  believe that the truth is there and you need to really value it and treasure it. Proverbs 8,10  and 11 take my instruction instead of silver a knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom  is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. Now think about  that many people when they go back to college or when they're doing their various studies  have something in mind. They want to be able to learn enough to get a job and make a living  and make some money. Well, yeah, that's an important part of life and part of being  responsible. But there's more to life than just jewels, and gold, and paychecks. And if you  treasure truth, then you're eager to discover it not just truth in English or astronomy or  biology, but truth in the things of God. Truth in the way to love one another truth and how to  handle relationships wisely. How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get understanding  is to be chosen rather than silver. Proverbs 16 Verse 16, Proverbs 20, verse 15, there's gold  and abundance of costly stones, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. When you get to know somebody or a few somebody's who are wise. You say Wow, those people they're,  they're like a jewel to me. They've got lips of knowledge, and what a blessing it is. If you can  just pray, Lord, make me one of those people to at least some degree, I'm not wise in my own eyes. I'm not a know it all. But please let me be somebody for where I've got lips of  knowledge to bless somebody else. Once in a while. Do you treasure truth. Now, when we  think about those, we can see something arising. That teachable people realize that they  don't really know all that much. And they trust that truth can be known. So they realize they 

don't have a handle on everything. But they realize also that they can learn at least  something there is valuable material to be learned. And so they have a humble eagerness to  learn. And that's in contrast, to know it all know it alls are unteachable, because they think  they already know everything there is to know they're wise in their own eyes and being wise  in your own eyes. Keeps You from the humble eagerness to learn. Now there's the opposite of  a know it all. And that's a no nothing or an ignoramus who just says I don't know very much,  and neither does anybody else. And not much can be known sign me a skeptic. Now, there  are some people who are very knowledgeable in this area or that but then when it comes to  matters of morality, or things of God, all of a sudden they become ignoramuses. They call it  agnostic. That's the nice Greek word. The Latin word is ignoramus. And they they insist on  knowing nothing, and nobody else knowing anything either. Well, if you believe that on  principle, the knowledge of God is simply not available. If you believe that it's impossible for  anybody at any time to really get a handle on what is truly right. And what is wrong. What is  moral, what's immoral, if you just think, hey, nobody can know that stuff. Well, then you're  unteachable, because how could you be teachable? If you say, No, body? No, there is no such  thing as objective truth in this area. ignoramuses are unteachable, because they think  nothing can really be known. And so they don't treasure truth. So there's kind of two  opposites that can keep you from being teachable. One is thinking you know, everything there is to know and the other is thinking nobody can know anything, at least not about that area of claims being made. And sometimes a know it all and an ignoramus aren't all that far apart.  It's amazing how you can find somebody who is a moral relativist, who is also the next  moment and know it all on the subject. Nobody knows anything about objective morality and I know that with absolute certainty, nobody could possibly know the truth about God or be  certain that Jesus is the only way to truly know God and I know that beyond the shadow of a  doubt. So sometimes you can combine an ignoramus and the know it all into a single package and then you really have an unteachable spirit. Anyway, humble eagerness, not being wise in  your own eyes and being eager and to pursue knowledge, wisdom, the way you'd been  hunting for hidden treasure. This humble eagerness is the key to being teachable. Now, in the desire to be taught you have to understand there's a difference between being taught and  being suckered. And proverbs has a few words to say about being taught, but also the  dangers of being suckered. Proverbs, Chapter 23 says when you sit to dine with a ruler, note  well what is before you and put a knife to your throat. If you're given the gluttony do not  crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive. Now, when you have somebody who is himself  a master politician, like Solomon or others who are contributing to the collection of Solomon's  Proverbs, or collecting them, they know a little bit about use of power and manipulation. And  when you go out with somebody who is kind of a master of managing and manipulating, and  he wines, you, and dines you, you may say to yourself, Wow, he thinks I'm an amazing  person. And he just wants to be nice to me, and load me up with good food and have a good  time with me ain't life grand. And, you know, when he makes a suggestion, I know that it's  going to be absolutely correct. Know what you do, when you're with a powerful person who's  got an agenda, and who has the money to give you a nice feast, you take that knife, at least  in your mind, you take that knife and you hold it to your throat and say, not gonna eat too  much. Going to be real careful around this guy going to be watchful for what he wants,  because he's probably up to something. Business, people don't have business lunches for the  sheer joy of lunch. Politicians don't have $50,000 A plate dinners, for the sheer joy of eating  rubber chicken, they want something. Okay, they want something. And when you're the  politician, and the donor comes in pays that 50 grand for the rubber chicken, that donor  wants something to when you're in that whole realm of, I'm trying to get something he's  saying you're not, that's not a teachable situation, this kind of stuff happens. Be aware of  what's going on. You're being wined and dined. And somebody's trying to get you to go along  with their agenda that is not the same as being taught. PT Barnum, the circus guy said there's a sucker born every minute. He was also famous for saying nobody ever went broke under  estimating the intelligence of the American people. Well, some politicians really take that to  heart, they don't want to talk about actual issues, they want everything to be there in two  sentences that either make you mad, or make you feel like you're wonderful Americans 

deserve this. And, you know, Americans are wonderful, and all that. And we're in the season  of great flattery, and harsh things said about the other guy, and, and all of these goodies  being passed around, but you're not actually learning a whole lot. And so you need to be Be  careful, whether it's in political realm, whether it's the business realm, whether it's a whole lot of other realms, when somebody has something to gain from you. Then haul that little knife  out at least in your mind and hold it to your throat and say, What are they up to, and be  seeking to learn from people who don't have an agenda, where they're going to gain from  manipulating you. desire, without knowledge is not good. And whoever makes haste with his  feet misses the way when you've got an urge. And that's the danger. Of course, when the guy is wining and dining, if you're hungry, the food looks good, it smells good. And your urge runs  ahead of your brain. And here to your desire. If you've got all kinds of desire without  knowledge of what actually goes on, then it's not good. Whoever flatters his neighbor is  spreading a net for his feet. When somebody says stuff that makes you feel good. You don't  always want to be a cynic. And always think, oh, man, if they're complimenting me, they're up to something. But I have to confess every so often, when one of my children comes up to me  with a very flowery speech about how amazing I am, I'm always wondering now when's the  request coming? You know, sometimes they say nice things to me, just for the fun of it.  Sometimes they actually want something after saying all those nice things. And so you have  to have to be aware that flattery is one of those things that that gets used in life. And if you're being if you're somebody who is eager to learn, if you want to be teachable, you have to  understand that that's different than being easily suckered that is different. You're more likely, as we'll see a little later on. If you're if you're teachable, you're actually listening almost more  carefully when somebody is rebuking you or correcting you than you are when they're  praising you. Now, again, praising is good, complimenting, honest, compliments are very  valuable, but don't get suckered. And that just goes along with a lot of Proverbs. I'm not going to quote them all. There's too many to quote, but about being careful and not careless  because being careless you just go with your impulse. You go with your urge, the simple  believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. One who is wise is cautious  and turns away from evil. But a fool is reckless and careless. So being teachable does not  necessarily mean being completely like a sponge who just absorbs whatever information  comes your way. When you're teachable, you do want to learn, but you're also very cautious  in who you learn from and in what you accept. Whoever gives thought to the word will  discover good proverbs 16, verse 20. And blessed is he who trust in the Lord, again, when  you're the way to be careful and not careless supremely, as always did double check with  God's word, that attitude that the Berean people had when Paul was first preaching to them,  they this message Paul was bringing and this person Paul was kind of new to them. But they  were men of noble spirit says the book of Acts. And whenever Paul had finished speaking,  they go back and check according to the Scriptures that they had whether what Paul was  saying matched up with the Scriptures, they gave thought to the word, and then that made  them teachable. When they listened to Paul speak, we've read about how people who  wouldn't listen to John the Baptist wouldn't listen to Jesus either. And so when Jesus enemies  were trying to trap them, he said, Well, I gotta before I tell you anything more about myself,  I'm answering this one. Now, John, was this teaching from heaven, or just from men? And they react to each other? You know, they've got their own agendas. And they say, Well, if we say  he's from heaven, then then we're going to be told, Well, then why didn't you listen to him?  And if we say it's from men, well, a lot of people think he's a prophet that will make a really  mad at us. So they say, well, we don't know where John's teaching comes from Jesus? Well, I  don't think I'm going to tell you where mine comes from then either. Because they haven't  already given thought to the word they received, and so they're not teachable. With any  further word. Jesus said at the end of one of his parables, if they won't listen to Moses and the prophets, then they won't listen, even if somebody rises from the dead. And so to be careful,  and not careless to Give careful thought to the word. Once you take the word to heart and are teachable with what you've already been given, then God gives you more, and you're taught  more and more. Another one, on being teachable. Are you calm? And are you sober? Proverbs 19, verse 11, good sense makes one slow to anger, and it His glory to overlook and offense, a 

fool gives full vent to his spirit says, chapter 29, verse 11, but a wise man quietly holds it  back. And, again, this is one of those where I've just selected a few, there's tons of them  about not getting angry. And this is very closely related to being teachable. When you're in  the middle of having a hissy fit. When you're throwing a temper tantrum. Your IQ plunges your ability to learn, it becomes almost zero. I've witnessed it before, I know that this happens only in our household and never in any other when the kids get frustrated and start crying over  something they're doing in school. Wow, this is so hard. Yeah. And boy, you're really going to  learn it while you're balling and throwing a fit. No you're not get it, you know, get over it. And  Now calm down. And then we can learn again. But as long as you're not calm, as long as  you're angry, or upset, you really can't learn a thing. Now, that's important just for kids  learning in school. But let's face it, we adults aren't exactly in a learning frame of mind, when  we're really angry. When we're just furious about something once again, we just aren't  teachable. Now, that's one way to be out of our right mind is to be all upset. That's why the  book of James which of the New Testament books is probably closest to the kind of teaching  that we have in Proverbs. He says, be quick to listen slow to speak and slow to become angry, because anger doesn't bring about the righteous life that God desires. Instead, you need to  humbly accept the word that's planted in you which is able to save you. So turning down the  anger and Humbly accepting the word is what makes the person teachable. Another way to  be out of your mind is simply to be drunk or high. Anger has some effects that are a little bit  similar to being drunk or high. But if you're angry and drunk, then you're really an idiot. Then  you really are not in a teachable frame of mind and and Proverbs is not very polite proverbs  sounds a little different than some of those beer commercials you see, in the beer  commercials. If you drink that can of beer, all the foxy ladies will come slinking up to you and  think you're marvelous. In real life, when you drink too many of those beers, you barf on the  floor and they think you're gross. Okay, you think you were the life of the party, and you had  a great time last night? At least that's how you remember it. Well, what is Proverbs say? Who  has stripes who is complaining? Who has bloodshot eyes, those who tarry long over wine,  your eyes will see strange things in your heart, utter perverse things. And you'll say, well,  they beat me up, but I didn't even know it. I've gotten bruises I got pounded last night, but  hey, we're gonna get another drink. Now, that's kind of the picture of being not teachable, to  get thumped to wake up with a splitting headache, because either you drank too much  already got hit on the head, or both. And to say, but I had a delightful time last night. You  know, if there was a videotape of it. If you asked others who were sober at the time watching  you, they would not to say that you were the model of wisdom, good behavior and  teachability you think you were intelligent in the life of the party, I remember reading a book  titled The God players written by a recovering alcoholic, who had come to depend on God and who had gotten himself off the throne of his life. And the title of one of his chapters was in the middle Einstein. And he said, You know, when he was drinking, and when he'd be sitting at the bar in between other people, he'd think he was as smart as Einstein. And he was really with it, but he always needed drinks, to make him feel that way. Because when he wasn't drinking,  then he felt kind of dumb. And so it gave him this feeling of being this genius. But of course, it didn't exactly make you a genius. Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is  led astray by It is not wise. Anything that just totally alters your mood, and changes your  personality, whether it's your own rage, or drinking in or smoking in, or however you take it in this that alter your body chemistry to give you a different feeling. These are not things that  make you teachable, they just make you feel a certain way for a while, but they actually make you dumber. Do listen to advice. To be teachable, it really at its core is to be taught to listen to what you're told. And again, there are many proverbs about this, here are a few 12 Verse 15  says the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. 10 Verse 21,  says the lips of the righteous feed many but fools die for lack of sense. So the rich, the the  righteous have lips that are putting out good advice. But fools aren't listening to it. Without  counsel, plans fail. But with many advisors, they succeed, listen to advice, and accept  instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. Chapter 19 Verse 20. So again, listening  to advice this is there's many ways to apply this in the realm of church life. One of the great  dangers is for a church to have one person who is supposed to know everything, and to make 

all the decisions. That's usually a recipe for disaster. There is a reason why a church ought to  have a council of a number of people, and even at Council of a number of people needs to be  listening to the input of many other godly people, because you seldom make good decisions  just based on one person's take on things. People who consult others and listen to advice are  

going to learn and if that's true, even among people who are supposed to be fairly mature,  and knowledgeable in their Christian walk, then it's certainly true for all the rest of us where  we learn a lot when we take advice. We learn very little when we can't listen to others. And  sometimes we don't even seek advice, because we already have a sense of what we might be told, and we don't want to hear it. Have you ever done that? Where you kinda know  somebody who's wise, it might be your mom or dad, even for grown kids, you know, your  parents. You say, Well, yeah, I already know what they're gonna say, but I don't want to go to  him because I know what they're gonna say. And you may even suspect they're right. But you  just don't want to hear it. And so, one test of how teachable you are Is how do you react to  advice? Kind of flipside of that? That question now how good are your ears is how open is your mouth? When words are many sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. 10 Verse 19, Chapter 17, verse 27, whoever restrains his words, has knowledge, and who has a cool  spirit is a man of understanding. chapter eight, verse 18, verse two a full takes no pleasure in  understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. Now, I wish that I could just say that this is  a problem that some people have and not others. I think it's pretty universal. It's just a  question of degree. I know that I've been in many a meeting, and in many and assembly of  people were, while someone else was speaking, I was already plotting what I was going to  say. I knew what I was going to say, and figuring out how to say it best, and most  persuasively, but while I was figuring out what I was gonna say, Guess what? I wasn't listening to what they were actually saying. Now, very often, in a conversation, if you're like me, you're an interrupter. People don't have the right to finish a sentence, because they're not saying  anything very valuable anyway. And you already know what needs to be said next, you might  as well say it. And so if you have a habit of cutting people off, I'm probably one of the more  notorious interrupters around although I'm raising a few as well like to hear. Maybe one or two of you without naming names might have the same problem. But a sign of being somebody  who talks too much is being an interrupter. Now, there are some of us who in a sense, are  called to talk at least some if you're a pastor or a teacher, you do have to talk from time to  time. But don't fall in love with the sound of your own voice too much. If your mom or dad,  yeah, you do have more obligation to instruct your children, but you also have an obligation  to listen to them, and others who might be able to give you some insight on how to deal with  your children. So again, there is just something ingrained in us where we like the sound of our own voice quite a bit better than we like the sound of somebody else's voice where we're self  centered. I mean, that's, there's no other way to say it. Another symptom of that self  centeredness is when there's a group photo, who do you zoom to look at first. If you're in it,  you're looking at you, and you hate that picture, you want to take that sucker down on  Facebook, if there's 17, people looking great, and you didn't look quite as hot as you'd like.  That's just one of the little itty bitty symptoms of how self centered we are. We are very, very  concerned about how we look when the fact of the matter is Hey, sorry to break it to you.  Most people aren't looking at all that closely. Okay? Sorry. Radius. You love the sound your  own voice. Good deal the time if you love that sound, your own voice too much the chant the  more you love the sound of your own chances are the less anybody else likes to hear it,  because you're probably talking too much. So, as another proverb says, Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent and understanding if he holds his tongue. Yes, you choose your  moments and choose your words, then you're more likely to be heard. How do you respond to  rebuke we've taught we've heard already about advice. Now, advice is hard enough to take  and to handle. But when it's actual criticism, or correction, or reproof, or rebuke, then it is  really, really hard to swallow. I know I don't like hearing what I've done wrong. I've had it  before where I'd be a guest pastor for a long time, there I was, you know, preaching in a lot of different congregations. And if I preached the sermon, and 20 people on their way out, shook  my hand and said, What a fabulous sermon it was. And one mentioned something they didn't  like, Guess what I remember. I don't like hearing the criticism, but it actually might be the 

critic rather than the appraiser, who's going to help me to improve. A scoffer does not like to  be reproved. Well, nobody does actually. But a scoffer really, really doesn't like it, he will not  go to the wise. Chapter 15:31 and 32 the ear that listens to life giving reproof will dwell  among the wise. Whoever ignores instruction, despises himself, but he who listens to reproof,  gains intelligence. Now it says he despises himself. He's not doing what would help him to  improve and to improve himself. And there's maybe another sense also, I don't think it's the  one that proverbs means here, but I think it's psychologically accurate. Very often people who despise themselves are the ones who have the hardest time taking criticism, they're already  so touchy, so insecure, so overly sensitive, that the least hint of a criticism will devastate  them, they despise themselves. And that's why they can never just say, you know, I already  knew I was kind of bad. I already knew I had my faults, but I know God loves me. I know, he  created me, I know he's working with me, I know that he's gonna make things turn out with  me. And I know he's making me a prince or princess in his kingdom. And you know, this  criticism is part of the process. You know, if you have that kind of an attitude, you can take  criticism, if you just kind of despise yourself, and you always need somebody to pump up your little balloon, then you really can't take reproof, like a gold ring or ornament of gold is a wise  reprover to a listening ear. And there's a lots of Proverbs about this, I'll just give another slide  of them. Because this is such a tough area. wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an  enemy multiplies kisses. Now, when I read that, when I paused for a moment, you know, in  our home devotion that said, now, what's that mean? And there was a certain amount of head scratching, going on about that proverb, why would wounds from a friend to be trusted, an  enemy multiplies kisses, it comes back to that whole, that people who love you enough to tell  you the honest truth, are the ones who you can trust the the enemy who's always kissing up.  And I don't think we got that expression from this proverb, but it comes pretty close. People  who are always kissing up to you may really be your enemies, they may be among those  manipulators. And so trust people who you know, love you. That's this is where you can learn  the most, if you know for absolute certainty that somebody cares about you, that they love  you. And they're saying something you don't like, this is probably the moment of maximum  growth opportunity in your life. There are those who are just verbal abusers who are always  cutting you down, who are always saying nasty stuff about you. And it may be wise most of  time just to tune them out completely. There are times of course, when you should out listen  even to an enemy's rebuke. It's not your friends most of the time will tell you how bad breath  is, you know, sometimes, you know when somebody is hostile to you. They actually will say  stuff that's true, and you do want to listen to it. But don't I'm not advising you to become this  doormat for verbal abusers. But when you know somebody cares about you, when you know  that their words are meant for your good then even if they hurt, even when the truth hurts,  trust them. Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he hates reproof is stupid. Chapter  12 Verse one now very few kids like timeouts or spankings, or groundings, and very few  adults, like the disciplines that come into our life. There's one level at which you don't have to like it any more than you have to like a root canals. But you might like getting rid of the bad  tooth or getting rid of what's causing the dreadful toothache. And that's the sense in which  you love discipline, discipline hurts, and you don't love the hurt itself. But you do love what it  might be doing for you. And so if you're teachable, says here a rebuke chapter 17, verse 10,  or rebuke goes deeper into amount of understanding than 100 blows into a fool there are  some people who are so teachable and meek and eager to learn that one quiet word to them,  and their ears are alert, and they're wanting to know what how can I change, you know, what  growth opportunity does God have for me here, and there may be others where the harshest  of circumstances and multiple criticisms from a variety of people around them just bounce off  100 blows on a fool doesn't have the same impact as one or two quiet words, does on a  teachable person. Ecclesiastes says it's better to hear the WISE MAN'S rebuke than to listen to the song of fools. Again, fools, you can always find what you want. And these days with the  internet and Facebook, it's even easier. If you're an anorexic, you can find a spot on the  internet where they will tell you that anorexia is beautiful. Don't listen to those stupid people  who tell you it's unhealthy. You look great, you're fabulous. We won't mention that you're  probably going to die or have all sorts of physical complications from it. You're fabulous. You 

can find anybody these days to flatter you for anything. You can find the song of fools very  conveniently, in whatever group you choose to associate with. If you go to a Christian college, you can find a group of fools to hang out with. If you go to a secular college, you can probably find a few wise people there too. You will find who you We're looking for. And it's better to  hear the WISE MAN'S rebuke than to listen to the song of fool. This is one of the real tests of  how teachable you are. Now, many of us who profess to be Christians will say, I believe that I  am a sinner, that I am deeply fallen, that I have sinned against God that I fallen short of the  glory of God, that I have a tendency to hate God and my neighbor, you know, we confess  these things with the Bible, and with Christian confessions of faith. And you may have learned that theologically, but the test of whether it's really sunk in is, have you ever said to  somebody who criticized you? Yeah, you're right. I'm wrong. It's easy to say, in general, I'm a  sinner. But never, ever, ever, ever point out any particular sin to me right now. And here,  because that makes me mad. So there is a, there's kind of a practical, just as there's the  practical atheism, where you say you believe in God, and you go to church, and then you live  your life as though God's not a factor. So there is a practical sinlessness among people who  have a theological confession of total depravity. Oh, I'm totally you know, I am so sinful, but  almost never. Are they wrong when someone else confronts them. So again, these are  Proverbs is a practical book. It's sometimes funner. To live in the higher realms of intellect and theology. There's a lot of intellectuals who don't like proverbs very much. They think it's a  bunch of platitudes, you know, it doesn't stimulate their mind and you know, and so on. Well,  okay, sorry about that. But most of these great geniuses need to know what it feels like to  have a rebuke from a wise person. Now Jesus said that you don't rebuke everybody. Proverbs  says, Don't waste your time, rebuke, and everybody either. That's one of the challenges as a  pastor I know is, now when do I say something? And when don't i? And I don't always say  something just because I think it happens to be true. Or that I think the person ought to face  this reality also tried to make a judgement is this person ready to hear it? Whoever correct a  scoffer gets himself abuse. And he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury, do not reprove a  scoffer he will hate you. reprove a wise man and he will love you give instruction to a wise  man, he'll be wiser still teach a righteous man, he'll increase in learning. Jesus had things to  say kind of on a similar theme. He said, Don't give dogs what is sacred. Don't throw your  pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample those pearls under their feet, and then turn and  tear you to pieces. He's just saying there, there are folks who aren't teachable. And once you  realize they're not teachable, don't waste much time trying to teach them. Jesus said, When  you come to a village, and they won't receive you,shake the dust off your feet and go to  someone else who will. So that doesn't mean you give up on people lightly or easily. But there does come a time where you don't rebuke people who won't accept rebuke, and flipping it  around. Of course, make sure you're not one of the slides. Make sure you're not one of the  pigs who makes it a habit of trampling on pearls and then attacking the people who gave  them and closely related to rebuke, then is this question are you facing your faults? All the  ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, that the Lord weighs the spirit, chapter 16 Verse two, chapter 21, verse two says every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs  the heart. Here again, is why you have to trust in the Lord with all your heart. And when he  tells you, you're a sinner, you take it on faith, even when you don't feel like it just yet. And  you say, Well, I know God sees things in me that are not pleasing to Him. And I just pray that  God will show them to me as well. There are those chapter 30 Verse 12, who are clean in their own eyes, but are not washed of their filth. And then Jesus famous words, why do you look at  the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye, but pay no attention is applying fits in your own  eye? Why do you see specs and others and not logs in your own? Yeah, hypocrite. First, take  the log out of your own eyes. And then you can see clearly, to help other people with their  specs. Jesus knows how deeply ingrained This is in us, and that's why it's there in the  Proverbs. That's why it's there in Matthew seven in his great sermon on the mount, you must  learn to be self critical to face your own faults, or you'll never be teachable. The good news is  of course, is when you are able to face your own faults, to be honest about that and to begin  addressing them with God's help and help of others, then you can grow more and more in  God's grace and it's actually a great experience of grace to say that was wrong I was stupid 

not to see it but but now that I See it? I'm glad I know it. And I'm glad that God is helping me  to deal with that. One of the great ironies, if you read the writings of Christians throughout the centuries, you'll find that some of the saintliness people who were most acquainted with God,  are the ones who are most aware of their own sin and their own faults. And the bozos you  know, take Henry the Eighth for example, or, you know, just some of the really famous ones,  you know, who think they're right, he declares himself to be head of the church because he  wants to divorce or execute his umpteenth wife and he can't get approval for it so he's just  gonna make his own church you know, well and he's head a bit okay you know, Henry the  Eighth have the power and the nastiness to pull that off. But there's a lot of miniature Henry  the Eighth running around where rather than facing our own faults and repenting them we  just make ourselves ahead of our own church and declare ourselves lumberjacks we have logs in our own eye and that's a good thing. Okay. Final question, which is kind of at the most  extreme end of this is are you in a ruinous rut? Because this question of Are you teachable is  not one of these negotiable little Okay, that was a nice sermon, I suppose I should be maybe  a little more teachable than I am and a little less hard headed than I am now. How teachable  Are you is a question that your life can depend on and even your eternity. Chapter 19, verse  three, when a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord. The Bible  shows many examples of that. I'll give you a couple. Ahab the wickedest king in the history of  Israel blames God for the drought that comes because of his own sin. And when he runs into  the property, Elijah, he says, Is that you, you traveller of Israel? A man's folly, ruins his life  and ruins the kingdom in that case, and his heart rages against the Lord. A little later, you  have another king of Israel, who is angry at the prophet Elisha, the successor of Elijah, there's a great famine in the city because it's surrounded by enemy troops. And it's all come upon  them because of this kings wickedness. And when he hears of peoples of resorting to  cannibalism, he says, Well, I'm so mad, I'm going after that rotten Elisha today, and his head's gonna be off his shoulders by tonight. Now, the king was the one who was wrecking, the  kingdom had brought all this disaster down on them, and he wants to kill God's prophet.  Because while he doesn't like what that Prophet says, here's one of those proverbs that aren't very nice, like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly. rover barks on the  floor, and then goes back later to lick it up. That's not very tidy as it and that's kind of gross.  And that's what the Bible talks about, when you're not teachable. When you're in a rut. You're, you've fallen in love with your own barf. Okay, that's sorry. Take it up with God, not me on this  one. You're just you just like your own barf. If you won't change, and that's why Jesus says,  You must be born again. As long as you're a dog, you're gonna be in love with your own barf.  You need a little different nature than that sin nature. And then these warnings, a man who  remains stiffnecked, after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed. Without remedy. Rebuke  is not just a matter of are you kind of polite, and do you learn a few things from people who  are correcting you, if you're never open to correction, you're dead meat. There is a way that  seems right to a man, but it's end is the way to death. That's the punch line of Jesus Sermon  on the Mount, there is a broad road that leads to destruction to hell. And so if you're on a  broad road, you got to realize that a broad road can still be a very ruinous rut. That is just a  one way trip to destruction. Now, again, having heard all this, we need to understand that it's  not just the end of the story to say, well, I know, I think maybe I'm a little teachable, or Yeah, I haven't been very teachable. What can I do about it? There are probably matters of degree  here where some are more teachable than others. That's the question that's asked how  teachable Are you but there is also the possibility that No, you haven't been very teachable in the past, God can change you and soften a hard heart and make you more teachable than  you were but it's going to be a work of His grace and not just an effort by you to not be such a knot head and so you know, if you if you hear this a person who's not a Christian at all, should say Lord get me out of this ruinous rock get me off that road to destruction. stop me from  being such a hard head and make me thaw to the things of God, and open to the teachings of  God. I remember a couple of cases where, where people were pretty hard headed and wrong,  where the Lord really did work in their life. I remember back when I was a young pastor and  other pastor that I was acquainted with, um, refused to perform a wedding ceremony,  because he told that couple you guys aren't ready for marriage, you are going to run into 

major trouble. You're not right with God, you don't understand yourself. Are you telling you  shouldn't get married yet? You need to deal with some things before you get married. Well,  what did he know they got mad and went off and got another pastor who did exactly what  

they wanted and officiated the ceremony. Well, about a year later, they come back to my  friend and they say, Well, we are having terrible marriage problems, would you? Would you  talk with us? He says, he being not a very diplomatic person that why'd you come to me? I  told you not to get married. They said, Well, you're the one who told us the truth, we got to  trust that other guy. So sometimes there are people who maybe didn't realize it at first, but  then did come to a knowledge of the truth. The same pastor who was one of my mentors had  another case where a woman was diagnosed with cancer, likely to be fatal cancer. And he  goes to visit her and, and she says to him, Pastor, you know, this is kind of miserable, and I  don't feel like I have anything to live for. And my friend said, You're right, you don't have  anything to live for, didn't live in to the wrong thing your whole life. That's not a very good  bedside manner with somebody who's just been diagnosed with cancer. But again, he didn't  even treat everybody nastily or brusquely, but he knew this person. And he also was a person who trusted in the Holy Spirit to give him the right words at the right time. And he told her  that and those words, shot right home and she said, You're right. You know, I've been I've  been living for my fancy dresses, and these expensive cars, we drive her dad ran, or I mean,  her husband ran one of the biggest car dealerships in that province of Ontario, and was very  wealthy. And I think she may even have been a Christian, a real Christian whose life was  cluttered, and had been living for the wrong stuff. And that rebuke, coupled with that difficult  situation, just transformed her life in the last year of her life was by far the closest she'd ever  been to the Lord. And I could multiply many examples in my own ministry, where people who  got really, really mad at me, and I gotta be honest, I kind of after having talked with him  about a matter, I had kind of given up on them changing. And sometimes 10 years later,  sometimes 15 years later, they would be different people, not just because of what I did,  oftentimes, all I did was make them mad. But the Lord had them right for somebody else to  minister to. And so again, when I talked about how teachable are you, the fact that you're not  very teachable now doesn't mean that there's no hope for you, you might get more  teachable. Maybe today will help you to get more teachable. Maybe you'll get more teachable in a hurry. But God is also very persistent. He has been known to deal with some pretty block  headed people that just not all of us, and sometimes, just to an all human efforts to correct  have failed, he will give a new heart. And so praise God for the grace that takes all of us  stiffnecked unteachable, you read the book of Deuteronomy, God says, Why did I choose you? I didn't choose you because you were bigger than other nations. I didn't choose you because  you were better than other nations. I chose you because I loved you. Lord, we do thank you  for that love. And we thank you for the love that chooses those even who are unworthy and  and unteachable and gives new birth and new life and new hearts and so we do pray again  that where there is need for the new birth, you will bring it where you have given us a new  heart we pray that you will soften it yet further. Make us more teachable, more eager to learn  from your wisdom. We pray, Father, that you will help us always to grow in our openness to  you to trust in you with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding, to acknowledge you to not be wise in our own eyes but to fear you to shun evil and to gain the life and the  flourishing that comes through that. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.