Wisdom's Call
Wisdom Literature for application • Sermon • Submitted
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· 1 viewWisdom calls, but the choice is your's if you are going to answer
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Is anyone going to answer that?
Is anyone going to answer that?
(insert picture of ringing phone, already saved on computer)
Wisdom has a voice, wisdom has a place, wisdom has a cry and wisdom cries out. As we look at chapter 9 we see that wisdom cries out with a demand for a response, but so does folly, so that call are you going to answer?
When a phone rings you have a choice, you can answer, you can ignore, and these days you can even block a call. You have seen the issue of choices all throughout chapters 1-8, and here in chapter 9 you will see it is vitally important to make the right choice, for it is a matter of life (v.6) and death (v.18)
In our passage you see Wisdom (vv.1-6) pitted against folly who also has a voice (vv.13-18). In the middle, in the midst you can see the demand for a choice (vv.7-12)
One commentator says chapter 9 is an envelope. On both sides of the envelope is invitation to eat, one by wisdom, one by folly and in the envelope is (vv.7-12) the descriptions and the commands on dealing with the scoffer and the wise. Right in the middle of the envelope you find what you saw in the beginning of proverbs.
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Wisdom’s call (Pro9:1-6)
Folly’s call (Pro9:13-18)
Your choice given (Pro9:7-12)
And a reminder (Pro9:10; Pro1:7)
Do you hear the call? its a call for preparation, a call of invitation, a call for celebration and a call if ignored brings condemnation.
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10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
And back in chapter 1
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Wisdom and folly both via for our attention and for our allegiance. The choice is up to us on which call we are going to answer. The choice is not about good conduct vs. bad conduct, while it is life-shaking the bottom line is it is a choice in true worship or false worship. Of Yahweh or the worlds way. (Pro9:6)
6 “Forsake your folly and live, And proceed in the way of understanding.”
Live, accept wisdom’s gift, answer wisdom’s call. By doing it you will have understanding!
But the choice is yours! So, choose wisely.
Call Preparation
Call Preparation
So wisdom had her hand in creation (Pro8:22-31) now we see the house that wisdom builds, a table wisdom prepares with the best of foods.
1 Wisdom has built her house, She has hewn out her seven pillars; 2 She has slaughtered her meat, She has mixed her wine, She has also furnished her table.
1 Does not wisdom call, And understanding lift up her voice? 2 On top of the heights beside the way, Where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
The house is built, not just any house of one of prominence
Not a normal dwelling of the day, for there were the 7 pillars this is for the elite, the best, and that is what your spiritual house is, the best of the best! Because of Christ’s preeminence you can have prominence
The table is prepared, furnished (Psm23:5)
The meat is killed and prepared
The food is prepared, the wine is mixed
The slaughtered meat was not a norm for most meals, it was for special occasions like with the prodigal son (Lk15:23; 1Sam28:24)
23 and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;
You are special, your have a seat at the table to eat and to celebrate
The wine is mixed
This mixed wine too is special for most of the time it is diluted wine or spiced wine (not spiked wine); but this is put out on the table that is prepared with the meat that has been slaughtered.
Wisdom offers you the best in the midst of the fallen world. It calls out, it cries out, it prepares of you.
The table is set (Psm23:5; Psm84:11)
The table is prepared (Psm23:5)
Think of the table as noted in Psm23:5
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
God does not hold back from us.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.
God has given His best to us in Jesus, God has given us His best in the Word. We get wisdom, we get knowledge, we get understanding through God’s Word that points us to Jesus! Our part is we have to answer wisdom’s call, wisdom’s invitation.
Call invitation
Call invitation
This is not wisdom’s first call, first invitation, we have seen that before (Pro1:20; Pro8:1); wisdom previously called herself, now wisdom sends out her maidens.
3 She has sent out her maidens, she calls From the tops of the heights of the city: 4 “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks understanding she says,
5 “Come, eat of my food And drink of the wine I have mixed. 6 “Forsake your folly and live, And proceed in the way of understanding.”
7 He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, And he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself. 8 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you, Reprove a wise man and he will love you.
9 Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.
Previous invitations were by wisdom herself (Pro1; Pro8) now her maidens take out the message, the invitation, similar to what we see in (Lk14:16-17; 21-22)
16 But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; 17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’
21 “And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22 “And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’
LK14:
Today we are used to several invitations, you get a save the date invitation then you get the invitation and then maybe even call reminding you to come that everything is ready.
Like the message by Jesus in the parable of the dinner, the message is to come, come now, everything is ready, wisdom is calling you to come
The first call was to the simple, the scorners and the fools (Pro1:22)
22 “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge.
The second call to the simple and the fools (Pro8:5)
5 O you simple ones, understand prudence, And you fools, be of an understanding heart.
This final call is to the simple (the naive) (Pro9:3) to come; come now for one day there will be no more opportunity to come and we do not know that day.
The scoffers, scorners laughed at wisdom, the fools did not want God’s wisdom and the the simple did not know, did not understand are given the opportunity to respond, to answer the call of wisdom’s invitation.
Here in (vv.7-12
To the simple that do respond it is life changing, destination changing, it is also leaving the fools and the scoffers behind who will try to lure them back to the world as they know it.
Some contrasts to look at
Sinners don’t want rebuke; but the wise will accept and benefit from it.
Fools, scoffers and simple think everything is OK doing things the way they do, but the wise will want to know the truth and want to walk in it.
Teach the wise and they become wiser; teach the fool and they will reject and become bigger fools.
So, come to the call while it is still today, invite others to come too. When we answer the call, then it is a time to call for a celebration
Call for celebration
Call for celebration
So wisdom has made the call, her maidens are come out with the invitation too. and you have answered the call, so what do you get when you accept the invitation?
10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 11 For by me your days will be multiplied, And years of life will be added to you.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself, And if you scoff, you will bear it alone.”
What do you get? You get knowledge; knowledge of God (v.10)
What do you get? You get understanding, understanding of God (v.10)
What do you get? You get reverential fear of the Lord (v.10)
What do you get? Extended life, eternal life (v.11)
God wants to give us wisdom, God wants to give YOU wisdom. God wants to help build godly character and integrity in you. You cannot take someone else’s just like you can’t give them yours. Each person has to answer the call themselves. Our character is a display or our decisions that we make so we need to be careful about the decisions we make.
A reminder, look at (v.12) again
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself, And if you scoff, you will bear it alone.”
each person is responsible for their choice and the consequences of their choice. Chose wisdom and you are wise for you. if you scoff you bear the consequences of that yourself too.
(v.12) is a linchpin between wisdom's call to the table that has been prepared and folly’s call to the table she has prepared. Folly’s call, or an ignored call by wisdom brings condemnation.
Call ignored brings condemnation
Call ignored brings condemnation
Wisdom calls and if you ignore her call there is another call out there from folly and she can be alluring, so be careful for with her comes condemnation.
13 A foolish woman is clamorous; She is simple, and knows nothing. 14 For she sits at the door of her house, On a seat by the highest places of the city,
15 To call to those who pass by, Who go straight on their way: 16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here”; And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
17 “Stolen water is sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” 18 But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of hell.
Folly calls to,
We have not really had questions tonight to look at in the scripture but we have some time so let’s do that with this section since this section is really about our protection.
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Folly, or the foolish woman (NKJV) is described as (v.13)? also look at Psm14:1; Pro5:23 and Pro9:6
Where does she sit (v.14)?
Who is she calling to (v.15-16)? also look at Gal3:1; 2Tim4:3
What is she promising (v.17)? also look at Pro14:12
What is the reality (v.18)? also look at Jam1:5-6 for solution
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Folly, or the foolish woman (NKJV) is described as (v.13)?
She is loud, she is boisterous, but she is also naive and knows nothing
Who is she calling to (v.15-16)?
What is she promising (v.17)?
Can this world be like that, when in reality they know nothing about the truth or are willing to accept the truth for eternity?
1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.
What is the reality (v.18)?
A couple more reminders about the foolish woman, about folly
23 He shall die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
and one more from tonight
6 “Forsake your folly and live, And proceed in the way of understanding.”
Pro
Folly is calling, folly is loud, folly is boisterous and is calling to take from you, or to keep from you. Be careful what call you answer.
Folly, or the foolish woman (NKJV) is described as (v.13)?
Where does she sit (v.14)?
in the doorway, or sets herself up in the high places of the City; She wants to be seen, wants to be heard
What is she promising (v.17)?
Today where does the world set herself up to be seen and/or to be heard?
What is the reality (v.18)?
Folly, or the foolish woman (NKJV) is described as (v.13)?
Where does she sit (v.14)?
Who is she calling to (v.15-16)?
She is calling those who are passing by, who are making their paths straight, so who are those people?
What is the reality (v.18)?
She is calling the naive, those who do not know any better
She is calling to those who lack understanding
Makes me think of the problem in Galatia
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
They had been enlightened, they had tasted the Spirit, walked in the Spirit but they are being tricked, bewitched from the reality, from the truth by the world.
Gal3:1
Or the warning given to Timothy
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
Is this not the time that Paul warned Timothy about? It was then, it is now, and we need to be careful what call we answer. Because the call may look good, may sound good, but will lead to condemnation.
Folly, or the foolish woman (NKJV) is described as (v.13)?
Where does she sit (v.14)?
Who is she calling to (v.15-16)?
What is she promising (v.17)?
she is promising what is sweet and what is pleasant.
12 There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
Just because something may seem right does not necessarily make it right. Can you think of something that would qualify under this?
Folly, foolish woman calls, cries, offers an invitation, but not to a feast but to a funeral.
Folly, or the foolish woman (NKJV) is described as (v.13)?
Where does she sit (v.14)?
Who is she calling to (v.15-16)?
What is she promising (v.17)?
What is the reality (v.18)?
Let me give you the reality again just so you don’t miss out on it.
18 But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of hell.
We need to answer the call of wisdom, stay on wisdom’s path and if we lack wisdom we can ask for it
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
What are we to do? How are we to do it? Why are we to do it?
We need to stay the course, stay pure, stay away from the stolen water that leads to eternal death. It may look good, but it is a killer.
(encouragement slide)
Eternal life is an either or, there is no neutral ground, either accept the invitation to the feast or you accept the invitation to death, to condemnation. Praise be to God that we have each chosen to answer wisdom’s call. May we continue to listen to wisdom’s voice and stay the course!
prayer (exit slide)