[0:00] Proverbs chapter number 8. Thank you. That's one of my favorite songs. I think Carson heard it a lot. He chose Zion as his middle name, and he heard it in that song and many others. Proverbs chapter number 8. I really enjoy Proverbs.
[0:12] I know many of you do as well. In your personal Bible reading, you'll include it. It's very convenient, right, to have it as a proverb of the day, matching each day of the month. But it's so practical. It's theology in the streets.
[0:24] I mean, as you read it early in the morning, you just find so many applications for it. The first nine chapters of Proverbs are different than the next ones all the way to chapter 30. A lot of times when you think of Proverbs, you think of short couple verses, a dog returning to his vomit. That's everybody's favorite, right?
[0:38] Or buy the truth and sell it. No, you think of these short truths, and a lot of chapters will go from one subject to another. Not so far in these first nine, and tonight it's very clear what the theme is from the first verse to the end, and it's about wisdom.
[0:53] I'm going to read all the verses to you here in a moment, but you'll hear the word wisdom three times, but some kind of pronoun is going to be used over 30 times. I, or mine, or my.
[1:05] If I was to replace the word wisdom every time, you would just hear me saying wisdom every verse or so. Over 30-something times it uses that word. There's only, what do we have here? We have 36 verses, so 33 references the wisdom as we go throughout it.
[1:19] But, and studying this, and then spending time with those of you in the church this week, I became very much aware, and this is what the Bible is supposed to do with you, right? You're supposed to read in the morning, and then you're supposed to carry it with you the rest of the day and meditate on it.
[1:33] So when I first began to read it, I thought about how I needed wisdom, and it was real clear to me. I definitely, I need wisdom. There's decisions I'm making, there's family I'm raising, all these things I need wisdom.
[1:44] And I thought it was kind of unique to me, but every meeting I had throughout the week, I realized their vocation, regardless of what stage you're at in life, everybody I met with this week was facing a decision that needed wisdom.
[1:57] All of you are working with people. All of you are working in areas that are often outside of clear mandates from the Bible, right? When you have problems at work, you can't always just look it up and say, oh, it says right here in the scripture, this is what I'm supposed to do right now.
[2:11] But you're living in a place where you're going to need wisdom in your life. And I, as I read this passage, I desire it more. And so in about 30 minutes or less, you're going to make a decision about wisdom.
[2:23] I hope you're going to decide that you really want it, that you're going to seek it, you're going to listen to it. And I hope that desire is going to come from two things. One, by knowing what it is and knowing where it comes from.
[2:35] I think a reminder of those two things are going to help you realize, I need this in my life. I'm going to read and I want you to follow along and pay attention to these words like her, wisdom, or my.
[2:48] We've seen seduction in this wicked woman so far in chapter 7 and 6 and different passages and different portions where there's this woman who's trying to seduce. She represents more than just the woman, but she represents this attraction in this world to be pulled away from the wisdom of God.
[3:04] And so she's been represented. And I'm sorry, ladies, it hasn't been very good, all right, for you. A woman has represented this drawing us away from the things of God. But wisdom is also represented here as a woman.
[3:16] Remember in Proverbs 7 when it was a young man and they were looking out the window and seeing the young man and he was being drawn to it and she's bold and she's loud and she isn't hiding, she's just there speaking.
[3:28] Well, thankfully, wisdom is the same way. But wisdom isn't calling you in the darkness, but it's calling you in the light. Wisdom isn't trying to keep you to itself like the other woman and the lure of the world, but it's trying to help you so you can make a difference for good in this world.
[3:43] Verse 1. Doth not wisdom cry and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places by the way and the places of the path.
[3:53] She crieth at the gates and at the entry of the city, at the coming in, at the doors. Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. O you simple, understand wisdom, and you fools, be of an understanding heart.
[4:06] Herefore I will speak of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth, all the words of wisdom's mouth, are in righteousness.
[4:20] There is nothing forward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and write to them that find knowledge. Receive my instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold.
[4:32] For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find out knowledge of witty inventions. The fear of the Lord is that hate evil, pride and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth though I hate.
[4:48] Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom. I am understanding. I have strength. By me, by wisdom, kings reign and princes decree justice. By me, princes rule and nobles, and even all the judges of the earth.
[5:00] I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honor are with me, that's wisdom again. Yea, durable riches and righteousness.
[5:11] My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the ways of righteousness, in the midst of the path of judgment, that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance, and I will fill their treasures.
[5:25] The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his work was bold. I was set up from everlasting, and from the beginning, where even the earth was. When there was no depths, I was brought forth. When there was no fountains abounding with water.
[5:37] Before the mountains were settled, before the hills were I brought forth. While Zehah had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest parts of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there.
[5:48] When he set a compass about the face of the depth. When he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep. When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment. When he appointed the foundations of the earth, that I was by him, as one brought up with him.
[6:03] And I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. Rejoicing in the habitable part of the earth, and my delights were the sons of men. Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children, for blessed are they that keep my ways.
[6:15] Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For those findeth me, findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord.
[6:29] For he that sinneth against me, wrongeth his own soul, and all that hate me, love death. Heavenly Father, I ask that you would be with us, Lord, in this time. As we come to your word, Lord, wanting to hear from you.
[6:41] Lord, we are needy creatures that are needing to hear from you. Lord, we need wisdom for our everyday life. Lord, we want you to guide us. In the smallest area of our lives, Lord, we want to know what you would have.
[6:54] We want you to guide us with the relationship that we can have. We want to know what you would have for us. Lord, I ask that you'll be with us now. Lord, allow me the opportunity to be a voice for the text.
[7:05] I pray that everyone here will have ears to hear. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. I like to start off with asking, you know, what is wisdom? That seems a funny way to start, because we've talked about wisdom so much, and so you kind of much would assume that we know.
[7:18] But just to see that I'm not wasting any time, look to the person beside you and say, Hey, neighbor, wisdom is... And now explain it to them in about 10 seconds. Okay.
[7:31] Some of you are doing pretty good, all right? But I'm going to think that maybe you need a refresher course, okay? Because if I'm sitting where you're at and you tell me to do that, to give the elevator pitch for wisdom, I'm probably not going to know exactly where I'm going to start.
[7:43] But all throughout the Proverbs, God gives us different words and expressions that should heighten our understanding of wisdom. And we know that's the best way to understand something, right? You read books all the time, and you don't know what a word means, and you keep reading in the book, but it keeps showing up.
[7:57] But the more it gets used, the more you know what it means. Just like in your definition of wisdom, the more you see it used in different ways and different expressions of it, the more fuller your meaning is going to be of it.
[8:08] Thatcher has a T-shirt that he wears on occasion, and it says, knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens. And I look at him and say, you know, what is that? He said, I don't know, some kid at my school said it, and so they put it on a shirt, and now this is what my team wears.
[8:23] And I'm like, well, you know, the Bible says that wisdom cries out, that wisdom isn't silent. And so there's a lot of understanding of wisdom that may not always be as dialed in as we can have.
[8:36] And we want to be people that are as dialed in as possible to Bible words about wisdom. I'm not sure that I'm going to get you all the way dialed in tonight, but I'm going to help you dial in a little bit. First of all, it tells us, and this is the most common expression, verse 13, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil.
[8:51] So we would know that, right? The beginning of wisdom is to fear the Lord. Proverbs 9, 10 says that so clearly. In the beginning of wisdom, the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Very plainly, we know where the beginning point of wisdom is, meaning there's no gaining wisdom, there's no entering in the wisdom without this understanding of this fear of the Lord.
[9:09] Fear is just recognizing the weightiness of God, this reverence we would have for Him, which means that you should not expect wisdom from anybody who would not have a holy reverence for the Lord.
[9:20] There's all kinds of things that a person could have without a reverence for the Lord. They could have intellect, they could have forms of knowledge, they could have a high IQ, but wisdom is something that is given to those of us when we have this honor and reverence for the Lord.
[9:32] Wisdom always begins with being awake and serious about the fact that we live in a moral order created by God. Joseph brought up the night in Honduras they realized that abortion is not best for their society.
[9:45] And they have many reasons why they say abortion has a blight upon their society. But wisdom says that it's not only a moral code, but there's a relationship with the Creator that we want to honor.
[9:57] That we are against it because there is a God in heaven that we want to obey. So we see it as the fear of the Lord. Also, understanding and knowledge is a word that will show up a lot. Verse 9, They all are plain to Him that understandeth and write to them that findeth knowledge.
[10:12] Understanding and knowledge. This is why we can't equate it with a high IQ alone. A high IQ is not the same as wisdom. And the Bible gives us four examples in Proverbs 30 of an animal that has wisdom.
[10:25] And you probably know what they are. One, it's the ant, right? The ant stores up stuff in the summer so that it's ready in the winter. Or maybe, I don't know what they do in a time like this when it becomes winter in the middle of the summer, right? They maybe get a little snack out of their reserves.
[10:39] Then you have the Coney's, which isn't a cheese corn dog or a cheese dog. If you're from Ohio, Dan, you know, a Coney from Skyline. It's a badger. And the badger, he builds his home in the rocks.
[10:50] He's like, I know I'm not tough, so I'm going to need to live somewhere that's really strong. You have the locust that marks in formation without a king. They know what to do. And then the spider, which is supposed to be easy to catch, but the spider gets to live anywhere he wants, right?
[11:04] Spiders are even found in the nicest palaces in the world because all four of those things have wisdom or demonstrate wisdom, right? They demonstrate wisdom for us.
[11:14] But none of us think about the IQ of an ant or of a badger or of a Coney. None of us think they have an IQ. But just like them, we should seek understanding of God's created world and how to best live in it wherever we are.
[11:28] And so now I'm picturing all of you all as different animals in here, okay? And so some of you are ants and some of you are Coney's and some of you are locusts. And you have different things throughout your life. And living exactly like another animal may not be best for what you're trying to do.
[11:40] Because you're in a different context throughout the day and a different place to be. And so you need wisdom in the context of your life. How do you need to apply the scriptures and what needs to be done?
[11:51] Another word that we don't use often, like Greg said, like meekness, it's kind of went out of style, which is a shame. But it's the word prudence. Verse 12 says, Our wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
[12:03] So wisdom, she says, I just live down the road from prudence where it's next door. Me and prudence are very close together on the map. If you know where prudence is, you pretty much know where I'm at. Because it lives right down the road. I dwell with prudence.
[12:14] This is next door. We share a townhouse together, okay? I, wisdom, dwell with prudence. A prudent person is a person, wisdom is a masterful decision making at crossroads.
[12:25] They know the decisions they need to make when they're at a crossroads of life. Which is where we find ourselves often. We need prudence, the how to make decisions. Are you in here raising kids? You need prudence.
[12:36] Are you trying to advance in your career? You need prudence. Are you in a transition in your life? You need prudence. You overcome, you're dealing with temptation. You want to know where to not make occasion for the enemy? You need prudence.
[12:47] And so we have prudence, dwell with wisdom, dwell with prudence. And then also it says the knowledge of witty inventions. And I like this term, witty inventions. I don't know the first thing you think of a witty invention.
[12:58] But most of the movies I watched as a kid, they had what was a Rube Goldberg machine, which is basically Ernest, when he wanted to check the mail, he went over to the toaster. And he put toast in the toaster.
[13:09] And then when the toast went down, it pulled a string, which made a bowling ball go down. And it went all the way around. And then the mail would come. And then it would fall on something. And it would come to him by the time that he got his toast.
[13:20] And he went to something else. Any of you all familiar with what I'm talking about? Want me to rewind that there? It's like a series of events. It's a witty invention. I don't think that's what they had in mind, right? But that's what I first think of when it comes to witty inventions, or discretion, or a well-thought-out plan.
[13:35] So that machine isn't really a bad thing to think about, because there's a lot of thought that goes into this. A lot of discretion that goes into something. And so finding out knowledge of witty inventions, having this discretion that is needed.
[13:48] Don't you love it when a plan comes together? You ever work on a word problem? You're trying to figure out, how am I going to get to the airport, but also be at this place, and be at this place all at the same time? And then a new piece of information comes in.
[14:00] Josh Levesque, my younger twin that was here last Thursday that you met, he landed at the airport. And I said, hey, when you're coming from the airport, I'm going to need you to pick me up at Firehouse Subs in downtown Atlanta.
[14:12] Don't worry about it. I'll explain later. All right? See, Josh became part of a problem for me that he solved that day. I had five things going on, and it was going to leave me homeless in Atlanta. But thankfully, I'm not homeless in Atlanta.
[14:24] And so a word problem came together. But it's that discernment that you need in putting things together, that wisdom is going to help us without making those types of decisions. So the Bible gives us a lot of moral laws, but it doesn't give us moral laws for every situation.
[14:39] Instead, what it does say is it says, get wisdom. Some examples of people. Verse 15, by me kings reign and princes decree justice. By me princes rule and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
[14:53] You can look at a king, you can look at a judge, and you can see that these are people that are prudent. These are people that have wisdom. They have to make decisions. Remember the wisdom we saw with Solomon talking about a king?
[15:05] He prays for wisdom, and what is one of the first things that he does? There's two women, and one of them's baby dies, and one of them's still alive. And they bring the baby to him, and Solomon looks at it.
[15:15] He's a prudent man, and he says, I know what we'll do. We'll take the baby, and we'll cut it in half. And what happens? The true mother in the story there says, no, I don't want that to happen. What he was demonstrating was prudence, or discernment, or understanding, and knowledge.
[15:30] He had wisdom from God. So wisdom is knowing how to live, and what to do, when there are no rules, but only a relationship telling you what you should do. Living when there's no rules for what exactly you're doing, but being guided by the principles of God, being guided by the Spirit, and what's going on in your heart with God leading you through His Word.
[15:52] Wisdom is needed, and it's available to all of us. Look at verse number, or Job 28, 12 says it like this. It forms it as a question. It says, but where shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of understanding?
[16:03] Then he goes on to verse 13. It says, man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is found the land of the living. The debt said, it's not in me, and the sea saith, it's not in me. It's not found in the land of the living. And the sea says, don't come looking at the bottom over here.
[16:15] It's not here. You go to another place that's not over here, that it's not found outside of God. That you can turn over every rock. You can go to every place. Obviously, you can turn over a rock. You can dig to every bottom of every ocean.
[16:26] But you can enroll in every college. You can put yourself in every course. You can go and hear every speaker. But it's not going to be found outside of God, because wisdom belongs to Him. And it was a creation of His in the very beginning.
[16:38] And He's the keeper of it. And He gives it to us as a gift. And the answer, Job says, behold, in verse 28, 27, then did He see it and declare it. He prepared it, yea, and searched it out.
[16:49] And unto man He said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and that apart from evil is understanding, that when you're looking for wisdom, you're going to find it by fearing the Lord and receiving it from Him.
[17:00] If wisdom is from God and it's calling out, as it says in verse number 17, we should listen. I love them that love me. Wisdom loves them that loves wisdom. And those who seek me early should find it.
[17:11] It's available to us. It's from God. And we should be listening to it. We should do more than seek wisdom, but we should love it. To gain wisdom is to be better, is to know the mind of God.
[17:22] It ought to be common for us to think that we are going and looking for it. Some years ago, we had a theme in the youth ministry of wisdom hunters. And we had a bunch of different events went around from it. And some of the different people in the church had a card.
[17:34] And a teenager could come to you and say, do you have any wisdom for me? And you could take this card out and give it to them. And that's how we ought to be living our lives at all times. We ought to be looking for wisdom. It's available to all of us.
[17:45] It's an open invitation unto me, 8 verse 4. Unto me, O men, I call my voices to the sons of man. I know you simply understand wisdom. Wisdom is out in the public. It's not hidden like the woman of seduction.
[17:56] But it's out there and it's crying out. People like this idea of a secret wisdom, of a Bible code. You want to know something nobody else knows about. Pastor shares this story and I feel better that I did it as a kid.
[18:08] But me and a friend, we circled all the first letters of one of the books of the Bible. And all the last letters of the Bible. And we wrote it out on this long poster board. And you know what it said? Absolutely nothing, right?
[18:18] Because that's not how God wants to communicate with us. He's like, read the words. Don't be trying to decipher it. You don't need some kind of Bible code, some kind of Finchie code on it. But this secret wisdom. One of the coolest things this boy from Kentucky has ever got to do when it comes to traveling is that there's this place that trains Buddhist monks near Varanasi, India.
[18:37] And it's basically the Harvard of Buddhist monks. If you want your kid to be a Buddhist monk, this is where you send them, okay? And when I was there, the missionary, he was teaching English class, but he got sick.
[18:48] And he asked me if I would fill in. And I'm like, I'm perfectly fit for teaching English, okay? What level are they on, okay? And so I went in there and I'm teaching them. And these guys that I'm wanting to know about their day and what they did, I thought they would wake up when the sun would come up.
[19:01] Like, what do you do? Like, we watch the news. And then we do, like, you play basketball. And I miss that by a little bit. And that would have been the coolest thing in the world would be playing basketball with some Buddhist monks out there in their orange robes. But they were telling what they were doing, but they were just basically searching for wisdom.
[19:14] And they showed me their library, and they told me about it, and all the books they had read, and how they would travel, and they'd have famous speakers that would come in. And this constant pursuit of wisdom that they were wanting, that they believed that was secretly hidden from everybody, and that they were going to find.
[19:30] But you know what book they didn't have in the library that were able to help them get? Mark Twain. No, I'm just kidding. No, Huckleberry Finn. No, it was the Bible. They didn't have the Bible.
[19:41] And so we're able to get them one. Could you imagine searching everything in the world for wisdom, but not remembering to have a Bible in there? The Bible, people like this idea, but that isn't the case. One man said it like this, the unchaste wife of Proverbs 7 moves covertly at dusk and speaks falsely.
[19:57] Wisdom moves publicly and speaks direct and authoritative truth. It's not in hiding. It's available. It's for the men and the sons of men, the sons of men, the simple, and for the foolish.
[20:07] It is for all people there. The important point is that wisdom is for ordinary people. She is not confined to the academic classroom or to the sacred precepts of the temple, nor is she high atop some mountain where only the hardiest, the most determined will find her.
[20:22] To the contrary, she wants to attract all and be acceptable to all. Well, she is available to us. And that's why you have found it in the lives of people that have lived very simple lives.
[20:34] And all of you in here can tell a story about sitting down with your grandparents who may or may not ever finish school that lived a very simple life, but they had wisdom. I would call my grandma when I was in college and talk to her about everything.
[20:47] And I didn't think there was a topic in the world that I didn't want to know what my grandma said, because she has a person that had wisdom. James 1, 5 says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God who gives the all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given unto him.
[21:03] We can go to God and we can ask it. But we need that meekness that Greg was talking about. Before I came here the night I was at the library and I overheard a funny conversation. A man walked up to the front desk and he says, how does this work?
[21:14] And the lady said, what do you mean? Like, the computer's this? He says, no, how does this whole library thing work? I've never been in one before. And I'm like, and so for a moment I wanted to kind of judge the guy, but then I thought, man, what a great, I mean, he was an older gentleman and he was just admitting.
[21:29] I didn't know how it worked, but he wasn't going to let that embarrassment keep him from learning how to use the library. He just went in there and said, I don't know how this works. And I'm like, it's pretty simple, buddy. Just get a book, all right? Walk up there. I'll show you how it works there.
[21:41] But he was learning something. It's available to all that will ask for it. Listen and we'll be blessed. Verse 32. Now, therefore, hearken unto me, O you children, for blessed are they that keep my ways.
[21:53] We should be eagerly listening. Blessed is man, verse 34, that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the post of my door. Just watching for it and wanting it at a door.
[22:04] In the school, high school that I went to, I used to, I'd pull up and the door would be locked and then I would get back in my car and I'd watch. All of my classmates would come and try the same door. And then they would get back in theirs. Because we didn't trust each other, right?
[22:15] Everybody had to go and try the door for themselves. But we weren't eagerly waiting to get in and get a great education, right? We just wanted to get in, get out of the cold. But could you imagine if we were eagerly anticipating every chance we had to get wisdom?
[22:28] If that's how it was. If we sought for what it was. The blessings that would come from keeping and not refusing. Verse 33. Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not. To not obey is to love death.
[22:39] What a strange statement. Verse 35. Whosoever findeth me findeth life and he should obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul and all that hate me love death.
[22:51] What a strong statement. Two options here. You're either seeking wisdom and you want it because you love life. Or you don't want wisdom in your life and you're seeking your own death. Lack of wisdom leads to sin.
[23:02] Sin will be conceived. It's going to bring forth death in your life. So wisdom is available to all of us. Then why don't we seek it more? And it's because I have and maybe you as well have undervalued it in your life.
[23:16] Those who value wisdom seek it and they live by it. Verse 10. Receive my instructions and not silver and knowledge rather than choice go. Kind of a progression. It goes on from silver and gold and talks about rubies and all those in greater value.
[23:30] There's nothing on this earth that's of greater value than wisdom from God. That's why we can say one scripture of this book is of greater value than anything that the internet or any library would ever contain. It's wisdom from God.
[23:42] And we would do well to know the value of wisdom. Going back to Job it says, Job 28.13. Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is found in the land of the living. We don't know how to value wisdom.
[23:54] So much of life is knowing what something is worth. You know many people you hire, that's just basically their job. If you hire a contractor, his basic job is to know what something is worth and to be able to buy it for you at a place where he can make some margin in it.
[24:06] If you buy cars, you don't even really sometimes have to know a lot about fixing a car. You just got to know what this type of car is worth. It's accurately placing a value. So much in real estate, Ms. Lisa, would be being able to know what the value of something is.
[24:20] And there's a lot of energy that goes into it. As Christians, where have we properly valued wisdom? Where have we placed it? Where do you put it on your scale? How much of your life is given to seeking it?
[24:32] How much of a priority is it in life? And we often undervalue it. If we knew the value of wisdom, we would be fighting for a seat at every Bible study. If we knew the value of wisdom, there would never be a rocking chair with an old person in it wanting to talk without some young person sitting beside it with a notebook.
[24:49] If we valued wisdom, we would slow down, we would seek it, and we would take what we had, and we would live by it. We would adhere to it. We would not only look after and find it, but when we found it, we would cherish it, we would love it, and we would live by it.
[25:02] Wisdom is more valuable than anything in this world, better than gold. Wisdom leads us in a life that we should want to live. Verse 28, Wisdom is going to go from seeking wisdom.
[25:23] Wisdom is what we so desperately need in a world that cannot offer it. Verses 6 through 9, it says it speaks excellent. Its lips will always be right. Its mouth will speak truth. Everything, and it says there's no forwardness or perverseness in them.
[25:37] Find me any news source. Find me any other place that you're going to receive education in the world that you can say is excellent, right, and always true, and up forward. You're going to find nothing in the world like the wisdom of God.
[25:49] There's nothing that compares to it. And so in all of our gaining and all of our learning, we need to get wisdom. In all of our podcasts in the morning, we need to get wisdom. In all of our extracurricular reading, we need to get wisdom.
[26:00] Because there's nothing of anything in this world of a substance like it. And it says that wisdom is plain. They are all plain to him that understands and right to find knowledge. Mark Twain says, It is not the parts of the Bible I can't understand that bother me, but it's the parts that I do understand.
[26:15] The wisdom is just right here for you. It isn't complicated. It has answers for us. Wisdom comes from God. It's available for all of us. Matthew 7, 24, Therefore, whosoever hears these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which builds his house upon a rock.
[26:31] Wisdom is practical. You can build your life on it. You can build your family upon it. It is a foundation that you need. But we also know what happens to the one who didn't build their life upon this, upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the God being revealed to himself.
[26:46] And then lastly here, Wisdom is the mind of God. Verse 22, The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before the works of old. This was not an eternal wisdom that God adheres to, but God is the creator of wisdom.
[26:57] Verse 24, Where there were no depths, I was brought forth when there was no fountains abounding with water. God creates wisdom. That he made it and it's there and it's from him.
[27:08] Sometimes I think we fall into this idea that wisdom existed before God and God has to play by some kind of universal rules that are just available out there in the world. Like some things like gravity just existed and God plays by them.
[27:22] Sometimes that comes up in the conversation when people think about would God sin? Because it's as if God is not the... Sin is doing anything that's this pleasing to him. So why would God do anything that is this pleasing to himself?
[27:33] And so wisdom is created by God. When there were no depths, I brought forth. Wisdom was brought forth when there was no fountains abounding with water. The description of wisdom sounds a lot like Jesus and it should.
[27:45] But Jesus is greater than somebody that has wisdom, right? Solomon has wisdom. But there's one that is greater than Solomon. Because he is wisdom. Jesus is wisdom. 1 Corinthians 1.18 For the preaching of the cross is them that perish foolishness.
[28:00] But of them which are saved is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. And I will bring nothing to understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the dispute of the world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
[28:12] And after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. That God's wisdom takes the wisdom of this world and makes it look like foolishness.
[28:23] On the day that wisdom of the world thought it was winning, it was losing. That the wisdom of this world could not be farther from the truth. 1 Corinthians 1.24 But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
[28:39] Christ is the wisdom of God. See, wisdom in this chapter will certainly make you think of Jesus Christ. Jesus certainly reveals the nature of God the Father, including His wisdom.
[28:50] Jesus' wisdom. Jesus is referred to as the wisdom of God in Luke 11.49. I want to give you a little background to this before we pray. But Luke 11.49, it says, Therefore also said the wisdom of God.
[29:02] This is Jesus speaking. So as we're trying to figure out what wisdom is, we're looking at different expressions. And Jesus is described as the wisdom of God. I will send them prophets and apostles and some of them that shall slay and persecute.
[29:14] Here Jesus condemns the scribe for being the exact opposite of what they think they are. They believe that they possess the keys of knowledge. Luke 11.52 said, See, they had this legalistic approach that had taken away their understanding and knowledge.
[29:44] And what they were doing is they were rejecting the wisdom of God. And not only were they rejecting the wisdom of God, but they were trying to prevent other people from it. And they were replacing it with this legalistic system.
[29:58] Let us not replace searching for wisdom with some kind of legalistic system in our lives. Maybe our kids would see us searching for wisdom. That we don't always have a rule for every answer in life.
[30:09] I hope the Whithomes don't mind me using the example. I'll know here in a moment. But Miss Whithome and her daughters were sharing the gospel the other day with a young lady named Carly. And I'm sure Miss Whithome seems to many people that may be in need.
[30:21] And they don't meet every need that they see. That's not possible. But God worked in their heart and moved them. And the next thing they know, they're at this lady's home and they're helping her with that. Those young girls got to see their mom move with wisdom.
[30:33] And the spirit was working in and through them. It's not enough for me just to put up rules all over my house and to take, these are the rules of our family. That's what the scribes would have done. They would have rejected the knowledge of the day.
[30:44] They rejected the prophets. They would go on to reject Jesus. They rejected wisdom of God. And they replaced it with a bunch of to-do lists and a bunch of rules that could happen. And that's not what we're made to live by.
[30:55] There's not enough to-do lists in this world to prevent our kids from going away from the things of God. We have to demonstrate to them that we're people that are seeking wisdom. Why are we praying for wisdom?
[31:06] Because I have questions that I want to be faced today and I don't know the answer to them right now. Why are we praying for wisdom? Because I don't know all that God wants me to do. Our kids ought to see us seeking for wisdom.
[31:16] They ought to see us finding wisdom. And then they ought to see what it looks like in our lives. And we ought to be teaching them to do that. But when we think that we're prideful and we're arrogant like the scribes here in this story.
[31:28] And that we don't need wisdom. And that we always have the answers. Then they will also have to become prideful and arrogant as well. And think that they have all the answers. And they're going to grow up and you're going to very quickly.
[31:39] What is one of the first things you learn as a full-grown adult? You don't have all the answers, right? And so they're going to learn that they don't have all the answers. So they're going to say, well, my dad always seemed to think he always had the answer.
[31:49] Where did he get it? And they're going to know my dad got his answers because he was always asking God for wisdom. And he must have got it because God gave it to him liberally because God wants him to have it.
[32:01] And so what should I do when I'm trying to make a decision about where to go to college or who to marry or all these decisions that aren't written out to us in there? I need to do the same thing that I saw modeled for me. I need to go get wisdom because I value it and it's from God and it's available for me.
[32:16] I'm going to pray, but I hope you make a decision tonight about wisdom. Have you valued it like you should? Or maybe you've seen it and you're not adhering to it. If you know what to do right and you don't, then you're not adhering it. I want to remind you that wisdom comes from God, the creator.
[32:31] It's something that he gives to us that we couldn't create on our own, that we wouldn't find in this world without it, that God provides wisdom. If you're dealing with a problem right now and you just said, I can't find any answers, I don't know up from down right now, this is so far removed from anything I know.
[32:47] Can I tell you that God has answers for you? He has wisdom for you. He will guide you through this time in his life. He will tell you, just like the ant, what needs to be happening right now for a future date.
[32:58] He may tell you, just like the badger, where you need to hide yourself right now. He will give you the guidance that you need if you'll ask him for it. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you that you offer wisdom.
[33:09] And Lord, I'm asking for it. Lord, I need wisdom in my life, Lord. And you say, if I come to you asking for it, then you will give it. Lord, in so many areas of my life, Lord, I need wisdom.
[33:19] And I know that it cries out. It cries out from your word. It cries out when people talk to me about your word. I know it's available. And I want you to know that my heart is attentive. And my ears are ready to hear your wisdom and to apply it to my life.
[33:34] If they ever had bowed, never had closed. I'm just going to give you a moment there in your seats. Would you just speak to God for a moment? Take the problem that you have that nobody else around you seems to have the answers for. And say, God, I'm at a loss on what to do.
[33:47] And I'm going to need your wisdom. I know that it comes from you. And I value it. And when it comes to me, Lord, I'm going to act upon it.