Wisdom Calls
Brad Pearce
Growing in Wisdom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a privilege to share the Word of God with the saints of Durbin Memorial Baptist Church.
Has there ever been a time when something should have been so obvious for you to see, but for whatever reason you were oblivious? You might be thinking about a time where someone hurt you and there were signs all around that things were not going to end well, and yet you continued to overlook them. We’ve all probably experienced some form of that before. But this can also happen in physical ways. Maybe you’ve spent 20 minutes looking for your phone while you were on the phone with some one else. You’ve probably said before, “If it was a snake, it would’ve bit me.”
Many years ago I was on a youth trip and we were swinging through Bogue Chitto Mississippi. If you haven’t heard of Bogue Chitto Missippi, that’s okay because its so small even the people Bogue Chitto don’t know where Bogue Chitto is. But while we were there we stayed with host families. At the house I stayed at we had my friend, myself, and two children from the host family. We were having a blast staying up late and playing games together. One of the kids that lived there suggested that we play Hide-and-seek in the dark. So we sent one of us out of the room, turned all of the lights off, hid in the room, and the seeker would have to enter the room and feel around to find us. The room was completely pitch black. For the hiders to win we had to make it out of the room without being touched by the seeker.
Now, I’ll spare you all the intricate details, but to make a long story short, I’m a competitive guy and like to win so I came up with a full proof plan, so simple that it had to work. This room was completely black. No way to see. So instead of hiding I decided I would just stand a few paces back from the door. When the seeker came in they would go off to the main part of the room and I could just dash forward and win the round in a few seconds.
A few moments later I hear from the other side of the door, “ready or not here I come!” I’m giddy with anticipation. And wouldn’t you know it but my plan starts off perfectly. I hear the door open. I hear the seeker come in. The instantly head to the main part of the room and there is nothing but a few steps between me and the door of victory. I hit the gas as hard as I can. Its only three steps to victory! But something went horribly wrong on step two… The seeker hadn’t opened the door all the way. Instead of coasting into glory I went head first into the corner of the door and it split my eye brow wider than a canyon. I still a bit of a scar there some 15 years later.
Something I should’ve been able to see, something just inches from my face, was obscured by darkness.
In the book of Ephesians, Paul is writing to the church of Ephesus and giving them guidance on living for Christ. In Chapter 4 he reminds the believers in Ephesus that God has opened there eyes to see something they did not see before they received Christ.
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—
Now there is a lot that can be unpacked in these verses, but for our purposes this morning, I’d like us to give our attention to the first and last clauses in this section. They (people who don’t know God) are darkened in their understanding! … BUT that is not the way you (people who have received Christ) learned Christ.
It’s like before we know Christ we are stumbling around in a pitch black room, unable to see all the dangers and calamities around us! We go about living sensuously and greedily because that’s what comes natural to us. We don’t see the danger that is in front of us. We think that is the way to claim victory! To sprint forward thinking only of ourselves! But as we receive Christ and know Him, it many ways its like the light switch has been turned on in our lives. Through His guidance we see the pain caused by sin and through His strength we are able even to avoid it for His glory!
There are a lot of problems in our world today that are discussed ad nauseam on the nightly news, things like unprovoked violence, robbery, bullying, shootings, the list goes on and on. But there is really only one problem in this world: sin. Sin is any action that is against the Law and Holy Character of God. All unrighteousness is Sin and we feel the effects of sin all around us. The shame and the pain that you and I feel and know all too well find their root in sin.
If this is true, and I assure it is, then why do people go on sinning? Why do we not all come to Christ and learn the better way? Well Romans 1 tells us that in our unrighteous state we suppress the truth of God. That means in our fallen condition we don’t see the true terror of the sin. Though we walk in darkness we think we can sprint through this life and make it the finish line for our own glory. I can tell you from experience, that will not happen.
But God, in His great grace, has provided all those who believe in Christ with light in the darkness, He has given us His Word. And this morning we will see His call to reject the darkness and cling to His Wisdom.
If you have not already turn with me to Proverbs 1.
This morning we are picking up in Proverbs 1:20. For the last two services we have been walking through the first two sections of this book of Wisdom and now we will be finishing out the chapter. As a foundational understanding of this text, remember that all of Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete for every good work. That means that even as Solomon is preparing to share his wisdom with his son through this book, we know that it is also God the Father sharing His wisdom with us, those who believe in Him, His children.
Let’s begin in verse 20.
Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
We are introduced to a new character in the first two verse of our section this morning, Lady Wisdom. All of the verses that follow in today’s section are spoken by her. So last time we were given our instruction through the loving direction of a Father talking to his son. Now we are given the image of a woman calling out in the street. Look at all of those locations: in the street, in the market, at the head of noisy streets, at the entrance of the city gates.
Today our cities and communication methods have changed over time, but we need to note that this Lady Wisdom is making her call in the most public of places. While today we may all stick our noses in our smartphones to devour our tailor made news feeds, at the time this book was written, the market, streets, and gates of the city are the primary places that business and announcement goes down. This shows us that the teaching that follows is not something intended to be hidden. It is proclaimed and applied all around.
To put this in its most basic meaning, this shows us that God’s Wisdom is not something reserved for the elite or the mystics. You don’t have to go bible college to find God’s wisdom. You don’t have to be a Pastor to know God’s Wisdom. Wisdom is for the SIMPLE and the WISE if you refer back to verses 4 and 5 of this chapter.
Wisdom is the ability to see things from God’s perspective and act accordingly. Wisdom is “God’s character in the many practical affairs of life.”
God’s Wisdom is so good for us and so freely available.
Let’s see what Lady Wisdom has to say in this section of Scripture:
“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?
Lady Wisdom, in the middle of the hustle and bustle of society, from the center of where all the people are, asks them, how long will you be content going on the direction you are going? If we tie it back into the introduction, she is asking, how long will you be satisfied to continue walking in darkness. The simple are content in their simpleness. Scoffers go on scoffing. Fools uninterested in anything but foolishness. She is calling out to the world to say how long will you stay in the condition you are in???
PICTURE
PICTURE
The Greek Philosopher Plato had an interesting thought experiment. He said imagine there was a cave in which people had been imprisoned since childhood. The prisoners are chained in such a way where their legs and necks are fixed. It forces them to only be able to look at a wall in the cave. Behind these prisoners is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway with a low wall, behind which people walk carrying objects or puppets. The people walk behind the wall so they don’t cast shadows, but the objects they carry do. The prisoners can’t see anything happening behind them, only what is cast by the shadows onto the wall. So they believe the shadows to be all there is in the world. It’s all they’ve ever seen. All they’ve ever known.
But what if then one of the prisoners was released. It would be overwhelming to go around the wall and see the fire that was making the light and casting the shadows the whole time. But then eventually the prisoner goes to the mouth of the cave and sees that this whole time he has been atop a mountain. He sees the beauty in Creation. The heavens proclaiming the Glory of God. In His excitement he then turns around and goes back to the rest of the prisoners and tells them the wondrous reality of everything he has seen. He’d implore the prisoners to join him in the rest of the world. However, the prisoners, only knowing the shadows on the wall, would think the freed man to be mad. No matter how hard he implored, they would not leave their position in the cave nor would they have any desire to do so.
This is how it is when we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ. We are freed from the darkness of the world and exposed to how He has crafted all of creation for our joy and His glory. We go back in to the world and proclaim the greatness of God, the fullness of His Wisdom, and are rejected by those who would rather stare at shadows then see the truth of Christ.
“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?
Our world is full of simple, scoffing, fools. I know because I was one of them. But then God’s grace filled my life. Let’s look at what God’s Wisdom offers:
If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.
The Wisest thing one could ever do is repent. To repent is to turn back, to do a 180. In the context of our Proverbs here we can see that Wisdom is calling simple, scoffing, fools like you and I, lost in darkness and content to stay there, calling us to turn away from selfish, unrighteous, licentious living and turn towards God! If you remember back to that verse from Ephesians we read that those in the dark are all about sensuality, greed, and every kind of impurity. God has the better way! The wise turn from that old way and turn to Him. The wise seek the things that are above and seek to honor God in life.
Verse 23 is a promise that if we turn at the reproof of the Lord, He will pour His Spirit to us! We will see His Word and understand His Wisdom. Y’all this is a gospel invitation! When we understand this verse within the fullness of Scripture, we see that we are being asked to see that we are not good enough, we are in darkness, and the only thing we can do from that place is mourn our condition and turn to Christ who died for our sins, gives us His righteousness, and seals us with His Spirit!
We should also understand once again that this calling is given to the common person. You might not come from a wealthy family. I know I don’t. You might not have everything together in your life. Once again, I don’t! This exhortation isn’t given to perfect people! When Wisdom says “If you turn at my reproof...” That means that you have something to turn from! Everyone of us need to hear God’s correction, God’s rebuke. He isn’t working with perfect people. We just have to ask ourselves, do we hear and receive His correction!
I must implore you before going even one more verse further, repent! and repent today! Know you have sin, feel the weight of sin, the misery it brings, and turn to God! Understand that Jesus came to save sinner and all who come to him under the heavy weight of sin will find rest! Don’t wait! Do it today! You cannot repent too soon, because you do not know how soon it may be too late!
If we continue through our text we will see that some will ignore God’s Wisdom:
Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof,
What happens to those who do not listen? What happens if we ignore God’s Wisdom? What happens if we do not repent!?
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
Here is the part that those content to live in the shadows and darkness hate to hear the most. Those who reject the Lord, those who do not receive His Wisdom and correction, will face judgment. Hear this and take it to the bank: God will judge us, and He will not apologize for doing so.
In our world so set against the idea of any ultimate judgment we may read verse 26 and think God to be cruel. “How can this all loving God these Christians talk about Laugh at calamity?!” Please understand that the laughter here is not an expression of God’s heartlessness, rather it is at the utter absurdity of choosing folly, the ultimate fitness of the disaster for those who have rejected God!
When I hit my head on the door in the dark I had a huge gash on my head and blood pouring down my face. What did the group of us boys do? We laughed! Not because the situation wasn’t serious, but because I got when I deserved for acting carelessly in a place of darkness.
All of these verses address the just desserts of the unrepentant.
Verse 27 makes it clear that storm coming is not an “if” but “when”. When we reject God’s truth and ultimately reject salvation through faith in God’s Son, terror will come, quicker than a whirlwind.
In times of great distress some may make a halfhearted call to God’s Wisdom in vain as is shown in verse 28.
You may be familiar with the story of Noah’s Ark. God told Noah that a flood was coming. A flood so large that it would cover the entire surface of the World. God told Noah to build an Ark big enough to hold a set of every kind of animal in the World. We have a replica of Noah’s Ark right up the road here in Kentucky. But Noah built his ark and did what God commanded Him to do while the rest of the world simply did not care. I’ve heard preachers in the past suggest that Noah was mocked by the rest of the world for following the Lord. All we see for sure in Scripture is that they were unconcerned with God’s judgment and went about their lives eating, drinking, and doing their own thing. When the rains came down and the floods came up, God sealed the doors of the Ark with Noah’s family and the animals inside. The other people were completely unconcerned with the judgment God told Noah about. And what happened to those people?
And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.
I can only imagine there were many calls in vain from the unrighteous people in the World as the world filled up with water. But even then, their calls were not because they recognized the goodness of God and turned from their wickedness, rather they were cries to save themselves for themselves.
This ties us back to the next verse from our Proverb:
Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof,
Earlier I told you the wisest thing you could ever do is repent and turn to Christ. Now, I’m not one to mince words so I’m going to tell you now the Dumbest thing you could ever do. The Dumbest thing you could ever do is hate truth. Now I know dumb is not a nice word, but this point is too heavy to be concerned with high speach.
Back in verse 7 of Proverbs you read, “the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord.” If you were here when we talked about that verse you’ll remember that we said fearing the Lord is being awed to the core by His glory. We said that if we truly understand the bigness of God, it brings us to our knees in reverential, awe-struck, overflowing, love-inducing fear of Him!
As we see the greatness of God declared in His Word and by His creation, the wise come to fear Him. However, the fool grows deeper in the hate, clinging to the shadows that give them a perverse sense of comfort.
When you are comfortable in sin you think you have no need for the Lord. You don’t want to be reproved, or told your wrong. You are content in foolishness. But once again in Lady Wisdom’s declaration we are reminded of the endgame of foolishness.
therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices. For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them;
I’ve recently been on a CS Lewis kick. He’s the guy who wrote the book that the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe movie was based on. Interestingly enough, the book has the same title and even more detail! But anyways, CS Lewis was a Christian author and thinker. I can’t say I’ve come to the same theological conclusions as Lewis on everything, but I can say that he was a brilliant mind.
CS Lewis once wrote, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “Thy will be done.”
Those who reject the Lord, those who receive His judgment get exactly what it is the fruit of their own way. Those who reject the Lord Show that they have no desire to be in His Presence. If you want an interesting look at this idea, check out Lewis’ book “The Great Divorce”.
God is just AND merciful in His dealing with all people.
And I know we have been looking primarily at this from the perspective of eternal judgment, but let me just note for those who know the Lord among us this morning: Our eternal destination is assuredly with Christ in glory, but in this life and struggle with the flesh, when we deny God’s wisdom and fall back into sinful patterns, the destructive results of sin abound and are a grace of God to remind us of our need for Him.
People need the Lord! The unregenerate deny their need, the regenerate often forget their need, but people need the Lord! Whether we deny Him completely or forget His great worth, both are FOOLISH!
Lady Wisdom calls us to see the foolish there is in overlooking the Wisdom of God. But then look at how she concludes her speech:
but whoever listens to me will dwell secure
and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”
Who ever listens to Wisdom, who ever fears and revers the Lord, escapes Calamity. They are not mocked in distress and anguish. Rather those who hear wisdom and turn at the reproof, are secure in the Lord.
I think word “listen” is important in this verse. Listening implies more than simply hearing a sound. There are plenty of things we hear that we don’t listen to. My son is obsessed with a kids movie called sing 2. I’ve heard that movie so many times that its just become a Fixture in the background. Its like I know its on, but I have no interest and continue on doing whatever I want to do.
I might hear it, but I’m not listening. Listening entails hearing, ruminating, and digesting. Listening to Lady Wisdom in our context hear means hearing the call to turn at her instructions and following her direction!
The Sad reality for many Christians is that they have grown so accustom To the Word of God and His Wisdom that they treat hearing His Word like I do Sing 2. It's something we hear in the background but we aren’t digesting it. We aren’t living on it. We’re prone to leave the God we say we love. Christian, wisdom is calling, don’t just come to church and sit through a sermon as a background noise. Hear the Word of God and turn at His reproof!
But the even sadder reality is that there are some who hear this message who have no Relationship with the Lord. They have never felt conviction of sin and been drawn to repentance. To turn from their sin and to Christ. That could even be you this morning. I have to tell you once more this morning, the wisest thing you could ever do is repent. The one who turns to God will “be at ease, without dread of disaster.”
This does not gaurantee that you will never face hard times in this world. There is still much sin in the world and it carries with it much trouble. But it does mean that the one who turns the Lord has God with them through the Hardship. It also means that they are sealed for glory with the Lord!
The call of Wisdom is real and available to whosoever will believe. Even you, even today.
God so loved the World that He gave His only son, Jesus Christ, who lived and died to pay the cost of sin, so that all who believe in Him would not perish, but have eternal life. We understand our need for Christ when we understand we cannot save our selves but God loved us so much n that while we were still sinners, dead in our trespasses, Christ died for us. When you understand how great that truly is, you get a glimpse of God’s glory and reverentially fear Him. That fear is the beginning of wisdom. Be wise, receive Chirist.
If you want to know more about This, respond today.
Let’s pray.