Proverbs 1:1-2
To Know Wisdom
Tonight, I want to start a new study. I do not know exactly how the
study will go. Much of what we will look at will come from Proverbs
but this will not be a verse-by-verse study on Proverbs. I do not
have a comprehensive outline but I do have a strong sense that this
type of study needs to be conducted. The topic for the overall
study is simply "Character."
Our culture is hurting in more ways than one, but one of the root
causes of our hurt is that our culture—and the world’s culture—lacks
character. Let’s consider some thoughts this evening.
I. \\#1\\ We need wisdom.
Pro 1:2 "To know wisdom"
A. One of the major themes of this book is to teach wisdom.
B. What is wisdom?
1. Some think wisdom, knowledge, and understanding are all
pretty much synonyms.
a. I disagree. Why would God repeat Himself so?
b. No. I think wisdom is unique and special.
c. In this verse, instruction is knowledge or smarts.
d. Understanding is perception, seeing the cause and the
effect.
e. Wisdom is the ability to see things as God sees things.
2. The Bible teaches that there are two kinds of wisdom,
the world’s and God’s.
a. The world, using its wisdom, did not recognize Jesus
as God.
1Cor 1:20 Where is the wise? where is the
scribe? where is the disputer of this world?
hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this
world?
21 For 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.
b. You can clearly see both sources of wisdom here.
c. What the Bible means by wisdom is God’s wisdom or God’s
perspective.
C. Why do we need God’s wisdom?
1. The simplest answer is that we don’t see things as God sees
things. We lack God’s wisdom.
2. And why? Because sin and the fall knocked it out of us.
3. Notice how the Bible describes us.
Pro 22:15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of
a child; but the rod of correction shall drive
it far from him.
a. Keep the last part of this verse in your mind. I plan
to come back to it in time.
b. Notice that foolishness, the opposite of wisdom, is
bound in the heart of our children.
c. We need to understand that is not just true of OUR
children. It is true of our parent’s children too.
d. The Bible devotes a lot of space to teaching parents
how to teach their children wisdom, but if you did not
learn it as a child, you need it too.
3. So the blunt truth is that people DO NOT HAVE
wisdom. It must be taught.
D. However, the world thinks they are wise and smart.
1. I read an article yesterday that said most Americans
and Japanese think it was wrong of the US to drop the
atomic bomb on Japan. I was dumb founded.
2. A dozen thoughts surged through my mind when I saw that.
a. Our bombing of them was the reaction to their bombing
and killing of us.
b. The Japanese were looking to build the atomic bomb too.
It was race. Thank God that He saw fit to let the
defenders of freedom have first.
c. Had God not, we would be under the iron boot of a
Japanese dictator today.
d. People today are both judgmental and crazy!
3. But here is the thing.
a. As unfathomable as it is for me to comprehend the
thought processes of these liberal, crazy people, it
is even harder for them to comprehend how I would
think.
(1) I make no claim to be smarter than anyone for I
know I have very little intelligence.
(2) However, I do believe God has given me some of His
wisdom and understanding—and this world today,
does not think like God thinks. They think me—
and anyone who has some of God’s wisdom—to be
very foolish.
b. The opposite is true. While they think they are
brilliant, they think like the foolish.
Ro 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they
became fools,
2Ti 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come
to the knowledge of the truth.
II. We must get God’s wisdom from God.
A. The only place to get God’s wisdom is from God.
Ps 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning
of wisdom: a good understanding have all they
that do his commandments: his praise endureth for
ever.
Pr 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is
understanding.
1. The phrase "fear of the Lord" does not mean to be terrified
of the Lord or even just to respect him.
2. It has the idea of being fearful enough to respect and
obey Him.
3. Wisdom comes when we comprehend that God is God and begin
to walk carefully because of it.
Jas 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask
of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and
upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
a. This verse is written to the saved.
b. The saved have some wisdom. That is why they are
saved.
c. For the saved to get more wisdom, all they need do is
ask.
B. For the unsaved, this gets a little more difficult. Why?.
1. There are things that you must learn first in order to
learn other things.
a. We understand that. You have to learn your math facts
before you can learn how to multiply fractions. You
have to learn the alphabet before you learn to read or
write.
b. The Bible says it this way:
Isa 28:10 For precept must be upon precept,
precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon
line; here a little, and there a little:
c. Before you can learn about Jesus and salvation, you
have to learn some other things.
2. For the unsaved to get something spiritual from God, they
need a connection to the Holy Spirit.
a. Paul described this problem.
1Cor 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned.
(1) The natural man is the unsaved.
(2) In chapter 3, Paul mentioned two more kinds of
people, the carnal and the spiritual.
(3) Carnal means saved but untaught.
b. So get something spiritual, you need a spiritual
connection.
c. But to have a spiritual connection, you need Jesus.
3. Matt 13:1-23 teaches us that to have Jesus, you need
something too.
a. This chapter contains the parable of the sower who is
sowing seed in four kinds of soil.
b. The seed represents the Word of God.
c. One of the types of soil was rock. The seed could not
take root in the rock.
d. \\#Matt 13:5\\ says "it had not deepness of earth."
e. That means there was nothing in which the gospel seed
could root.
f. The hard soil is the soil which lacks character,
the attributes necessary for the gospel seed to take
root.
g. So if you don’t have character, it is going to be very
difficult to get the gospel seed to say long enough to
root and grow.
h. However, character is also learned from God.
(1) Character is many things - respect, honesty,
determination, honor, hard work, gentleness,
loyalty, compassion….
(2) Among the MANY attributes of character is wisdom.
(3) Character and salvation both come from God.
4. So we have a cycle of doom. You need character to be
saved and have the Holy Spirit but you need to have
the Holy Spirit to receive anything from God.
5. How does the carnal learn spiritual? He will have to see
it in the lives of others.
a. Children - from parents
b. Adults - from other Christians
6. Whoever you are, you need to put yourselves under the Word
of God and the authority of as many godly Christians as
you can so that you can be exposed to wisdom and
character.
7. A warning parents. This is your job and you need to wholly
devote yourself to it.
a. You have a very limited time. Every day, your child
gets a little more harder. It does not happen all at
once but you will notice one day all at once.
b. You have fewer and fewer opportunities.
(1) The older a child gets, the more people and things
he or she are exposed to.
(2) Friends, neighbors, teachers, day care workers,
family - everyone in your child’s life either
directs that child closer to Christ or further
from Christ.
c. Getting seed into the rock is not going to be easy.
(1) That is the analogy that Matthew 13 gives us.
(2) To do that, we are going to have to bust up the
rock.
(3) Here is where the last part of Pro 22:15 comes in.
Pro 22:15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of
a child; but the rod of correction shall drive
it far from him.
(4) Spanking a child does not have to be child abuse.
(a) No one should like spanking a child.
(b) Spanking a child should never been done with
your hand, in anger, or any place except on
the lower backside.
(c) Spanking is not the first or the most
prominent tool you should use.
(d) If you can get the job done with talking,
time outs, grounding - then do it.
(e) However, most children are going to need some
rock busted every once in awhile.
Pro 10:13 In the lips of him that hath
understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for
the back of him that is void of understanding.
(f) No doubt, we will talk more about this later.
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