How Do We Get Godly Wisdom?

It takes a pretty smart person to become President of the United States. Not just anyone can do that. You find that you have to plan well in advance. You have to know who supports you and who will give support to you. And how to go about winning support. You have to make the right moves, say the right things. And don't forget the timing of everything that you do. Of course, if you pull that off, you would be considered somebody who's pretty savvy, pretty wise as far as the world is concerned. And you'd also have to have some very smart people around you.

It's not just one person out there running for office. He's got a whole staff. He's got people advising him. And you find that sometimes your advisors make all the difference in the world if you're going to become President.

So if you're going to knock off your opponent and your own party, become the nominee of your party, like the Democrats or the Republicans, and then defeat your opponent in the general election, you'd be considered, again, pretty savvy, pretty smart as an individual. You can then become President. And what does that mean? Well, you've got power. You've got authority. And if you want to stay in power for a second term, you'd have to know how to keep support among the politicians, those who supported you, and the public as well. So it takes a pretty smart person to be able to do that.

So how would you like to run for President? You know, many of us even get past first base. Well, we wouldn't get out of the batter's box. I'm afraid in most cases. You have to, if you want to become President, you have to know how things work.

And you find that those who aspire for public office are individuals who know how the system works. They know how things operate. You have to do the right thing. This is one definition of wisdom. Wisdom is knowing how things work. And so that you can come to a certain outcome or result. Here's the result. You want to become President. How do you get there?

You're back here. You've got to know how it all works so that as you go along, eventually you're going to end up over here. Wisdom is knowing the end from the beginning. Wisdom is knowing the end of a matter, the outcome, or the result of a certain course of action and thought. Now in the Bible, God tells us to seek wisdom, to seek after it. But He tells us to seek His wisdom. In doing this, guess what? It's implied that we don't have it. Why would we be seeking it if we already possessed it?

So the Bible says, seek after wisdom. At least we don't have wisdom in the way that God would like us to have wisdom in the opinion of God. And what we want to do is to learn how to have godly wisdom.

Why should we ask for wisdom? If you ever ask yourself, you know, the Bible says ask for wisdom, but why? Why would you ask for wisdom? Well, I think most of us would like to get the right results in life, would we not? We'd like to know how to do things right so that we end up with the right results. How many of us ask God every day for wisdom?

Probably very few. Maybe some of us never ask. That might explain something. But we do need to ask. But when we do ask for wisdom, we ought to know what we're asking for. If I ask God to give me a new Mercedes, I don't have an old Mercedes, but give me a new Mercedes, I know exactly what I'm asking for. It's a Mercedes. It's a car. It's got four wheels.

It's got this powerful engine, and all of this. But when we ask for wisdom, do we know what we're asking for? What is it that God gives to us? If He's going to give us wisdom, what is it that He's giving to you when He says He gives you wisdom? Let's go over to James 1. James 1, verse 5. Notice, if any of you lacks wisdom, okay, I'll put myself in that.

If you lack wisdom, let Him ask of God, who gives to all liberally, without reproach, and it will be given to Him. But 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. Now, God says to ask for wisdom, but do you know that there's more than one type of wisdom? Sometimes, when we ask for something, and we don't know what we're asking for, we end up with something different.

The Bible very clearly says that there are other kinds of wisdom, besides what we would call godly wisdom, that we would be asking for. In James 3.13, notice over here, just a couple of chapters, verse 13, James 3.13, Who is wise and understanding among you? So we've got to ask that question. Who here is wise and understanding? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.

This wisdom does not ascend or descend from above. See, this isn't from God. It doesn't come down from Him, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy, good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy. And then verse 18, Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Now I'd like for you to notice some of the points out of the above passage. You'll find that wisdom is shown by good conduct, not by words, but by how you live, what you do.

Wisdom must be translated into action, into how you live. Wisdom has to be doing what you say. Whereas if you say one thing, do the difference, or do something different, that's not wise. Wisdom is also done in meekness. It talks about the meekness of wisdom. Wisdom is not arrogant, it's not vain, it's not boastful, but it's demonstrated by meekness. It does not have to be forceful or non-threatening. It does not use authority over others as its basis. Whereas if you have wisdom, you don't have to say, well, look, I've got wisdom, and so therefore you use your authority over other people. Wisdom carries its own authority with it.

When demonstrated in your conduct, then followed by your words, it is authoritative. If people see you, just to give you an example, if people see you, that you have a good marriage. Then you talk about the principles of how to have a good marriage. People are going to say, he knows what he's talking about. He goes, look, look at his marriage. It's demonstrated by his conduct. That's what we're talking about here.

The result of godly wisdom versus other forms of wisdom, if you remember what we just read, it's pure. It's peaceful. That means it's non-threatening. It's gentle. When we say gentle, it means that you're not demanding your own way. You're not trying to get your own will. It's willing to yield. It's full of mercy. It's full of good fruits. Now, one thing we will find about wisdom is that it doesn't always bring immediate fruits.

It's without partiality. It's not about who a person is. It's about what's right. And it's without hypocrisy, meaning unchanging. It's always the same.

Now, you find that God does not vary, as James 1 says. You can count on God all the time. You can count on God how He will deal with you. God is consistent without partiality and with mercy. Now, does the devil have wisdom? Does Satan the devil have wisdom? Well, certainly he does. His wisdom does not come from above, though, as the Bible says. James, as we just read in James 3, contrasts two different types of wisdom. And the devil's wisdom is earthly, meaning that it only applies to this physical life. It applies to the systems of this world, how things are done in this world. It is sensual. Sensual means it promotes self-interest. It's about the self. And it is devilish or demonic. It doesn't come from God. Devil's wisdom does work.

You have to realize that. In short term, it works for the self. And it fits in with the deeds and the conduct and the direction of this age that we live in. Let's go back to the book of Ezekiel 28 and verse 12. Ezekiel 28 and verse 12. Let's notice here. This is a section that refers to when God created Lucifer, the angels. But in verse 12, it says, Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God, You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom.

So when God created this carob, he was full of wisdom, perfect in beauty. So what we find, the carob corrupted himself. He sinned against God. But he was full of wisdom when he was created. This shows that God can grant wisdom to a person at any time. If he created an angel and created him with great wisdom, then God can certainly give to us wisdom.

Verse 15 says, You were perfect in your ways. So here was a being who was perfect from the time that you were created until iniquity was found in you. So there came a point where he no longer was perfect. In verse 17, Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom. Now notice, his wisdom is a corrupt wisdom.

It doesn't say he lost his wisdom, it just says it became corrupted. But it is a certain kind of wisdom. Again, remember, wisdom is knowing how things work to gain a certain result. How do marriages work? Well, I can take you to a bookstore, probably show you 500 books on marriage.

And many of them will tell you everything under the sun about how to have a happy marriage. Who knows how to have a happy marriage? Well, God does. And not only does God know, guess what? He reveals it to us. He says these are laws, these are principles on how to have a happy marriage. Now if you're here, you're newly wedded, and you want to be over here, wonderfully happy for the rest of your life. A marriage that's growing, a marriage that is really a wonderful marriage, how do you get there? Well, you need to know the way over here. And so if you're wise, you know what the end result is, you know what you want, you know where you want to be.

So how do you get there? That's what the Bible is all about. It shows us, and I thought what Ray Epperson was covering about practical Christianity ties in very well with what we're talking about here. Wisdom is knowing the end from the beginning. You know if you do things in a certain way that you will get a certain result.

You do it this way, this will be the result. What do we call that? It calls an effect. If you obey, they're blessings. If you disobey, they're curses. You know, that goes back to the whole Old Testament. The wisdom of the devil does not bring peace, but brings warfare. In verse 16 here, you'll notice about Lucifer, the carob, who's sinned, by the abundance of your trading, or gossip or slander, you became filled with violence within, and you sinned. So he became very violent in his very nature, very makeup.

He tried to ascend into heaven and get God off of his throne. He wanted to become God. His concern was for whom? For God? For the other angels? Or for himself? He was thinking about number one, himself. He wanted to ascend into heaven, put himself in the highest position of power, and therefore he would be in charge. So his wisdom involves how you can have things for yourself, as much as you can get for your own importance, what you can achieve for the self. So what you find is that Satan the devil has devised a whole system that concentrates on a person's power, concentrates on a person's ego, concentrates on a person's vanity, on a person's status, on position, on securing yourself and this world, gaining things.

And they're gained by certain methods designed to achieve that. This is what James says is not to be among us. That's not the way we are supposed to go about it, but it is the way the world goes about it. Now, there is another wisdom spoken of very plainly in the Bible. It is the wisdom of man. It's called human wisdom. We have godly wisdom. We have the corrupt wisdom of the devil. And we have human wisdom. Let's go over to 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 18. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 18.

It says, God says, you know, He'll make the wisdom of the wise nothing and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer or the debater of this age?

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? See, there is a wisdom of this world. What is the wisdom of this world? Well, it's the cleverness. To know how to use knowledge, reason, logic, to gain the superior position. To get the most money. To put the other person down. To be in the top position. Now in verse 21. For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

Now God set up the world in such a way that the world would not know God through its own human wisdom. Human wisdom, you go back and read Romans 1, it says when they knew God, they didn't glorify Him as God. They became vain in their imagination. They rejected God. Why do you find people believe in evolution today? There is so much evidence of design and creation and all of these things. Well, it's because human wisdom does not acknowledge the spiritual realm. And they don't see the spiritual acts, let's say, aspects of it.

So human wisdom, if we could describe human wisdom, is how things are done in this world. How things get done in this world, in society. Human wisdom is a mixture of the devil's wisdom, human reasoning, and having the aim of promoting oneself. Humanly speaking, most people are out after number one and promoting the self. It has a little of God's wisdom or knowledge mixed in with it, having to some degree perhaps an interest in other people.

Not totally devoid of that. But it's sitting under the knowledge of the tree of good and evil. See, it's a mixture of good and evil. In Luke 16 and verse 8, notice what Christ says here.

So the Master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of life. So what Christ shows is that the children of this world are wiser than the children of life. There's a wisdom in knowing how things get done in the world, according to the system of the world. In other words, political shenanigans. You know, how certain things are run, just like this unjust steward. He was able to manipulate a bad situation for him, put himself in a favorable light, so that eventually, if he were let go, that these creditors would take him in. And so most of us would not have thought of that. We would have tried to have been loyal and faithful to our employer, but he wasn't. Notice in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 22, going on here, it says, It says, Now, you stop and think. Hear the Greeks, and when Paul would go to the Greeks and preach the truth, the gospel, about Christ coming, they would say, you mean to tell me that the creator of all the universe was willing to divest himself of his power, come to the earth as a human being, die for mankind. Where's the wisdom in that? They would see no wisdom in that whatsoever. To them, that would be total foolishness. But can you see the wisdom in that? How are you and I ever going to achieve salvation unless Christ did come to the earth and die for our sins?

You see, God knew the beginning, he knew the end, he knew what he wants to achieve, and he knew what it was going to take to get there. How was he going to create a family? Well, it was going to necessitate one of them coming to the earth to die for the sins of mankind. And he knew that. He knew it from the beginning.

Verse 24 says, But to those who are called, both Jews and Greek, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. He's the power and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than man, and the weakness of God is stronger than man. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh. See the shrewd, those who really know how to do things in this world. Not many mighty, not many noble or called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put, to shame, the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put shame to the things that are mighty. What is it that people respect today in society? Don't they respect might? Don't they respect money? Don't they respect authority? Somebody who's in charge? Well, sure they do. See, if you can pull off, as I mentioned to start with, becoming elected as president, knock all your opponents out, and you're going to get respect. You're going to have the highest office in the world as far as human beings are concerned. And yet, you find that's not the way God told us to achieve position, is it? How is it that you and I in the church learn to serve, or learn to help, or have a position or responsibility? What did Christ say? If you want to be great, what are you supposed to do? Serve. Right? Serve one another. You're to be a servant. You're to help. In the world, that's just the opposite. He said, look, the Gentiles, what do they do? Well, they dominate. They rule over others. And that's the way that they maintain their power. They don't like you, off with your head. They maintain their power. But you and I, if we want to be great in God's eyes, we become servants. Now, that doesn't make sense to the world. It doesn't make sense at all. Because to them, that seems like foolishness. In verse 28, 1 Corinthians 1, 28, it says, In the base things of the world, and the things which are despised, is God chosen, and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are.

Christ was despised when He came to the earth. He was rejected. The Bible says we did not esteem Him. Same thing is true many times of us. You find if you're a true Christian, you try to live God's way many times. You're made fun of. Now, why is God doing it this way? You see, God always knows why He's doing what He's doing.

1 Corinthians 29, 1 Corinthians 29, that no flesh should glory in His presence. None of us can glory and say, well, look at me. God needed me. Here I am. I'm a multi-billionaire. Look at what I've done. Look at what I've created. God needed me. No, none of us can glory in His presence.

Verse 30, but of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that as it is written, He who glories let him glory in the Lord. So if we're going to glory in anything, it's not us. It's not our ability. It's not our talents. It's not our accomplishments. It's not who we are. But it's simply we glory in God. Now, this tells us quite a bit more about the wisdom of God when you think about it. During the Passover season, God's Holy Day season, starting with the Passover, we learn how God chose to bring salvation to the human race through Jesus Christ, right?

And the Passover being a picture of that. He sent Jesus, who was the second member of the God family to this earth, He relinquished His power and authority to the Father and lived among us, and He died for us. This is a purpose, as the Bible says, that was designed before the foundation of the world, so that man would believe in God, come to trust God, and never question His goodness or His love. You see, God knew this was going to need to be done. It was a long time in coming. God created the physical universe. We don't know how long it was after the physical universe was created until God put man on the earth, created the animals, the fauna, and so on around us, for us to be able to dwell in this world. But He had an objective in mind. One day, billions of human beings would be members of His family. Give an eternal life and then be able to live forever. How are you going to accomplish that? With bags of dirt. Dust bags. That's us. How can God take something like that and make what He was going to do? He would have children who would return His love and never turn against Him. So how was He going to produce a family where they would never turn against Him, never rebel? They would always be in submission to God and to Jesus Christ. Let's go over here to 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 1. 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 1. He said, I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellent speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. But in verse 4, in my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. That your faith should not be in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God. Notice He talks about human wisdom, the wisdom of men. If you and I are only sitting here because somebody is able to be very convincing and a good speaker, and we hear the message, and therefore we say, Great! I'm convinced this is what I'm going to do. As He says here, our confidence must rest in God, in the Spirit of God, in what God is able to do in our lives. However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age. So you see, there is a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory.

Now, you find the word mystery means hidden, that the wisdom of God has been hidden from the world. And so it's been called a mystery. They haven't understood it. It says, which none of the rulers of this world or this age knew, for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Then it goes on to talk about how God has to reveal spiritual things to us through His Spirit. So what you find when you get down to it, it depends on what you're trying to accomplish, isn't it? What is the results of what you want? What is it that you're trying to accomplish in your life? If you go back and read Philippians 2, 8-11, I won't read that, but just Philippians 2, 8-11, you will find that Jesus Christ humbled Himself, as the Bible says, became obedient unto death, that every tongue would confess Him, and that every knee would bow to Him. God knew that eventually every human being is going to come and confess Him, and every knee will bow before Him. Now, how did He know that? Well, He knew how to get from here, Adam and Eve, over to here, the Kingdom of God. And how do you get there? Well, He has a plan. He has a purpose. And He clearly reveals that plan and that purpose. God knew the end from the beginning. He knew it would turn out the way that it has turned out, and will turn out. So God did things in such a way that He will get the exact results He wants. Now, brethren, do you realize what that means to us? We've already seen in the Bible, we could go back dozens of prophecies that prophesied what Christ would do when He came. We've seen prophecies that have been fulfilled. There are yet prophecies to be fulfilled, are there not? They will happen. They will take place. Because God planned it. He knows how to get there. And He will bring it about. And so there is going to be a resurrection of the dead. There is going to be a giving of eternal life and immortal bodies. There will be a millennium. There will be a white throne judgment. And there will be living in the family of God for all eternity. There will be a new heaven and a new earth. Those things are part of the wisdom of God. Part of what He planned to do from the very beginning. Notice Proverbs 8, 22, the book of Proverbs, Chapter 8, and verse 22, because it talks about the wisdom of God. How long He said that wisdom. Proverbs 8, 22, the Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways. So God had wisdom from the very beginning. Before His works of old, I had been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there was no depths, I was brought forth. When there was no fountains abounding with waters. 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 primeval 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 seas its limits.

Verse 30, Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.

Brethren, we can see the wisdom of God. All you have to do is take a look at the human body and the intricacy of the body, or any organ of the body, the eye, the ear, the mouth, the tongue, whatever you want to look at. So wisdom has motivated, driven, and guided God from the very beginning. And I want you to notice the wisdom that God used to do all the creation, bring about the plan of salvation, God is willing to share with us. It says, if you lack wisdom, ask. The first chapter of James, you might want to turn there, gives part of the answer about wisdom. Remember again, wisdom is knowing how to achieve the results you want. How do you get what you want? And what you want should be what God wants for you. Verse 5, it says, seek wisdom. That's Godly wisdom. Why do we need it? Why do we need wisdom? I asked that question earlier. Well, you have to have confidence in where God is going, and that His way will work. Remember, years ago, we came up with the catchphrase, God's way works. Well, guess what? God's way works. It does work. And so we have to have confidence in that. You don't know that naturally. It's not the natural inclination, so we have to learn it. The carnal mind is an enmity against God. It doesn't accept these things without God's revelation, God's Spirit working with you. It seems like foolishness. So in James 1, the question is asked, why do we have trials? How many times have we asked that? Why me, O Lord? Why am I going through this trial or this problem? Well, the end of the matter is that there isn't anything going to happen to you that isn't in, ultimately, your best interest. That God is going to always do what is good for you. Let's notice verse 2. James 1, verse 2. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Okay, here's one reason why we have trials, because you and I need patience. But patience, let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect, complete, lacking nothing. So how many of us would like to come to the point where we lack nothing? Guess what? How do you get there? Trials? And while you're going through the trials, you have to be patient.

While you're being patient, it's going to produce perfect works, that you may be perfect, complete, lacking nothing. So you'll find that normally a lot of these things happen to us for areas of things that we need to really work on. So wisdom is knowing there is a right outcome or there is a right result. That is based on our understanding that God has a purpose in what He is doing. God knows what He's doing. We don't always know what we're doing. If we know what the purpose is, if you know what God's purpose is, you can be more stable in your thinking. You can have confidence that God is doing what's right, and that He will do what's right for you. And we can have peace because we know the outcome. We know that the end result is eventually you and I will have eternal life in the family of God. And that's what we're striving for. Verse 8.

James 1, verse 8.

It talks about those who waver. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all of his ways. So let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with the burning heat than it withers the grass. Its flowers fail or fall, its beautiful appearance perishes, so the rich man also fades away in his pursuits. Blessed is a man who endures temptations or trials. For when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Brethren, do you realize that God is looking down and he's saying, I have approved. You passed the test. You're going to be there. I mean, that's what all of us are striving for. Again, wisdom is knowing that this is the way that it works. We endure trials, temptations. We have our priorities right. Of course, we're striving to obey God. We will receive a crown of life. I mean, that's it. Now it goes on in verse 13. He says, Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away of his own desires and entice. And then when his desires has conceived against birth to sin, and sin when it's full grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift, every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. You and I are the first fruits.

So we need to realize that. That's not empty speculation, that's the truth. We are the first to trust in God, and God is going to work with us. This is the outcome. This is what the wise know. And so therefore we're patient.

Can we be patient for a year, two years, five years, ten years, twenty years, seventy-five, however long we live, knowing God's way, knowing that the outcome at the end is going to be eternal life, a free gift that God's going to give us, and a position and a reward in his family?

Well, you see, that's what God is trying to get across to us. The book of Proverbs reveals the same thing about God. In Proverbs 2, we read, My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands with you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding. So you and I are to apply ourselves to wisdom and understanding. Yes, if you cry out for discernment, lift up your voice for understanding. If you seek her as silver, search for her as hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. You might not realize it, but the book of James sometimes is called the New Testament book of Proverbs, because it, in many cases, mirrors very closely the book of Proverbs and a number of the statements. Verse 7, he stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk uprightly. Verse 10, when wisdom enters your heart, knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you, understanding will keep you.

So you find, again, that in the Old Testament and the New Testament, God says that you and I need wisdom, but you find an additional point here. God gives it, but God tells us to seek for it. If you knew that there was a piece of property, and on that piece of property there was $100 million in gold, Barry, and you had the opportunity to go in and dig, what would you do? I guarantee you most of us would dig.

In fact, we'd probably hire backhoes, tractors, you know, we would do almost anything. We'd dig that whole property up as far down as we needed to find that treasure, right? I mean, human beings will do that. Look at the Old World. They came over here to the New World seeking what? Gold, silver. What about the California gold rush, where hundreds of thousands left the East, went to the West, trying to find wealth? People will do almost anything for money. But when it comes to wisdom, we find the Bible clearly says that wisdom is more important than gold or silver. Now, in Matthew 25 and verse 8 and 9, we have an interesting scripture that talks about ten virgins.

Now we're going to stop preaching and start meddling. Because, you know, to a great extent, this is talking about us. Matthew 25 verses 8 and 9. Verse 8, "'The foolish said to the wise..." Okay, now notice these are all virgins. These are all members of the church. "...but some are wise and some are foolish. And the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. And the wise answered, saying, No. Lest there should not be enough for us and for you, but go rather to those who sell and buy yourself." Now, why were they wise?

What differentiated them from the foolish? They did what was needed to obtain a certain result. They needed oil so that their lights would shine, so that they would be able to keep their lamps going. They knew that they had to be prepared, they had to be ready, for the time when there would be a distinction made in the future. Rather than you and I know very clearly, Revelation 2, Revelation 3, that there is going to be a distinction made in the future, you find that there are some who are promised to go to a place of safety, there are some who will go into the tribulation.

Who goes into the tribulation? Well, basically, the foolish. Those who are not prepared. Those whose lamps are about to go out. So if we know that, and we know what the Bible says, we know that here's where we are, here's what we need to do to get over here, we need to be doing what we need to do to get over here. And yet, you find that many will not. Those who were foolish didn't prepare the way that they should.

Now, let's go over to 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 10. 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 10. Again, a very interesting section. It says, According to the grace of God, which was given to me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation. Another builds on it, but let each one take heed how he builds on it. Now, Paul is basically talking here about the ministry. He came along, raised the church up, laid the foundation, and then others came along and took care of the church and began to build on that.

But he says, Each one of you need to be careful how you build. Now, apply it individually. Each one of us starts out as a Christian, laying a foundation. The only foundation we can have, really, is Jesus Christ, the rock that we build upon.

Then we have to build on it. Now, how do we build on that foundation? Well, verse 11 says, No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, stubble, each one's work will become clear. See again, the works. For the day we'll declare it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test everyone's work of what sort it is. What happened in the testing back in 93? 94? 95? Not everybody stood the test. You'll find, as we get closer to the end, we will all be tested. Now, wood, hay, stubble, those are building materials, but what happens when they're put in the fire? They burn up. Gold, silver, precious stone, what happens when they're put in the fire? They're purified. The dross is eliminated. And you have a pure metal, or pure character. Well, this is what God will do for all of us. Now, it goes on to talk about, if anyone's, verse 14, if anyone's works which he build on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss. But he himself will be saved, yet as by fire. So he goes into tribulation. Do you not know that you're the temple of God, in verse 16, and that the spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. That no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, in the ways of this world, let him become a fool, that he might become wise. Truly wise, but godly wisdom. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it is written, he catches the wise in their own craftiness. The wise of this world, thinking that they can do things. God catches them in their own craftiness. Now we find in Matthew 7 that Christ said, if Matthew 7.24, Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, notice he's a doer, conduct. I will liken him to a wise man who builds his house on the rock.

When the rains descend, the floods came, the winds blew, beat on the house, it did not fall. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine, verse 26, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who builds his house on the sand. Brethren, godly wisdom is different from human wisdom. Think of it this way. Many times, human wisdom gets immediate results. What do we see in society today? What seems to be one of the big motivations, especially of the younger generation, but it's not just the younger generation today, it's that people want instant gratification.

It's my money and I want it now! How many of you have seen that commercial? People are wanting things and they want it now. They're not willing to wait. Godly wisdom says, if you're a young person, build your barn, then think about, get your life, your career straightened out, then think about marriage. People do it just the opposite.

There are all kinds of principles that you can find in the Bible that deal with how we need to act. Now, it seems illogical to people. When you look at what the Bible says, the Bible says, turn the other cheek. This is, don't do evil for evil, but do good for evil. It says, pray for your enemies, and all of these things. They smite you on one cheek, turn the other.

People look at that and say, well, that's foolish. That's stupid and they don't see the wisdom of God. See the wisdom from above, if I can describe it. First of all, it has humility. The person who is wise in his own eyes knows nothing. He never will learn anything. Humility is looking for the will of God and submitting oneself to the will of God. That's humility. It's characterized by peace. Why? Well, wisdom from above is not trying to take control of anybody, not trying to push the self forward. It's patient. It trusts God. It relies on God to work things out in a way that human wisdom says, well, you can't trust God.

It is always meek. And it is demonstrated by what a person does, not what a person claims or says, but how you live. James 3.13 summarizes it by saying, James 3.13, who is wise in understanding among you, let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. In the meekness of wisdom. Wisdom from above has to come from God. You just can't drum up this wisdom on your own. The wisdom of the world you can pick up off the street.

You can learn all kinds of things out there. But the Scriptures speak over and over again that God gives Godly wisdom. What are the enemies of Godly wisdom? Well, they're anger and wrath, pride, contention and strife, self-assurance, relying on the self. So the results of human wisdom, if you want to describe the wisdom of this world, of this age, of human wisdom, people get immediate results. They get ability to get along in this age, in the political system, the economic system, the social system and the religious system of this world.

It's based upon the self, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Don't need God, I can do it myself. So that's the way human wisdom is. It is full of envy and self-seeking, pushing the self forward. People obtain goals, but not eternal goals, not leading to eternal life.

What is the result of Satan's wisdom? Satan's wisdom brings wars, corruption, power, or you have world-ruling empires and dictators and deception. There's no truth in his way. It's only lies. It leads to death, leads to violence. God's wisdom, the result of God's wisdom, is that there's no downside to God's wisdom. He always has right outcomes. No pitfalls. You know God's purpose, his plan. You know the outcome. You have stability, you have confidence. Now, we could take another whole sermon and talk about the application of what I've discussed here. I've given you some applications as we've gone along. What do I mean by application?

Well, knowing the end result that you want, where you want to go, how to get there. That's wisdom. Let me just cite a few examples. What about child-rearing? What do you want for your children? Where do you want them to be? How do you want them to turn out? How do you want them to grow up? If you want them to be a certain way, how do you get there?

The Bible is very clear. What about all the music you hear today? Would we consider that godly? The movies, the TV programs, the literature. You see, there is an application in the world. I was listening today on one of the stations going down the room this morning. I forget who this person is, but she's a housewife. She's broadcast out of her home somewhere. She was talking about trying to start a movement of wives, families, to gather back America and have proper values, proper teachings, and this type of thing.

It was interesting listening to her. She realizes the problems that we have. She was saying, how come or why do we find that the bigwigs, those who are in charge of music or whatever it might be, they're the ones who dictate what people listen to. Parents are told, if you don't like it, turn it off.

She said, why should I have to turn it off? Why do they put it on in the first place? That was her approach. Why should we always have to be the ones who are put in the position to be the bad guy? When you look at this world, you look at everything about it and its systems, you find that it has a certain wisdom. Why do they put music out that way?

Because they know that sex sells. They know sex sells magazines. They know it sells almost anything. That's the thing that is pushed. What about marriage? Another application. In marriage, if we want a happy marriage, you start out by thinking of marriage, you want to get married.

Let's say you're a young lady and you're thinking about a man. What kind of man do you want? Not just with pants on, but what kind of a man would you want? What kind of a young lady do you want? What would be the number one ingredient, the number one character that you would see? I would look for conversion. Myself, that's what I looked for when we started out. You look for conversion. How converted is that person? How can you tell if a person is converted? That's another sermon, Bible study, and so on. What about wanting to serve within the church?

Over the years, we've all seen people who put themselves forward, who tried to cotton to the minister or to those in authority, brown those, whatever you want to call it, so that they could get ahead. How about just being great and serve? God sees that. Whether we're ever recognized or not, we're not the ones who give the rewards out. That's God. God knows we don't try to manipulate, we don't try to put ourselves forward. We try to truly be a servant. What about our finances? The world would think that it's foolishness to tithe.

Maybe they'd agree with you about tithing, but what about second tithe? That's totally foolish to the world. Yet God says, do it. If you do it, you're getting or will get the right results. Brethren, what I've given you today is a way that you can begin to look at yourself, any facet of your life, if you want to, and ask yourself, is this based upon godly wisdom? Where do I want to go? Where am I now? How do I get there? And if you apply those principles, you will begin to truly learn how to put in practice the wisdom of God.