PROVERBS 1-4 INTRODUCTION TO WISDOM2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Proverbs 1-4 Introduction To Wisdom

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016. Well, this morning we begin the book of Proverbs. If you're reading through the Bible in three years with us, you've been reading Proverbs chapters 1 through 7 this week, and we'll be hitting some of those chapters in our time together this morning.

For me, the book of Proverbs is, I would consider it the highlight of the Old Testament. For me personally, I just really enjoy the book of Proverbs. You know, Psalms is good. I like Psalms and it's great. It's kind of long. You know, I think by the end of it, I'm ready to be out of the Psalms. I don't know about you. I would maybe prefer if it was flip-flopped. If Proverbs was long and Psalms was short, maybe that's just me.

But I really enjoy the book of Proverbs and the words at play and the way that things are intertwined and the things are structured. It's just really fascinating to me. I really enjoy it. And I'm looking forward to spending this time this morning and over the next couple weeks considering the book of Proverbs with you.

And so this morning, we're going to look at Proverbs and a couple different passages out of chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4. And the title of the message this morning is Introduction to Wisdom. The classic type of proverb where it's like a one-line saying, it's wisdom, and it's got some contrast and some comparison and some parallelisms and all of that, those really begin in chapter 10 of the book of Proverbs. And

And chapters one through nine are not so much those kinds of proverbs, but really a discourse on wisdom, various discussions and approaches to wisdom and understanding and knowledge that Solomon expresses for us to be able to grow in our wisdom and understanding. And

And so we get here in chapters one through four, really an introduction to the whole concept of wisdom on what it is and how valuable it is and what it means to us. And so we want to spend some time learning about wisdom and getting introduced to that this morning. We're introduced to the author in verse one. It says the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.

Solomon is the primary author of the Proverbs. Now, some of the Proverbs are also attributed to other authors, and we'll see that in the chapters as we go in the next couple weeks. And so we'll see it's a collection of Proverbs by different authors, but primarily by Solomon. And Solomon, if you might remember, was the wisest man who ever lived, except for Jesus. He was the wisest man who ever lived because Solomon,

When he first became king, in 1 Kings chapter 3, it records for us the account of Solomon soon after he was crowned as king. His father David had died, and now he has the authority and the responsibility for the kingdom. He's overwhelmed by it. He's young and inexperienced, and

And God appears to Solomon in 1 Kings 3 and gives him an incredible offer. He says, Solomon, tell me what you want, and I'll give it to you. He gave him just a blank check. Write it for whatever amount you want, and I'll give it to you. I'll give you whatever it is that you ask for. And Solomon there in 1 Kings 3 asks God for wisdom.

He didn't ask God for riches or for the heads of his enemies. He asked God for wisdom to be able to fulfill the role that he had been given, to be the king that God had called him to be and to deal well with the authority that he had been given.

And so it was a good thing that Solomon requested. He asked for wisdom and God said, I like that request. And that's a prayer. That's a request I will answer. And so he gives him wisdom along with some of the other things that he could have asked for. God gave him great riches. He gave him peace and so on and so forth. And through the wisdom of Solomon, the nation of Israel was brought to the height of its glory.

King David, of course, is the classic king, you know, the king that's referred to, the ultimate king. But Solomon, his son, carried the kingdom to great glory. There was so much wealth in Solomon's day. It describes the silver and gold being like rocks and stones in the city of Jerusalem. It was just an abundance of wealth. There was a great peace that was brought forth upon the nation with Solomon at the helm and the wisdom that he had.

But as you follow the account of Solomon later in his life, he actually turns away from God. And so in the end of his life, although he was the wisest man who ever lived, he became a fool. How could that happen? How could the wisest man who ever lived become a fool? Well, we'll talk about that in just a moment as we get into chapter one a little bit more. But he became the wisest fool who ever lived.

Here in the book of Proverbs, though, it's during that peak time. He is in the height of his wisdom. He's walking with God, and he's got great insights and instruction for us on wisdom. Now, he introduces the book here in the next couple verses and gives us the purpose of the book of Proverbs.

In verse 2, he says,

The purpose of this book, the reason why he wrote the Proverbs, the reason why he's collected the Proverbs that he's written and others have written, is so that we might know wisdom. It's to give people opportunity to become wise, to learn wisdom, to learn instruction, and to receive the wisdom that is available to them.

He goes on in verse four to say, it's also to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

He talks about the simple person. And the idea of a simple person is someone who doesn't think for themselves. They only do, you know, what they see others do or what other people tell them to do. But they're not using their own creativity, their own imagination, their own wisdom. They're just doing what, you know, well, this is what we're supposed to do. This is the way we've always done it. This is what mom told me to do. You know, it's that kind of person, the simple. And so he wants to give prudence to the simple.

to give wisdom to the simple, to teach them to be able to know and understand things for themselves and not just to be told what to do and when to do it. And then we also see the purpose of Proverbs in verse five and six is to increase the wisdom of the wise. In verse five, he says, "'A wise man will hear and increase learning, "'and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, "'to understand a proverb and an enigma.'"

The words of the wise and their riddles. And so here's the purpose of Proverbs. Essentially, to give wisdom, to learn wisdom. Whether we're young and inexperienced, whether we're simple-minded and we don't know what to think or how to think for ourselves, or whether we're old and wise and we have a lot of experience, the book of Proverbs, the purpose of it is to teach us wisdom. Even the old wise people are teachable and correctable.

Now, someone who's not teachable and won't receive instruction, they're not wise. That's what the Proverbs will go on to say many times over as we study through this book.

And so the whole point of this is for us to grow in our wisdom, to grow in understanding, to grow in knowledge of the Lord and his ways. And it applies to every one of us, whether we're young or old, whether we have a lot of experience or a little bit of experience, that's the purpose. And so that's what the book of Proverbs is going to do if you allow it to do that in your heart and in your life.

And so as we look at this introduction to wisdom here in Proverbs chapters one through four, there's four points I'd like to highlight for you as we work our way through the chapters. The first one is found in verse seven, and that is that wisdom begins with fearing the Lord.

Wisdom is a big concept. There's lots of things that we could talk about it, but Solomon starts at the beginning, which is a good place to start. Where do we start with getting wisdom? Where do we start with becoming wise? He says in verse seven, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The place where we start is at the beginning, and that is the fear of the Lord. That is the beginning of wisdom.

Now, if you're a little bit particular, you might say, well, Jerry, it says it's the beginning of knowledge, not wisdom. I don't know if you're paying attention when you made your points, but well, yes, I was. And those words are often used interchangeably. In fact, in Proverbs chapter 9, verse 10, it tells us there, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And so they are working together. Knowledge and wisdom go hand in hand in many cases.

Now there is some subtle distinctions that you could make between knowledge and wisdom. Many times wisdom is described as the application of knowledge. So one way to understand that is knowledge understands that the light has turned red.

Wisdom applies the brakes. It's the putting into action based on what you know, the knowledge that you have. Knowledge memorizes the Ten Commandments. Wisdom obeys them. So it's not just collecting information or processing information, but it's that application, that living accordingly to what you know and what has been revealed to you. So you can make that subtle distinction and yet

Many times throughout the book of Proverbs, these are really used interchangeably, primarily because you have to have knowledge in order to be able to have wisdom. They go hand in hand. You have to be able to process and understand that the light is red in order to, you know, apply the brake and come to a stop. So wisdom is the application of that knowledge and those things that you know.

Another way to look at wisdom, which I prefer to consider as we look at from a biblical perspective, I would say that wisdom is insight for living a fulfilled life.

Wisdom is insight for living a fulfilled life. It's insight from God on how to live the life that he's called you to live. And that's really the kind of wisdom that we want and that we need. We need that insight from the Lord to be able to live the best life possible, to be able to live to the utmost and to have the overflowing life that has been promised to us as followers of Jesus Christ.

And so wisdom is insight for living a fulfilled life. But how do we get those insights? Where does that begin? And again, it begins here in verse 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom or knowledge. So we need to begin with fearing the Lord. Now, what does it mean then to fear the Lord?

The word fear, it can mean the idea of fear like you and I understand it. It can mean the idea of terror, which is not necessarily something that we would immediately think about when it comes to fearing God, to have a terror of God. Many times we describe the idea of fearing God as, well, you know, we need to have a reverence for God and a respect for God. And certainly that's true.

But I would caution us to not be too quick to soften this word fear. There is a legitimate fear and terror that does need to be there for us in regards to God.

Now, not a fear that causes us to run away. So, you know, if you're picturing the monster scene in the movie and everybody's terrorized, you know, they're terrorized, and so they run away. That's not the kind of fear that we're talking about when we talk about the fear of the Lord. But it's a fear that causes us instead to draw near to God and receive the forgiveness that he provides. We learned last Sunday in Psalm 139, as David wrote,

He said, I cannot escape from your presence. If I go to the heights, if I go to the depths, if I go to the ends of the earth, there you are, your hands there to hold me, your hands there to guide me. I can't run away from you. And so the idea of fearing the Lord and trying to run away, well, that's not gonna work and it doesn't make any sense. But instead, the fear of the Lord will prompt us to draw near to God and receive the forgiveness that he provides.

Consider the words that Jesus said in Luke chapter 12. He said in Luke chapter 12, verse 4, I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who after he has killed has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him.

Jesus' words here give us a little bit of clarity on the fear of the Lord, right? He says, don't fear man. The worst thing that man can do to you is they can kill your physical body. But that's the limit. That's the extent of what they can do. They can't do anything more than that. Instead, Jesus says, I'll show you whom you should fear. Fear God. Because God can kill your body, but then after that, he can cast your soul into hell.

There's a legitimate fear that needs to take place in our hearts. There's a legitimate fear that needs to be there to recognize we stand before God, our creator. He is our judge and he has the power to cast us into hell. And Jesus says, fear him. Now, again, not in a way that says, okay, I'm going to fear God and I'm going to try to run from him. No, that doesn't make sense. No, instead, fear God and receive God.

The forgiveness that he provides. The fear of the Lord is really a submission to God. It's a submitting to the will of God, to the plan of God. Letting God dictate what goes down, what happens, what you do and how you do it. That's a good understanding of the fear of the Lord. The commentator Thomas Constable says it this way. He says, fear is an affectionate reverence that results in humbly bowing to the Father's will.

It is a desire not to sin against him because his wrath is so awful and his love is so awesome. And I like the way he combines a couple concepts here. Notice he says fear is an affectionate reverence. And I kind of downplayed the idea of reverence a few moments ago, but it is an important word. It is an important concept. But notice that he attaches the affectionate there to it.

The fear of the Lord is not just, you know, a terror where we seek to run away from God, but there's the love of God that comes to play as well because we recognize in his power to bring judgment upon us, he's chosen instead to offer us the opportunity of forgiveness and everlasting life.

And so when we have an affection towards God and recognize what he's done for us, the result is we humbly bow to the Father's will. As we recognize his power, his authority, as we also recognize his love, we bow to the Father's will. He says it's a desire to not sin against him because his wrath is so awful.

There's a real thing in the wrath of God. And so, yes, we desire to not encounter the wrath of God. And so we desire to turn from sin, but then also connecting it to the understanding that his love is so awesome. And so these two things cannot be separated.

God is love, but he is also holy. They're united together. And so the fear of the Lord is appropriate for us because God deals with sin. He will deal with unrighteousness. And there needs to be a real fear in our hearts.

So that we don't dabble in sin, that we don't play around in sin, that we don't just continue in sin and thinking, well, everything's okay and God's fine with it. No, God is going to deal with that sin. He will bring wrath upon sin that is unrepentant. And so we need to turn from sin and humbly bow to the Father's will. The fear of the Lord.

recognizing his authority, recognizing his judgment, that is the beginning of wisdom. That's what Solomon says here in verse 7. It's the beginning. You could think of that as the first step in the right direction. The first step on the path to wisdom is the fear of the Lord. That means that there are a lot of smart people who are fools.

There's a lot of very intelligent people. There's a lot of geniuses that are fools because they haven't started on that path. They haven't began yet to fear the Lord. There's different kinds of wisdom. You could think about someone who's streetwise, right? And that's not the wisdom that we're talking about here. James in James chapter three talks about there's a wisdom that's from above, that's from God. And there's a wisdom that's earthly and sensual and demonic and

That's a different kind of wisdom. There is worldly wisdom, and that's not what Solomon is talking about. That's not a wisdom to aspire to. But the wisdom from above, the wisdom from God is important for us. And the beginning of that wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Now, I mentioned Solomon at the beginning, how he in 1 Kings 3 asked for wisdom from the Lord and was given that wisdom. And he became the wisest man who ever lived.

except for Jesus. But later in his life, he became a fool. And he ended up being the wisest fool there ever was. Maybe you thought I was the wisest fool there ever was. But no, it's Solomon. He had great wisdom, but what happened at the end of his life is he stopped submitting to the will of God. He began to multiply horses, which seems like, yeah, it's not a big deal. But God had specifically declared in his word that

The king should not multiply horses. He began to multiply wives. And God had some serious words to say about that as well. And at the end, it tells us at the end of his life that the multitude of his wives caused him to turn his heart away from the Lord. And he began to worship other gods. He began to worship false gods. He stopped submitting to the will of God. He started disobeying God. And in the end, he became a fool.

Because the beginning of the fear of the Lord, I'm sorry, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, the submission to the will of God, the obedience to God. And the moment we stop doing that, the moment we stop submitting to God, well, we begin down the path of foolishness, the path of destruction. That's how you become a fool, even if you have the most wisdom that anybody has ever seen.

And Solomon's account is a good reminder for every one of us because we are all vulnerable to that type of thing. No matter how long we've been walking with the Lord, no matter how long we've been on the path of wisdom and fearing the Lord, the moment we stop fearing God, the moment we start entertaining sin and allowing compromise and sin in our lives, we go down the path of foolishness.

And we begin the path of destruction that comes along with that. That can happen to any one of us, just as it happened to Solomon. There needs to be a continuing of our submission to God, our fearing God and turning from sin as we recognize his authority in our lives. So Solomon says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But there in verse seven, he says, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Notice the contrast.

Here's the beginning of knowledge. That's the fear of the Lord. But people who don't do that, they're called fools. If you don't fear God, you're a fool because you will stand before God and give an account. That's a fact. You will stand before God. So you're a fool if you don't fear the Lord. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Fools despise instruction. You see, the fear of the Lord is receiving instruction from the Lord.

but fools refuse to receive instruction from God. Will you let God tell you what to do? That's what determines whether you are wise or a fool. Will you let God give you instruction for your life? Will you let God override your desires, your thoughts, your plans, what your mom taught you? Will you let God tell you what to do? To fear the Lord is to value his word above all others.

to prioritize his instruction above all others, to do what God says first and foremost, to let God tell you what to do. That's how wisdom begins, with fearing the Lord. What if it was different? What if a master's degree was the beginning of wisdom? What if that's what Solomon said? After, I'm trying to do the math, 16 years of schooling or 18 years of schooling, then you're on the beginning of the path of wisdom.

Anybody have a master's degree in here? I'm not. Anybody have a master? Okay, none of us. We'd all be excluded. None of us would be on the path. We'd never be able to have the chance for wisdom. What if a high school diploma was the beginning of wisdom? There would be many who would be excluded. Many who wouldn't even have the opportunity to ever be wise. But here's the brilliance in the plan of God, the way that God has designed his kingdom and this whole process for

The fact that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom means that wisdom is accessible to every one of us. No matter your education, no matter your upbringing, no matter what language you speak, no matter what background you have, no matter how late in life you started to, you know, look to become wise, every one of us has the opportunity to have wisdom. It's accessible to every one of us. You can also see that a little bit later here in chapter one, if you'll look at verse 21.

It says, Here, wisdom is spoken of as a woman. They're calling out in the square, calling out at the city gates.

In other words, it's an open proclamation, an open declaration. If anybody wants to have wisdom, they're welcome. You can come and receive wisdom. Wisdom is calling out and saying, you don't have to be simple anymore. You don't have to be so limited. You can learn wisdom. It's an open invitation. It's accessible to you. It's accessible to anyone because the fear of the Lord prevails.

is the beginning of wisdom. And if you will begin to submit to God, if you will begin to follow his instruction, you'll begin that path. You'll be on the path to wisdom, to have the insight for a blessed and fulfilled life, the life that God has set aside and designed for you. And so as we look at the introduction to wisdom, we see the beginning here. It begins with fearing the Lord.

Well, now as we continue on, we're going to turn now to chapter two of Proverbs. And point number two is the Lord gives wisdom to those who seek it. The Lord gives wisdom to those who seek it. It's interesting. Wisdom is accessible to all. It's an open invitation, but not everybody has wisdom because the Lord gives that wisdom to those who seek it. Let's read through this passage. Proverbs chapter two, verses one through eight.

Beginning in verse 1, it says, My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding. Yes, if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding. If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk uprightly. He guards the paths of justice and preserves the way of his saints. Here is Solomon talks about wisdom some more. Notice the action words that he uses to describe attaining this wisdom and receiving this wisdom.

He says in verse 2, incline your ear to wisdom. If you want to be wise, if you want to receive this wisdom from God and have the insight for life that God has for you, he says then incline your ear to wisdom. That's make sure you pay attention. Turn in, you know, tune in. Like make sure I want to hear wisdom.

Go out of your way, incline your ear to hear what God has to say. And then he says, apply your heart to understanding. Notice these words are action words. He's calling for you to be engaged in the process of attaining and receiving this wisdom. Apply your heart. We all know what it's like. We can sit down and read through a passage of scripture and get to the end and realize

not have anything of value for our own lives. We all experience that. But we also have experienced spending time in the word of God where we apply our heart. See, it's one thing to read and just read and get through, you know, the passage for the day or the chapter for the day or whatever it is that your objective is. But to apply your heart to

means to engage with the passage, to seek God and what he has to say for you and what he wants to speak to you, to apply your heart. It's that engagement of your will, of your desires. Notice that's expressed further in verse three. He says, if you cry out for discernment. In other words, wisdom isn't just dropped on your lap when you don't expect it, when you're not looking for it. No, he says, you need to be crying out. You got to be engaged in this process. You got to be asking for

He even goes on to say in verse 3, and lift up your voice for understanding. Notice there's a passion here that's being communicated. It's not just, you know, Lord, if you want to give me wisdom, you know, I'd be cool with that.

It's a lifting up your voice, a crying out. It's a desperation. It's an intensity. It's a great need, inclining my ear, applying my heart, crying out, lifting up my voice. Then notice verse four. If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures. He says, this is how you should be approaching wisdom. Seek wisdom as silver. Search for wisdom as if you would for hidden treasures, right?

Now, again, this implies, this describes a great deal of intensity. When you're digging for hidden treasure, that's something you don't do lightly. Those who do it lightly don't do it very long. They got to work very hard at it. But then notice the connection in verse five. He says, then you will understand the fear of the Lord. If you want to get on the road, the beginning of wisdom, the fear of the Lord, what you have to do is you have to apply yourself.

You have to be engaged. You have to incline your ear and apply your heart and cry out and lift up your voice and seek for wisdom as you would for hidden treasure. The commentator Matthew Henry had a comment on this that I liked. He says, now some of the words are a little bit old school, so bear with me, but he says, we must seek it as silver, preferring it far before all the wealth of this world and laboring in search of it as those who dig in the mines.

who undergo great toil and run great hazards with indefatigable, I think that's how you say it, industry and invincible constancy and resolution in pursuit of the ore. So he's picturing miners. And he's saying, look, miners, they set aside everything else and they spend all their wealth, they spend everything they have, even all their energy, great toil, and even put themselves in great danger of

to work very hard at recovering the valuables that are buried within the earth. It's pretty interesting. There's a show that Kim and I like to watch called Gold Rush. I don't know if you've ever seen that, but it records, you know, the journeys of these different crews who go out searching for gold in different places.

And it's amazing the amount of money that they spend to try to get gold and the amount of work and the danger that is there and the great effort. And sometimes they exert all this effort for months and then there's nothing to show for it because there's no guarantee at the end that you're going to get the gold that you're looking for. But that hope, the possibility of that great value is

is enough to inspire them to lay all things aside and work very hard and great toil, long hours, desperately seeking for that gold. Solomon says that's the kind of drive and pursuit that you need to have towards wisdom. It needs to be something that you prefer above all other things in this world, to fear God, to hear from him, to follow his instruction.

Think about the parables that Jesus told. Jesus often taught in parables. It confused the disciples a little bit. They said, hey, why do you teach in parables to the people? And Jesus said, so that the truths of the kingdom of God remain hidden forever.

Here's the idea. The parable is given by the Lord so that the truth is hidden in the content of the parable. So that if you want to know the truth, if you want to know God, if you want to experience the kingdom of God, well, then you'll do the work. You'll do the effort of considering the truth.

considering and meditating and praying over and asking God for revelation about the parable, and God will reveal the truth that's contained within it. But those who are not serious about knowing God will not find the truth of the parable. It won't impact them because they're not serious. God has designed it that way so that those who truly desire to know him will know him.

It's not that he's unavailable. It's not that he's inaccessible. Again, it's an open invitation. Maybe you could consider it like a present. If I give you something special in a box and I put some wrapping paper around the box and perhaps a ribbon and a bow and I give it to you, I say, here you go. Happy birthday. Merry Christmas. Here's your present. Now you have that present, but you don't really have it until you open it.

But I think you would agree, wrapping paper is not a huge obstacle, right? You wouldn't be like, oh man, Jerry gave me this present, but I don't know how to get to it. There's all this paper. It's like, no, two-year-old kid knows how to get past that, right? Just rip it off and okay, give me the next one. That's what the kids do, right? It's accessible, but it's only if you're really interested. If I give you the present and you don't really care what I have to give to you, you don't even open it. You don't even bother.

Okay, thanks. Nice, shiny. Yeah, it looks pretty. I think I'll put it on my shelf. But if you care about what I'm giving to you, then it's not a huge barrier. You just rip through the paper and there you find the gift that's within. That's the same as wisdom. The Lord gives wisdom to those who seek it. It's given to you in wrapping paper so that you have to cry out for it. You have to be engaged. You have to call out for it. You have to ask God. You have to seek it and value it above everything else.

But God will give you that wisdom. Notice in verse five, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. If you seek this way, you will find it. If you have this kind of heart, you will find it. He says in verse six, for the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

If you have a desire to know wisdom, if you have a desire to know God's will for your life, if you have a desire to know God's instruction for where you're at and the decisions you have to make, he says, this is the approach you need to have. And if you have this approach, you will find the knowledge of God because the Lord gives wisdom. We have a similar promise in James chapter one, verse five.

where James says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. If anybody lacks wisdom, he says, what should you do? Cry out, ask God, and it will be given. That's a great promise. Now, James goes on in the next couple of verses to say something similar to what Solomon's saying here in the Proverbs. Hey, you have to be serious about

about seeking wisdom and knowing what God wants for you. In the next verse, James says, let him ask in faith with no doubting for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. If you're going back and forth on whether or not you want to hear from God, you're going back and forth on whether or not you want to obey God. He says, don't think that you're going to receive anything from the Lord. But if you are earnest in your desire to know what God wants so that you can follow his instruction and fulfill his will for your life,

He says, you will receive from God the wisdom that you need. It will be given to you, James says. Notice he says, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach. He gives wisdom freely, liberally, abundantly to those who ask and without reproach. Have you ever been reproached for asking a question? That's a stupid question. Why are you asking that? You know, God doesn't do that.

God, what should I do in this situation? God doesn't smack you on the head. You should know already. He gives wisdom without reproach. He doesn't smack you because you don't know. He doesn't smack you because you don't have wisdom. No, he's waiting for you to ask. And he wants to give freely and abundantly to those who ask. The Lord gives wisdom to those who seek it, to those who ask.

Verse six tells us here in Proverbs chapter two, the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Here we get some insight into the delivery method that God uses to bring forth this wisdom to us. It's from his mouth.

We could consider that in two ways. First of all, the scriptures. We have the word of God and it's one of the primary methods that God uses to bring forth his wisdom to us. And you might think, well, you know, I read the Bible a bunch of times. I don't feel like I got a lot of wisdom. Well, again, there has to be that application. You have to incline your ear and apply your heart and cry out and search for it as silver. There needs to be an engagement with God in his word, not just a reading through a chapter.

There needs to be a communication, a crying out, that relationship with God. So his scriptures are the delivery method for wisdom when God gives it to you. But then there's also that personal direction. God speaks to us through his word primarily, but God also speaks to us directly, personally to our hearts.

And there's some learning curve to that, that we learn to distinguish and discern the voice of the Lord as he speaks to us. But there's that leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit. And that's just as important as a method of God delivering his wisdom to us. That is, when God speaks to your heart, that's his instruction to you. That's his will for you. And the fear of the Lord is to let that instruction direct you and cause you to obey God.

The Lord gives wisdom to those who seek it. I don't know about you, but I need wisdom. And so it's an instruction here for me. I need to seek wisdom. I need to cry out for it. There's decisions ahead. There's choices to make. There's things going on. I need to call out to God. I need to have an intensity in my heart and in my life to know what God desires for me. And it comes down to our willingness to ask God.

Our willingness to seek and to wait and to learn and receive from God. And so my exhortation to you is to put your relationship with God before everything else in your life. If you want to know God's will for your life, if you want wisdom from the Lord, put your relationship with God first. Make it a priority. Get to know God and God will bring forth the wisdom that you need for whatever you face.

Moving on to chapter three of Proverbs, we have point number three, and that is that wisdom is better than silver and gold. Wisdom is better than silver and gold. Now, the kind of intensity and engagement that we're talking about there in chapter two, you might be thinking, well, that's a lot of effort. That's a lot of attention. That's a lot of focus to get wisdom. I don't know if it's going to be worth it. Well, Solomon now goes on in chapter three to make sure we understand. No, no, no. It requires that you go after it. It requires that you pursue it. But

It's worth it. There's great value when you receive that wisdom that you seek. Verse 13 says, happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding for her proceeds are better than the profits of silver and her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.

Notice the word happy used a couple times here in this passage. Starting in verse 13, happy is the man who finds wisdom. You want to be happy?

find wisdom. It's going to take some effort. You're going to have to apply yourself. You're going to have to seek for it as silver, but in the end, you will be happy. Wisdom, again, I describe it or define it as insight to live a fulfilled life. You want to be happy? You want to be fulfilled? You want to have meaning and purpose and value for your life and be happy about who you are and where you are and what God has for you?

Get wisdom. Happy is the man who finds wisdom. Now, the beginning of that path is the fear of the Lord. Submitting to God, and you know, understand, submitting to God will often require you to do the most challenging things you've ever done. Have you ever experienced that? When you submit to God, God calls you to do something hard that you would never think would be possible. God's going to call you to some challenges.

And as you submit to God, there are going to be battles guaranteed. There's going to be fierce battles that you have to face. Not only that, but when you submit to God, there's going to be sacrifice. It's going to cost you. There's going to be things that you have to lay aside and it's going to require great effort. That's all the things kind of contained there from chapter two. Great sacrifice, great effort, big battles, challenging things when you submit to God.

But at the end, there is great reward. Happy is the man who finds wisdom. Nobody gets to the end receiving wisdom from God and says, well, that wasn't worth it. No, when you get the wisdom from God, when you receive from God his instruction for your life, you find yourself fulfilled. You find yourself blessed. Yes, there's challenges. Yes, there's battles. Considering all that, it's worth it.

Proverbs contains God's principles for life that we might be blessed and fulfilled. It doesn't mean it's always easy. It doesn't mean the wisdom of God is easy and just no big deal. It's just a breeze. No, no, there's battles. It's fierce and you gotta search for it. You gotta seek it, but it's worth it. It's valuable. You will be fulfilled. In Luke chapter 18, Jesus is talking with his disciples about the cost of following him.

And Peter points out and he says, Jesus, we have left everything to follow you. And here's what Jesus says in response to that. In Luke chapter 18, verse 29 and 30, Jesus said to them, assuredly, I say to you,

There is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time and in the age to come eternal life. Here's what Jesus says to follow me. That means some of you are going to have to leave some things behind.

My call in your life, my instruction to you might mean that you're separated from people that you love. Might mean that there's some division in your family. Might mean that you don't get to participate in things that you used to participate in. But when you do what I've called you to do, notice he says, for the sake of the kingdom of God. Well, then he says, you'll receive many times more in this present time. In other words, the cost is great, but it's worth it.

There's a great price, but the value is worth it. The exchange rate is good. What you give is returned many times more, he says, in this life, in the present time, and in the age to come, eternal life. So there's eternity to consider, but Jesus even says, even in this life, even experiencing battles and sacrifice and those kinds of things, you will find fulfillment in this life as you submit to God.

There will be a joy. There will be that fulfillment that comes from him, that comes from being right in the center of God's will, where he wants you to be. Verse 14 here in Proverbs 3, for her proceeds are better than the profits of silver and her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. Think about that for just a moment. All the things that you may desire cannot compare with her.

Nothing compares to wisdom. What are some things that you might desire? I'm sure we could come up with some pretty good lists, couldn't we? If God offered you anything like he did with Solomon, what would you ask for? What would make you happy? Millions? Billions? Trillions? Mansions? What would it be? What would you ask for?

The biggest thing, the most amount, the most outlandish, elaborate thing that you could desire, that you could imagine and dream up, doesn't compare to wisdom from God. Doesn't compare for God's will for you. Doesn't compare to God's instruction for you. That's what Solomon says.

He goes on to list the benefits of wisdom. In verse 16, he says, length of days is her right hand and her left hand riches and honor. Verse 17, her ways are ways of pleasantness and her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her and happy are all who retain her. He's describing here, similar to what Jesus said in John chapter 10, verse 10. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I've come to give you life and life more abundantly.

Following Jesus, living in submission to God gives us abundant life and gold and silver cannot provide those things. Mansions cannot provide those things. Infinite bank accounts cannot provide those things, but the wisdom of God can. Submitting to God can, the fear of the Lord can. When you live your life by God's standards and according to God's commands, you'll find that life works very well.

Where you had no peace before, you can have peace. Even when it doesn't seem even reasonable to have peace, you have the peace of God that passes all understanding. Husbands, when you learn your role that's commanded by God, you'll learn that God knew what he was talking about when he gave that instruction. And wives, when you learn your role, you'll find, hey, there's joy, there's fulfillment here as I fulfill the role that God has given to me.

Children, parents, when you learn your role, employees, neighbors, brothers, sisters, when we learn God's will for our lives, we learn what God has for us and his instruction for us, we find that God really does know best. Happy is the one who finds wisdom. If you want to be happy and fulfilled, if you want to have abundant life, get wisdom. It's more valuable. It's better than silver and gold. As I was thinking about that this week in preparation for this morning, I

I was thinking about another proverb. It's not from the book of Proverbs, but I'm sure you've heard this saying, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. If you would just consider this with me for just a moment. The whole idea here is if I give you a fish, you get to eat that fish today and you're like, all right, thank you, Jerry. I got to eat today. But then tomorrow you're looking at me and saying, okay, can you give me another fish?

And so that's continuing dependence upon someone else to provide for you fish. Now, if I teach you to fish, now realistically, everybody knows I'm not going to teach you to fish. I can't even put the worm on the hook. It's not going to happen. But let's pretend for a moment. If I teach you to fish, then I can feed you for a lifetime. Because tomorrow when you're hungry, you can go catch a fish and you'll have a fish to eat. And then the next day when you're hungry, you can go catch a fish. And so if I teach you how to fish, then I can feed you for a lifetime.

Long term, it's better than just giving you a fish because, well, that need can be satisfied many times over if you learn how to do what needs to be done. And the whole reason why I'm kind of going down, it's a little bit of a rabbit trail, I understand, but the whole reason I was thinking about that is this. Maybe we need to change up our prayers a little bit. How many times are we asking God for a fish? Lord, I need a fish. I'm hungry. Can you give me a fish?

And perhaps we need to change up our prayers to say, Lord, teach me how to fish. So you're looking at your spouse and you're saying, Lord, would you fix her? Fix her, Lord, fix her, fix her, fix her, fix her. Maybe you need to change your prayer. Lord, teach me to relate to her well or to him well. Maybe you're looking at your job and you're thinking, man, Lord, it's a mess. Fix it, fix it, fix it, fix it, fix it. Give me a fish, give me a fish, give me a fish. And maybe you need to change up your prayers and say, Lord, teach me how to fish.

in this situation? What do you want from this situation? How can I be involved? And maybe God wants to do more than just throw a pile of money in your lap. Maybe God wants to do something different through that. Maybe he wants to work in a different way and teach you how to provide, how to be fulfilled, how to seek those things and develop those skills and those things that you need. Maybe he wants to do something much bigger than just give you a fish.

Wisdom is better than silver and gold. God could just put silver and gold on you. He could. He could just rain down. He could open up the heavens and pour it out money on you. He could do that anytime. But maybe instead he wants to give you wisdom. Maybe instead he wants to teach you how to live the way he's called you to live. What is it that you've been asking God for? And you've been thinking all along, well, if I just had this, I would be happy. No, happy is the man who finds wisdom.

Maybe it's time to change up that prayer request and say, Lord, teach me what you want from me in this situation. How can I be involved in resolving this? How can I be involved? What do you want me to do? What steps do you want me to take? And maybe God wants to give you wisdom rather than just a fish. Well, moving on to the final point, Proverbs chapter four, verses three through seven, give us the point. And that is very simply, get wisdom. Get wisdom.

Really closing with just an exhortation to, okay, you know where it is. You know where to start. You know how to get it. Now go do it. Get wisdom. Verse three says this. When I was my father's son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me and said to me, let your heart retain my words, keep my commands and live. Get wisdom, get understanding.

Verse 6. Verse 7. Here it seems that Solomon is recounting his younger years when he was the only son of Bathsheba. And there his father David spoke to him and taught him while he was a young boy about

And said to Solomon, keep my commands and live. David said to him in verse five, get wisdom, Solomon, get understanding. Now, isn't it interesting? Solomon, as a young boy instructed by his father, David, hey, Solomon, make sure you get wisdom. That later on when Solomon was an adult and the reins of the kingdom have been handed over to him and God says, what do you want? I'll give you anything you want. What does Solomon ask for? Lord, I need wisdom.

And that instruction of David when he was very young carried through with him so that when he had this opportunity, he obeyed his father and he sought wisdom. He sought God for wisdom to rule the kingdom the way that it needed to be ruled. David told him, get wisdom, get understanding. And now Solomon repeats this, extending this instruction and exhortation to us. He says to you, get wisdom, get understanding.

It will preserve you. It will keep you. It will protect you. I don't have time to go into it, but in Proverbs chapter five, it goes into the whole subject of immorality. And at the beginning of that, he says, hold on to wisdom and hold on to instruction because it will protect you from immorality. It will protect you from the deceitfulness of sin. It will protect you. Get wisdom. It's so important for you. It's so important to you. In fact, he says in verse seven, wisdom is the principal thing.

Wisdom is the most important thing for you to get. Was that on your mind when you woke up this morning? You know, sometimes you wake up and it's like that first thought. Sometimes it's a panic thought, right? What day is it? I got to get to work. I'm late. When you woke up today, was your first thought, I got to get wisdom. It's the most important thing. That's what Solomon says needs to be the state and the condition of our heart. It's the most important thing. I got to get wisdom.

I've got to seek the Lord. I've got to hear from the Lord. I've got to know the Lord. I need to find out what he wants for me. Wisdom is the principal thing. It's the most important thing. Therefore, he says, get wisdom. Again, you have to apply yourself. Go for it. Seek it out. Pursue it. Find out what God has for you. And then notice he says, in all your getting, get understanding. In your life, you're going to be doing a lot of getting.

You're going to be trying to get ahead. You're going to be trying to get married. You're going to try to get security. You're going to try to get a house. You're going to try to get a car. You're going to try to get this, try to get that, try to get that. You're going to be doing a lot of getting. Now notice he doesn't say you should never be trying to do any getting. No acknowledging. No, there's some things you should be trying to get. But...

Make sure your priorities are in order. In all of your getting, yes, you've got to get things straight. You've got to get things in order. But in all of your getting, get understanding. Make sure that your pursuit of all those other things in your life, don't override and cancel out the pursuit of wisdom, the pursuit of knowing what God has for you in your life. Don't let those things that you seek become more important than getting wisdom. How do we get wisdom?

It begins with fearing the Lord, spending time in his word, seeking him for his instruction, crying out to him. He gives it to those who seek it. He gives it to those who ask. So search for it like silver. Call out, cry out to God. It begins with fearing God. Those things that you know from the Lord, put those into practice in your life. Live them out. That's the beginning. But then continue to seek God for more instruction.

for more direction. Continue to call out to God for more instruction about what you need to do and what he wants for you. And it's gonna require some sacrifice. There's gonna be some cost, but it's better than silver and gold. And it's better than whatever you would hold on to to not get wisdom. It's worth it. It's valuable. It will give you a fulfilled and overflowing life. So get wisdom in all you're getting.

Make sure you find out from God what he wants for you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray for each of our hearts, Lord, that you would help us to be stirred up, to not be complacent, Lord, in our pursuit of wisdom, to not just be sitting around and waiting. Lord, help us to be intentional, aggressive, passionate, engaged in seeking you.

Lord, knowing that those who ask receive the wisdom that they need. You give it to us, Lord. And so we have a great promise. Those who search for silver and gold give great effort, but there's no guarantee of the reward. But for us, Lord, as we seek you and your will and your plans for us, there's a guarantee we will experience the fullness of what you have for us. So Lord, help us to be diligent, to not be satisfied with

where we're at, to not put up with sin or compromise in our hearts. But Lord, help us to be diligent to fear you. Help us to desire your will and to let your instruction for us override everything else, whether it's our own desires or the desires of others. Lord, help us to put you first, to get wisdom. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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