The Search For Wisdom
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
I’ve been reading through Job this week in my daily bible reading and I was reading chapter 28 yesterday and God just began birthing this thought in mind as I was reading it…Here in Job 28, the Bible has much to say concerning wisdom...
Since chapter 26 of Job, Job has been responding to his three friends in a lengthy discourse about what he believes about himself and what he believes about God.
In the 26th chapter, he focused on the power of God and His awesomeness. In chapter 27, he spoke of his resolve to do whatever was right. Job was committed to the Lord no matter how difficult, distressing, and depressing his circumstances were in his life. Job made up his mind that he would not speak with deceit and wickedness as long as he had breath. He would not forsake his integrity or his righteousness. His conscience was clear and he was determined to keep it clear.
His decision is one that we should mirror in our own hearts. By the grace of God, we all need to make up our mind that we are not going to give up, back up, throw up, or shut up when it comes to our walk with God and praising Him. There is no room for getting sour, silent, stubborn, or sick of the Lord.
In the 28th chapter of Job, Job pulls over and parks a bit.
He directs his attention to something that is more valuable than gold, silver, onyx, sapphires, rubies, or pearls. Men tend to believe that these things are the most valuable things in the world, yet, these precious items are not nearly as valuable as the object Job has in mind. What in the world is Job talking about? What is so important or so valuable? Job gives the answer. The answer is “wisdom.”
* Wisdom will help you to avoid making stupid decisions that scar your life leaving you with regret.
* Wisdom will help you to ascertain solutions to your dilemmas or problems that shadow your steps like wolves in the woods.
* Wisdom will help you to acknowledge what is sound or true and what is deceitful, dubious, and destructive.
* Wisdom will alert you to sinful desires that will shatter your life if you indulge in them.
Great men in the Bible were great because of the wisdom they had from God. Men like Abraham, Moses, Paul, Daniel, Job, Joshua, and Solomon in his early years, were men blessed with wisdom. Job placed a premium on seeking and getting wisdom.
In verses twelve and twenty he asked, “Where do you get wisdom? Where is it found?”
We are going to answer his questions.
We will show you the wealth of having God’s wisdom in your life.
WISDOM DOES NOT HAVE A PRICE
WISDOM DOES NOT HAVE A PRICE
13 Man knoweth not the price thereof; Neither is it found in the land of the living.
What man on earth would dare to attempt to reckon up the value of the Lord Jesus Christ?
2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Paul’s prayer for the Colossian church was that they would be encouraged in heart and united in love…Why was this? It was so they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ! If they did that, they would have the full riches of complete understanding - “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
You see, wisdom has no price tag - It’s not a “thing” - It’s a person...
Isaiah 38:11 tells us that wisdom is nowhere to be found in man’s abode...
11 I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
Here’s the thing here, Job is implying wisdom’s valuable worth, and the impossibility of buying it at any price.
Which leads us right into the second point tonight...
WISDOM CANNOT BE PURCHASED
WISDOM CANNOT BE PURCHASED
15 It cannot be gotten for gold, Neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
All the wealth of the world could never purchase the wisdom of God.
It would be an insult to God, even if man had the power, to offer Him a whole world of gold as a price for His Son.
Even the gold of man’s righteousness is as filthy rags when offered as a compensation to God.
6 But we are all as an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; And we all do fade as a leaf; And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Wisdom doesn’t have a price - Wisdom cannot be purchased...
The outline structure of these verses seem to be:
12-14 - Wisdom cannot be found.
15-19 - Wisdom is so valuable that it simply must be found.
20-22 - Wisdom cannot be found.
Why was Job struggling with all this? Why was he speaking this way?
If only Job, or any believer, can gain access to this understanding, then the question “Why?” will be answered.
Job will know why all this has happened to him. At last he will not be suffering in the dark.
So in verses 15–19 he piles up images of the most precious things this world affords.
Pile up all the gold and silver, he implies (v. 15), the very best gold, onyx and sapphire (v. 16), wonderful jewels, coral, crystal, topaz (vv. 17–19)—collect together all the riches of the whole wide wonderful world—and still you will not have sufficient wealth to purchase wisdom or gain access to this understanding for which you yearn...
Wisdom has no price, Wisdom cannot be purchased...
WISDOM HAS NO EQUAL
WISDOM HAS NO EQUAL
Job 28:17 (KJV 1900)
17 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it...
Job 28:18–19 (KJV 1900)
18 ...For the price of wisdom is above rubies.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, Neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
The world’s best cannot be compared with the wisdom of God.
The joy of finding rubies and diamonds cannot equal the joy of finding the wisdom of God in Christ Jesus.
Wisdom has no material equivalent! Gold can be balanced by gold, so that the one scale shall be as valuable as the other - Estates can be bought by gold, so men can accept the one as the other, for one is equal in value to the other, but throw wisdom on the scale and try to find an equal and it’s impossible!
Wisdom is divine! Wisdom is holy! Wisdom cannot be equalized by anything material for it is of God!
WISDOM CANNOT BE EXCHANGED
WISDOM CANNOT BE EXCHANGED
Job 28:17 (KJV 1900)
17...the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.
Nothing can take the place of wisdom.
There is no substitute or equivalent for heavenly wisdom. Nothing will ever stand in Christ’s stead.
When men leave out God, they will leave out wisdom. That is why so little wisdom can be found in our world today—you cannot find much wisdom in governments, schools, entertainment, homes, or even in our churches.
But wisdom will be found with God.
WISDOM’S POWER CANNOT BE DOUBTED.
WISDOM’S POWER CANNOT BE DOUBTED.
22 Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
We have heard the testimony of wisdom’s enemies. The fame of this wisdom is that it saves from destruction and death!
The Bible goes on to say…
God understandeth the way thereof,
And he knoweth the place thereof.
For he looketh to the ends of the earth,
And seeth under the whole heaven;
To make the weight for the winds;
And he weigheth the waters by measure.
When he made a decree for the rain,
And a way for the lightning of the thunder:
Then did he see it, and declare it;
He prepared it, yea, and searched it out.
Wisdom is powerful and it cannot be doubted!
Conclusion
Conclusion
The seeking required of us is not ultimately the seeking for philosophical answers or even for practical wisdom; it is seeking after God himself.
This is, we remember, one of the great marks we have noted of Job the believer. While he cannot make heads or tails of his perplexities, in his heart and with his voice he longs passionately for God. And in so doing, in continuing to fear God and turn from evil, he is precisely on the right track.
The chapter concludes with:
28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.
Job concluded this great speech by coming back to the touchstone of revelation. Since true wisdom comes from God, it is found by being in right relation to Him (the fear of the Lord), and it is shown by a life that does depart from evil.
Adam Clarke wrote: “This probably refers to the revelation of his will which God gave to Adam after his fall. He had before sought for wisdom in a forbiddenway. When he and Eve saw that the tree was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, they took and did eat, Genesis 3:6. Thus they lost all the wisdom that they had, by not setting the fear of the Lord before their eyes, and became foolish, wicked, and miserable. Hear, then, what God prescribes as a proper remedy for this dire disease: The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; it is thy only wisdom now to set God always before thy eyes, that thou mayest not again transgress.”
Gaining wisdom today requires a sacrifice - it requires the sacrifice of our own will. A surrendering of it to God...