Are You Wise?

Good afternoon, everyone. It's very nice to see you. Thank you for hosting and inviting us to come and join you. Greetings from the East Texas congregation in Big Sandy. There are a number of us here today to join in the fellowship and to celebrate God's Sabbath day together.

I'd like to begin my split sermon today with a question. Do you consider yourself to be wise? Some of you are going, shaking your heads. We're never wise enough, are we? But do you consider yourself to be wise? Now, I'm not talking about being old. Being old does not always mean being wiser.

Speaking for myself, I might wish it did. If it's a good old, we get wiser. That would be nice. I'm not talking about earning straight A's on your report card. We are at the end of a semester and final exams and such, but I'm not quite talking about that. I'm not talking about having an IQ, an intelligent quotient score. That's not it either.

Now, sometimes we refer to wisdom when we hear that some people lack common sense. Some of the older folks here will say they lack horse sense. Maybe some of the younger folks here would say they lack street smarts. That's another way of saying wisdom, isn't it? We have also heard about the wisdom gained through the school of hard knocks. Have you ever heard of that? That's where old Mr. or Ms. Experience teaches us valuable, though painful, life lessons. No, what I'm specifically referring to is, are you wise in the way of God? Are you wise in the way of God?

Today, I would like each of us to ask ourselves this important question. Am I wise? Ask that of yourself. I'm asking it of myself. Am I wise? To help answer that question, we will turn to the Bible to understand what God calls wisdom. Why being wise is absolutely vital to you and to me. Are you wise? That's the title of the split sermon today. Are you wise? Let's be turning to Scripture here in just a little bit, and we're going to start finding the answer to that question. Now, dictionaries will define wisdom in different ways. I've looked at a number, and they tend to define it similarly.

They often define wisdom as applying experience, knowledge, and good judgment. And I'm going to talk about each of those components. They talk about applying experience, knowledge, and good judgment to make sound decisions and to take right actions. That's the typical approach of most dictionaries. Let's think about each one of those components. Experience is the first of those three. Experience is the process of doing and seeing things and of having things happen to you. That's experience. The thought is the more experiences we have and the greater the variety, well, then the more knowledge we gain.

Knowledge just being a broad category. Knowledge itself is defined as information or understanding or skill that you get from education. Whether you're in school or out of school, we get an education. And again, from experience as well. Everything we experience or learn, whether in or out of school, adds to our knowledge. And the third component was good judgment. Good judgment is the ability to use experience and knowledge together to make good decisions. Now, wisdom is said to occur when we combine all three components to make a decision or to take an action that is both reasonable and practical.

Now, what I've given you so far as definitions go, this definition of wisdom seems okay. But this definition has a weakness. This definition of wisdom allows the individual to define wisdom according to his or her own, let's call it limited experience. His or her own limited knowledge, their limited judgment. In other words, we get to decide what wisdom is. We get to decide whether or not we are wise. But is that always a good thing? We need to think on that because today there are many wise people in our society.

We hear them on television, on the radio, every day, sharing their wisdom with us. You know, many wise people today contend that euthanasia is a reasonable and practical solution for those who, well, quite frankly, are tired of living. That is wisdom. In some nations, it's allowed now. They can elect euthanasia. There are other wise people in society that say marriage must not be limited to those of opposite genders. And the most recent impacting wisdom seems to be that that says individuals must be allowed to choose their gender.

Or a new phrase I found was that if they want to be gender fluid, let them be gender fluid. You know what gender fluid is? One day you feel more male and the next day you feel more female.

And so it's like fluid. You can change which gender you want to be from day to day. That is considered wisdom by many in the world today. Well, that's not my idea of wisdom, and I don't think that's our idea of wisdom either. When we trust the Bible to define wisdom and truth, remember John 1717. John 1717 tells us that God's Word is truth. When we trust God's Word to define wisdom, we quickly find that what some call wisdom is not wisdom at all. Let's turn to Jeremiah 1023. Jeremiah 1023 gives us a good founding principle here when it talks about wisdom. Jeremiah 1023 makes very clear the prophet Jeremiah was inspired to say this about humankind's lack of wisdom.

Jeremiah 1023, "'O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.' To truly be wise, we must have a biblical understanding of wisdom." Please turn with me now back to James 3, verse 13. In James 3, 13, we find a biblical definition of wisdom. You can find wisdom defined and described in different ways, in different places in the Bible. Throughout the New Testament, the Greek word translated as wisdom is sophia, S-O-P-H-I-A, just like some of our children's names. Sophia is a word that applies according to Strong's dictionary as both higher or lower wisdom.

Sophia then can mean either godly or worldly wisdom. You have to pay attention to the context as to which it is being referred to. But in James 3, 13, James explains that our wisdom is revealed by our works. That defines which wisdom we're applying. It's defined by our works by the things we do. He says here in verse 13, Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.

There's a humility about true wisdom. What I want to emphasize here to you is that we are wise, James says, based on what we do, but not on who we are or who we think we are. And we are wise for what we...

we are not wise for what we know or what we think we know. We are wise for what we do. We are wise for what we do. Our actions, our decisions are based on something deeper. It reflects in our actions. Then in continuing in verse 14 through 16, James defines two types of wisdom here. Verse 14, he writes, But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom, we might call it a counterfeit wisdom, this wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, that means it's physical, carnal. It's demonic, even, James says. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.

And so this so-called wisdom is based upon knowledge, experience, and judgments of human beings apart from God and under the influence of Satan, under the influence of Satan's society. But now in contrast, the second wisdom he defines here. In contrast, the wisdom we ought to live by comes from God. Continuing in James 3, 17, But the wisdom that is from above, from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, those fruits of righteousness. It's without partiality and without hypocrisy. It's sincere, it's genuine. And that word back there, where it says wisdom that's from above is first pure, that's the word hagnos, and it's the same root word as hagios, which means holy.

There's something very special about godly wisdom. It's not soiled and dirtied by people and their carnality. So true wisdom is about doing what is righteous, merciful, and good. The truly wise then will be living according to God's commandments, that defined righteousness and love. They'll be practicing repentance and forgiveness.

That's also part of righteousness. And they will be yielding themselves to God's Holy Spirit. The word of God is truth is such a blessing, and it's such a joy. For by it we have the means to evaluate whether or not we are wise and whether or not we are living according to the wisdom that is from above. And when we do evaluate ourselves, and we must do it more often than once a year around Passover, when we do evaluate ourselves, we must do so prayerfully, asking God for the help of His Holy Spirit.

And more than that, we must also ask God to give us a right and humble attitude. Specifically, we need to ask God that He would help us to have the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord.

Have you ever asked God for fear?

No, maybe not. We don't normally think that way. Asking God for fear does sound odd, doesn't it? But to be truly wise, we must have the fear of the Lord. What does that phrase mean? And I'm going to cover that because I want to be sure our young people especially understand what the fear of the Lord means. Let's turn to Proverbs 1, back in the book of Proverbs. The phrase, fear of the Lord or of Jehovah, the Eternal. Fear of the Lord appears throughout the Old Testament and relates directly to godly wisdom. But first, let's read where we find it occurring here in Proverbs 1, verses 2 through 7. Proverbs 1, 2 through 7. To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity, to give prudence to the simple, to the young man, knowledge, and discretion, 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 the riddles. This is what this book is about.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. It's interesting contrast there. Hold your place here and let's now turn to Psalm 111, verse 10. Psalm 111, verse 10. Psalm 111, verse 10.

Here we read, the fear of the Lord, again, is the beginning of wisdom. It's a repeated idea over and over again. And it adds something here. A good understanding of all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.

What we find when we look at these scriptures and we can look at other instances where fear of the Lord appears, what we often will find is that there is connection between the fear of the Lord and wisdom. Here the Hebrew word for wisdom is kokmah. It's spelled C-H-O-K-M-A-H. And it means wisdom or to be wise, especially in righteousness. So to have wisdom, we must first have a right attitude of fear towards God. And the Hebrew word here for fear is yirah. Y-I-R-A-H. Yira means terror. It can also mean an awesome or terrifying thing. But it's interesting when you study the Hebrew and the resources on this word, they tell us that Yira, which by itself can often mean terror or a terrifying thing, when it's used in the phrase the fear of the Lord, Yira takes on a connotation meaning to respect, to revere, to worship, the sense of piety. So though most people do equate fear with being scared or terrified, we don't often equate it with an attitude of reverence or respect.

But I think we know what that can mean.

Have you ever feared someone with a fear that is reverent and respectful? Well, have you ever stood in judgment before the high school principal? You're probably a little terrified, but I bet you're very respectful, aren't you? Have you ever stood in judgment by a nice police officer, state trooper? You had a reverence, respect for him. Have you ever been in a more frightening situation, like for your boss on a bad day? Or perhaps more terrifying and frightening before an IRS agent? Tax problems. Suddenly we have a sense of both fear and reverence and respect, not reverence necessarily worshiping the IRS agent, but we're definitely respecting him and being very careful to do what's right. Well, if you can understand that, then I think you have an inkling of even greater respect and reverence we should have for God. Now, Hebrews 11.6, ultimately, to fear God means that we are so convinced of God, so convinced that he exists and that he is our God, that he does hold us accountable and that we must obey him, that we will place all our trust in him, we will put all our faith in him. Hebrews 11.6 reads, But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. It's probably one of your memory scriptures, or it should be.

So to be wise and have true wisdom, we must have an attitude of awe and adoration towards God, not necessarily dread and terror. Let's read some more in Proverbs to clarify the sort of reverent and humble attitude that we must have towards God. I'm sorry, I should have told you to hold your finger in the book of Proverbs. Let's go back to the book of Proverbs. In chapter 8 this time, again, we're going to see this phrase to use again the fear of the Lord, and connect it against this attitude of respect and what we should be doing here. In Proverbs 8, verse 13, we read this. Proverbs 8, verse 13, The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance in the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. To hate evil, then, of course, is not a terrifying thing to do, but it is a right and obedient and wise thing to do. The New Living Translation reads this way, Proverbs 8, verse 13, All who fear the Lord will hate evil. Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance. The writer of Proverbs says, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption, and perverse speech. That's part of our wisdom we should have as well, because it's God's wisdom. Let's also read Proverbs 9, verse 10.

Just next page. So, Proverbs 9, 10, The fear of the Lord, again, we see is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. The New Living Translation says the knowledge of the Holy One is good judgment. You're making a good choice, a good decision. The point seems to be that sincere reverence for God opens our hearts and minds to learn God's wisdom. It puts us in the right attitude, a right relationship with God.

Finally, on this topic right here, let's look at Ecclesiastes 12. For the conclusion, as Solomon, we believe, wrote this, the conclusion of the matter, Ecclesiastes 12, verses 13 through 14. This is Solomon's inspired conclusion to this idea of fearing God and being wise. He writes, verse 13, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Everything he's talked about in the book Ecclesiastes specifically says, fear God and keep his commandments. For this is man's all. It's what every human being should do.

For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. We're soberly reminded here that God holds each of us accountable. He holds every human being accountable, ultimately for obeying him. And so we are wise then when we approach God with fear, or rather reverence, and that includes gratitude, faithful devotion, so profound that oftentimes we call this conviction.

Fear of the Lord is very much a conviction. And such conviction powerfully motivates us willingly to obey God and to remain ever committed and ever loyal to Him. And when we consider that to fear God is the beginning of wisdom, we should also ask this question, well, why should we fear God? Why fear God? You know, most people don't know anything about fearing God. They don't know why they'd ever want to fear God, and so they don't.

But we do. We should know why to fear God. We fear or revere God because He is the Creator of all things, the entire universe and everything in it. That includes us, doesn't it? Genesis 1.1, remember, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. It wasn't some accidental explosion of some sort. In John 1.1-3, you don't need to turn there. You just jot it down. John 1.1-3 elaborates Genesis 1.1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. God created, again, this vast and entire universe, everything in it. And what's interesting is that He did so with wisdom.

Look at Proverbs 8, 22-31, and you should be in that neighborhood still. Proverbs 8, 22-31. This is an interesting chapter. What we learn here is that God Himself used wisdom when He created the universe. Proverbs 8, God inspired the writer of Proverbs here to use this literary technique, this figurative language called personification. And with personification, wisdom is transformed into a pious woman, and we hear wisdom speaking to us from Proverbs 8. So let's read here, verse 22-31. It's wisdom's description, as it were, of how God applied wisdom in creating this truly awe-inspiring universe we are a part of.

Verse 22, The Lord possessed me wisdom at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth. Wisdom is eternal. When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water.

Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth. While as yet He had not made the earth, or the fields, or the primal dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there. When He drew a circle in the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside Him as a master craftsman.

And I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world. And my delight was with the sons of men. Very interesting description of how God used His wisdom in the creating of the universe. He created it all. He created all things. He created all things through wisdom. Through the same divine wisdom He desires to share with us, in every one, every human being. So it seems to me, we in every human being, know God, our most sincere and devout reverence and obedience. And we are wise when we do so.

It is God's wisdom that led Him to call some now in this age into place within their willing hearts and minds His Holy Spirit. Those whom He has called and within whom dwells God's Holy Spirit, most people have every reason to revere God and to be practicing His wisdom. His wisdom of love and obedience, of self-sacrifice.

Let's turn to Romans 8, verses 11 through 14 now. Romans 8, verses 11 through 14. So only God provides humanity with the hope of eternal life. Only God provides the hope of what we clay-like beings becoming His Spirit-born sons and daughters in His eternal family.

Verse 11 through 14, we read of this creation, this process going on now. It talks about here Romans 8, verses 11 through 14. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, Paul writes, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you or which dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, Paul says, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your body, then you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

Reference to doing. To doing God's will. Doing His wisdom. It seems then that God's promise of eternal life and salvation should always drive us to our knees in the most reverent and devoted worship of God. Again and again, God reveals through His Word our each urgent need to fear Him and to live according to the wisdom of His Word. If we are wise, we will be convinced that He alone provides a way to salvation through Jesus Christ. Conviction will lead us to commit ourselves totally to Him, to surrender ourselves to love Him and to love all people through the godly wisdom of love.

And if we are wise, if we are wise, we will believe and obey God forever. Of course, on the other hand, there's always another hand, we could choose not to fear God. We might choose not to believe and obey God, but then we would not be wise, would we? What would we be? We would be fools. These aren't my words. Let's be turning to Psalm 14, verse 1. Psalm 14, 1. What can be said about the fool? What can be said about the fool? Now, the fool, by the way, is not necessarily unintelligent.

The fool is not necessarily what we call dumb. In fact, the most intelligent person can be a fool. The fool can be old or young, male or female, yes, male or female, rich or poor. The fool is just like any of us except for one thing.

He's just like us except the fool does not fear God. For the fool doesn't believe that God even exists. Psalm 14, 1. David describes the fool here. David wrote, The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Fools continues on the pronoun, they refers to fools, they are corrupt. They have done abominable works.

The New Living Translation says their actions, what they do is evil. There are none, there is none who does good. The Hebrew word for fool is naybal. There's a little story in the Old Testament for Samuel about naybal. His name is actually naybal. Of course, his wife said he was. Well, you can read the story on your own. Naybal means godless, impious and wicked. Fools, in other words, neither believe nor do they obey God. Proverbs 1, verse 22-23. Back to Proverbs 1. Proverbs 1, 22-23. You see, fools reject true wisdom's call. Wisdom says, revere God. Fear God and keep His commandments. The fools reject that. They instead trust their own wisdom and they suffer for it. Proverbs 1, verse 22. Wisdom asks, again wisdom is personified here. Wisdom asks, how long you simple ones? Will you love simplicity? That means folly or naivete. For scorned in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge. And in verse 23, these three groups of people we might note here, the simple, the scorners, and the fools, so they're all pretty much the same group. The simple, scorners, and fools, they are urged to repent. In verse 23, and to receive life-saving wisdom. And so wisdom, it practically begs them, turn at my rebuke, at my correction. And surely, she says, I will pour out my Spirit on you. I will make my words known to you. Of course, wisdom is really God. God's begging them. He begs every human being to turn to Him, to listen to Him. True wisdom requires a change of heart. And other proverbs express this same need to turn and follow God's wisdom, true wisdom. In fact, let's turn to Proverbs 9, verse 6. Again, we hear the same plead. God pleads with us, with everyone, to turn away from what is erroneous. Proverbs 9, 6, forsake foolishness and live, and go in the way of understanding. Foolishness leads to death.

Proverbs 28, 26. Proverbs 28, 26. This is a good morning for us. He who trusts in his own heart is a fool. We have to be careful about trusting our own wisdom. He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered. When we put these scriptures together, and many others here are similar to these, when we put these together, we see that the way of the fool is the way of worldly wisdom, is to follow the way of the world. We would be fools to envy those who willingly choose to follow a lifestyle apart from God. Knowingly so. Many don't know what they're doing. Others do. We know the horrible results of humanity's devotion to this false and counterfeit wisdom. We only need to look at our contemporary society. Some of these things I mentioned earlier about their belief in euthanasia, gender fluidity, and things like that. That's human wisdom, not godly wisdom. The other reason we know that's foolish is because many of us know the harmful way of worldly wisdom.

Well, because quite frankly, a lot of us have already played the fool in the wisdom of the world, haven't we? We've already played the fool in the world. Let's turn to Titus 3, v. 3-5. This explains why I say that. In Titus 3, v. 3-5, you see, if God had not called you and me, the Father, if He had not called you and me, and if we had not been willing to accept God's calling, you and I would be living life foolishly, still, without God's wisdom, without knowledge of life's purpose, without knowledge of this wonderful plan of salvation God has created. Titus 3, v. 3-5, For we ourselves, Paul writes, were also once foolish. We were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when kindness and love of God our Savior toward men appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. And aren't we glad? There's no way we can ever save ourselves. So God has called us to be wise and to live by the only wisdom worth living.

For only God's wisdom leads to salvation. And if we are wise, we will fear God with profound conviction, and we will keep His commitments with lasting commitment. We will endure to the end with God. Turning our backs on God, brethren, and becoming fools, that is not an option. That is certainly not an option for us. So, are you wise? Are we wise? According to His eternal wisdom, God our Father has called you and me to be His Spirit-born children in the family of God. He calls upon each of us to reject the counterfeit wisdom of this world. It's very tempting and very pretty, especially this time of year. But it's deadly. It's a counterfeit wisdom that we must reject. And we also must reject, right along with it, our own personal wisdom that we might think we know better than God. We've got to reject that, too. But if we are wise, we will accept His true wisdom, the wisdom that comes from above. If we accept His call, God's calling, we are wise. And we're well on our way to becoming far wiser, because we're not wise enough yet. We have a long way to go to learn more about God's way of life and how to love as God loves. You know, 1 Timothy 1, 17 tells us, God alone is wise. And He's called us to be wise like Him. And yes, I know, we all know the world will mock us and condemn us as fools. We're the one called fools for following God. That's no matter. I don't care. We shouldn't care. Our goal is eternal life with God. So today, brethren, I just wanted to remind us about wisdom. I want to remind us about this awesome future that awaits us. And may we each be truly wise. May we each be growing even wiser. We're going to learn more about wisdom. We'll be here shortly and tomorrow as well. And I pray, brethren, that we will all remain forever committed to God, our Father, and Jesus Christ, His Son, and that we all may truly be wiser.