The Wise and Foolish

Intro

— We’ve been talking about Proverbs

— *ASK THEM* Why have we been trying to read Proverbs?

What is wisdom?

The quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment;

Proverbs 9:10 KJV 1900

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: And the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Why do we need wisdom?

So that we can live a life following after God, making the right decisions.

— BUT, you can have wisdom and still not make the right decisions.

**Illustration of not being wise when i tried to tell Abbie that I liked her and got in trouble for missing curfew

The book of Proverbs was written by Solomon, the wisest person to ever live. However, at the end of his life, he realized he had lived a terrible life because he didn’t use his wisdom. Which led him to write the Book of Ecclesiastes, where he moans and groans and complains about his terrible life and how it wasn’t worth anything.

He even says in the Book of Ecclesiastes that it would have been better not to have been born at all.

So lets read how Solomon became so wise.

1 KINGS 3:1-15

summarize story: He simply asked God for wisdom, and God gave it to Him.

Let’s take a quick look at a part of Solomon’s life to see how the wisest man who ever lived, died a fool.

1 KINGS 11:1-11

So how did he become a fool? Look at verse 1 “BUT”

1. He Loved Not (v. 1-3)

— He loved not the people of the Lord, but instead he loved the enemies of the Lord, when God had specifically told him not to.

— The Ammonites were the descendents of the incest relationship of Lot and his younger daughter, and the Moabites were the descendents of the incest relationship of Lot and his oldest daughter.

Explain the story

— The Edomites were the descendents of of Esau, who was Jacobs twin and Isaac’s oldest son.

— the zidonians were canaanites, evil people that Solomon actually employed to cut down timber in his land.

— the hittites were the descendents of Heth, son of Canaan, who was the son of Ham, who was the son of Ham.

— And so God told the Israelites to stay away from these people, don’t go to their land and don’t let them in to your land, because they are wicked and full of sin. But Solomon did not listen.

— To put it simply, Solomon got to the point where he loved sin. In order to get to the point of loving strange women, he had to have first tolerated them by allowing them into his kingdom, which would’ve led to him allowing himself to be around them, which then would have led to him falling into their sin.

— And that’s the same cycle, the same plan, that the devil still uses today. *Talk about how he uses that plan of tolerating, don’t like their sin, which leads to being around, get used to their sin, numb to it, which leads to falling into their sin.*

**The worst times in my life, filled with sin, was usually because i was hanging around the wrong people. The reason I started drinking alcohol as a teenager was because I was hanging around the wrong people. The reason I started doing drugs as a teenager is because I was hanging around the wrong people. Be careful. Just be careful who you allow yourself to hang around with

— Solomon had plenty of good people around him, yet he eventually sought after the sinful people, to the point where he was sleeping with a thousand different women. Which led to number 2

2. He Went Not (v. 4-8)

— He went not fully after the Lord, but went after the wrong lords

— Because he was around these sinful people, they turned his heart away from the Lord and started seeking other Gods. (v. 4-5)

— David his father, even though he messed up a lot, says his heart was right with the Lord. Solomon did not follow in his Father’s footsteps.

— He started building altars to other gods and helping other people worship the wrong gods. He was the source and cause of other people’s idolatry. He was the king of the greatest kingdom on earth, the richest man, think of all the influence he had.

— *Talk about how everybody has some sort of influence, bring back to Solomon*

— Because he didn’t go FULLY after the Lord, his heart was turned from Him (v. 9)

— the word fully means to take a handful or to gather. He had one hand grasped on to God but his other hand was reaching out for other gods.

— It’s like the saying “the grass is greener on the other side of the fence”. He was on God’s side of the fence, but looked at the other side, the money, the women, all the wealth of the other nations and he wanted it. He was straddling the fence trying to grasp the benefits of both sides. But when you’re on the fence you don’t get the benefits of either side. And he says this in Ecclesiastes because his life was so worthless.

— **Judas also had this choice before him. talk about judas being disciple but chose money

— When we don’t fully seek after the Lord, with all of our heart, it leads to our heart turning from Him and hardening it towards Him. He should be the sole person, the sole being, the only thing that we keep our eyes fixed on seeking after him. You want wisdom? seek after Jesus because He is the All wise, all discerning, all knowing God.

Don’t get distracted with the little things in life, Seek Jesus.

Because Solomon didn’t seek the Lord fully, it led to number 3

3. He Kept Not (v. 10-11)

— He kept not the commandments of the Lord.

**Illustration about Hansel and how he doesn’t obey and its frustrating

He began to not care about God’s Word. He used to respect and revere the Word of God, but now he doesn’t even think twice about breaking the commandments.

— It started with tolerating being around the wrong people, which led to indulging into sins with the wrong people, which led to worshipping other gods and disrespecting the true Word of God.

All that to say this, here’s the summary of the message, if you didn’t hear anything else then hear this real quick:

SMALL COMPROMISES LEAD TO GREAT DISASTERS

You think you can handle little sins, you can get away with it, you always have. You think you can tolerate being around the wrong people, but you can’t. Solomon thought that too, and he was the wisest man who ever lived and he couldn’t even handle it. Little sins lead to big sins

And then YOUR SINS AFFECT OTHERS AROUND YOU.

Even if you think that no one is getting hurt, because of your sin, they are whether you realize it or not.

Because of Solomon’s sin, his son Rehoboam was a terrible young ruler. Ten of the twelve tribes left the kingdom and started their own with a new ruler.

read 1 Kings 12:8 explain

2 Chronicles 12:14 KJV 1900

And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord.

So David, had wisdom and used his wisdom.

Solomon had even more wisdom than his father, but he did not use it.

Rehoboam did not have wisdom and so he couldn’t use it.

James 1:5 KJV 1900

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

James 1:22 KJV 1900

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Get wisdom, but use it too.

Will you be like Solomon who had wisdom but didn’t use it? Will you be like his son Rehoboam who didn’t even have wisdom? Or will you be like David, who had wisdom and used it? Ask God, make it your number one prayer request this week.

Jesus talked about this too:

Matthew 7:24–27 KJV 1900

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

He said you must hear AND do.

Ask God for wisdom this week and use that wisdom in your decisions and actions