More Than Words
Notes
Transcript
ME: Intro
ME: Intro
Who here has seen the movie Aladdin?
Either the original cartoon or the newer live-action version?
Remember when Aladdin first meets Genie,
The Genie breaks out into song to basically explain that Aladdin has three wishes with minor stipulations;
He cannot wish for more wishes,
He cannot wish harm on anyone,
And he cannot wish anyone back from the dead.
There is a man in the Bible who had a similar experience to Aladdin.
He is King Solomon.
In 1 Kings 3, God appears to Solomon in a dream and says to him,
“Ask whatever you want, and I shall give it to you.”
Solomon responds by recounting all that God has already given him,
Confessing his weakness as a king,
Describing himself as a little child,
He acknowledges that there are way too many people for him to lead.
So, he asked God for wisdom,
For an understanding mind to govern the people,
And discern between good and evil.
Now, imagine for a moment,
This happened to you,
What do you think you would ask God?
Anyone willing to share their answer?
I kind of relate to what Solomon says,
I don’t know how to be a pastor,
I am a little child,
So, I think I would ask God how to be a pastor.
Ch. 3 goes on to give an example of the wisdom God granted him.
Two women come to Solomon.
The first woman says the second woman’s infant son died so she stole the first woman’s infant son and replaced him with her now deceased son.
The second woman said that is not true and the living son is her child.
After hearing both cases from both women,
Solomon turns to his servants and says, “bring me my sword.”
Then, holding the sword before these two women,
Solomon says to cut the son in half and give each woman one half of the son.
In desperation for her son’s life,
The true mother willingly let the other woman have her son, saying,
“Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.”
Knowing the true mother would show greater concern for her son,
Solomon then pointed to this woman and said,
She is the mother, do not harm the child but return him to his true mother.
The wisdom of Solomon was known all throughout the land.
It was known that he wrote many Proverbs.
1 Kings 4:29-30 explain:
And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.
Vs. 32 goes on to say that he spoke 3,000 Proverbs and 1,005 wisdom songs.
People from all around would come to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
This morning we are beginning a new series in the Book of Proverbs titled, Words to Live By.
The most effective way to study and teach the Bible is verse by verse through entire books.
Proverbs is a little tough to study and teach that way.
So, the plan is that we will go vs. by vs. through the first 9 chapters.
And that should take us right up to the Christmas season.
Then, Lord willing, after Christmas,
We will jump back into the book of Proverbs,
But instead of doing the rest of the book verse by verse,
We will piece together the key themes that Proverbs addresses.
This morning, we start with the prologue in Proverbs 1:1-7,
Emphasizing that wisdom is More Than Words.
Today is a bit of an introduction to Proverbs so our outline will be;
The Title (vs. 1)
The Markers (vs. 2-6)
The Key (vs. 7)
Remember Who wisdom is.
Ten years ago,
Charlie Sheen was the highest paid TV actor for his role on the tv show,
Two and a Half Men.
He was earning nearly $2 million per episode!
Despite his TV success,
Most people would say his life was a mess.
He pleaded guilty to domestic violence charges,
He was struggling with a pretty public drug addiction,
He had a public dispute with the creator of the show that was key to his success.
Despite it all,
He thought he was on top of the world.
So, he agreed to an interview on the show, 20/20,
Where when asked if he was struggling with addictions,
He said the only thing he is addicted to was winning.
He truly believed he was winning life.
I share this, not to make light of Sheen’s struggles,
He has since gone to rehab and expressed many regrets related to that time in his life.
But I share it because that time of life for him is a sad reality of the way so many look at success in life.
Books about being successful always fill the best seller shelves.
Talk shows always draw viewers by advertising ways to win in life.
Magazines and radio stations have Dear Abby or Delilah After Dark,
Hoping to get advice on how to do better.
Sadly, I fear many Christians do the same things.
When we want to win in life,
We look for answers everywhere but the Bible.
If we hope to win in life this way,
Then we are in serious trouble.
How often do we neglect to read or study God’s Word,
Because we would rather get the practical tips from a Christian author or teacher?
We would say that we believe God’s Word is authoritative,
That is why we read Christian authors,
And listen to Christian teachers.
But when it comes time for the rubber to hit the road,
We do not trust that the Word will address what we think we need.
So, we turn to our devotionals that give a tiny slice of God’s Word,
Then reading from some person we hope will give us our helpful tip for the day.
The problem is that our worldviews are then shaped by our world.
But this is just the start of the problem.
The bigger problem is that even when we do look to God’s Word to learn how to live this life,
More often than not,
We do not apply it!
We know how to live,
But we cannot bring ourselves to do it!
I mean, think about how often we mess up in life.
Think of the times you have said something hurtful that you know you shouldn’t have.
Think of the times you gossiped or complained about something you now you shouldn’t have.
Think about the times you said something,
And as the words were spilling out,
You wished you could reel them back in.
Think about the times someone confronted you in love,
And you knew what they were saying was correct,
But you blew up on them.
Think about the times when you knew you should have confronted someone in love,
Or comforted someone who needed it,
But you didn’t.
Think about feelings you hurt,
The lies you hoped people wouldn’t find out,
The secrets you want to keep hidden,
The times you scream at others,
The details someone trusted you with that you told to someone else,
The arrogant brags you are guilty of,
The mistakes,
The over discipline,
The lack of discipline,
The outright rebellion,
The grudge you wouldn’t let go,
The times of greed,
And the times of overspending,
The temptation to invest in the get-rich-quick scheme,
Or the times where instead of doing what you were supposed to,
You were watching tv or scrolling through Facebook.
Think about the times you felt jealous that someone else got something you felt you deserved,
The times you nagged,
Or the times you neglected,
And when you keep doing the same frustrating thing over and over again.
This list could just keep going on and on.
What does this reveal?
It shows that we have a major problem.
And the reality is that no amount of tips will solve this problem.
We are not wise.
In fact, more often than not,
We are downright foolish.
There is something broken in us,
We are malfunctioning.
We desperately need wisdom.
Wisdom to make decisions,
And wisdom to know how to live life.
But the problem is,
We are unable to acquire wisdom in our own strength.
Because we are broken.
This is why we do these hurtful and foolish things.
Because we can’t help it!
When God first made people,
He made perfect order in our relationship to Him and one another.
The problem is that human sin messed it up.
Now we people seek for wisdom apart from God,
And the perfect order has become disordered.
Sin creates barriers between us and God,
And between us and one another.
We are no longer able to see and live rightly in this world around us.
But God’s created order still exists,
Living according to God’s created order is wisdom.
Our brokenness hinders our ability to understand this.
So, God has given us the book of Proverbs to see the restoration of harmony through Christ.
WE: The Title (vs. 1)
WE: The Title (vs. 1)
This book is all about being wise in everyday life,
Through Jesus Christ and the Gospel.
The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
Proverbs speaks of the life God intends for mankind to live,
Life in the Kingdom of God.
When our relationship with God is restored through Christ,
Then, Christ empowers us to live rightly with others.
Proverbs is written as poetry,
So, the inclusion of imagery is common.
The first 9 chapters are written more like wise instructions,
Similar to ancient Egyptian literature.
The idea is that this instruction is wisdom for life that is being taught to a young person from an older person.
That is why the instruction is often addressed to “my son,”
Followed up with specific exhortations, commands, explanations, encouragements, or warnings.
The remainder of the book is almost entirely shorter wise sayings.
They use different literary tools to write these sayings.
Some are written in parallel form,
Where they either contrast the second part against the first,
Or they expand the first part into the second part.
Another literary tool is the use of numerical sayings.
This expresses an order for complex issues.
The title comes from the opening verse,
The proverbs of Solomon.
But what is a proverb?
Outside of the Bible,
A proverb states a general truth,
Generally in the form of a pithy saying.
No pain, no gain.
Or the pen is mightier than the sword.
It is meant to be easy to remember and practical, real world advice.
A proverb is generally developed from observing how life works,
And one who comes up with a proverb tends to be a mixture of perceptive and creative.
They are able to observe general truths and create a succinct and memorable phrase to express it.
In addition to this,
The proverbs in the Bible are inspired by God.
This means they come from God so we know they are not general truth,
But absolute truth.
These allusions are rich in truth and meaning.
The Hebrew word translated to proverb has a range of meanings.
It means comparison,
Or observation,
Or sometimes even a joke.
But generally, as is the case here,
It refers to a saying or pronouncement.
Specifically a saying in the context of wisdom.
The entire book are sayings of varying lengths with godly wisdom in them.
Proverbs is in the realm of what a person is like to live with or work with.
How a person manages time and self.
It is a book of advice,
And then some.
It is a key to life itself.
It uses a single criterion for every behavior in life,
The question, is this wisdom or is this folly?
Anything that is well done,
Comes from wisdom.
From the words we speak,
To the entire universe.
Wisdom speaks in nature and relationships and government and art.
It is a basis for all things.
Proverbs encourages us to count the cost or the reward of our actions
It teaches that wisdom is God-centered and God-fearing.
It consists in the right handling of ourselves in God’s world,
According to His will.
In fact, God’s will determines what is wisdom.
We see this thread of wisdom traced throughout the whole fabric of the OT,
Until it is incarnated in the form of Christ in the NT.
These proverbs are “of Solomon.”
This implies that Solomon’s stamp of wisdom is on this book.
While he is the main human author,
He is not the only human author.
So, this book is a purposeful collection of wisdom directed by Solomon.
This is not surprising because Solomon was the wisest king in Israel’s history.
As a nation,
Israel reached its greatest prosperity under Solomon’s leadership.
He saw the nation expand further than any other time.
He oversaw peaceful relations with other nations.
The temple was built during his reign,
And it was the wealthiest time in Israel’s history.
But the Scriptures go on to reveal that Solomon was far from a perfect king.
In fact, there are many examples that Solomon did not heed his own wisdom.
For example,
After he was tasked with building the temple,
The Lord’s house!
He prioritized more time and money on his own house than he did on God’s.
Instead, he had a foreigner oversee the work of the temple,
Then he compensated the foreigner by giving him authority over Israelite cities.
In order to do the construction,
He forced God’s people into labor just like the Egyptians did before the Exodus.
He was given specific instructions on how to design every detail of the temple,
Instead, he decided to take some liberty with furniture dimensions and materials that reflected the pagan temples.
This was the first clue to a future pattern of idol worship that Solomon would eventually approve in Israel,
That eventually led to civil war which resulted in a divided kingdom.
Solomon refers to himself as the King of Israel in Proverbs 1:1.
And he was the last king of united Israel.
Easton’s Bible Dictionary summarizes;
“That golden age of Jewish history passed away. The bright day of Solomon’s glory ended in clouds and darkness. His decline and fall from his high estate is a sad record.”
Skipping ahead to a humbling description of Solomon;
“[Solomon] learned first to tolerate and then to imitate [his wives] heathenish ways. He did not, indeed, cease to believe in the God of Israel with his mind. He did not cease to offer the usual sacrifices in the temple at the great feasts. But his heart was not right with God; his worship became merely formal; his soul, left empty by the dying out of true religious fervour, sought to be filled with any religious excitement which offered itself.”
Both the author and structure of Proverbs bear witness to Christ.
Solomon bears witness that the wisest of men is still a sinful man in need of more than words.
Our hope cannot ultimately be in living wisely like Solomon,
Otherwise we will end up just like him.
In our minds, we believe in God,
But in our hearts we are not right with God.
Solomon bears witness to the fact that we need something more.
Proverbs is categorized as wisdom literature.
Meaning it is a book made up of words about wisdom.
But wisdom is more than words,
Wisdom is a person.
The words of Proverbs bear witness to the person and work of Christ.
John introduces Jesus as the Word becoming flesh.
That includes Proverbs.
Christ is the incarnation of wisdom.
Solomon was the key figure associated with wisdom,
Jesus Himself said, “One greater than Solomon is here.”
Solomon was an expert on wisdom,
Christ is the founder, inventor, creator, and source of wisdom.
Experts can obviously be helpful.
For example,
When you have an issue with your phone or computer,
You can go to the Geek Squad at Best Buy to get help from some experts.
But if you had free access to the manufacturer or creator of your phone or computer,
You are going to get much better help from them.
Such is the case with wisdom.
Solomon is an expert,
He is helpful.
But Christ is wisdom.
In Christ is hidden all the treasures of wisdom.
And the Bible says that if you are a believer,
Then you have the mind of Christ!
You have direct access to the creator of wisdom.
James 1:5 says
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
Most often, we approach Proverbs as a book solely about practical application.
To do so is a form of seeking wisdom by our own human means.
We cannot simply apply the wisdom in Proverbs just because we know what they say.
We must first and foremost understand the gospel of Proverbs.
We must understand that wisdom is more than words,
It is a person, Jesus Christ.
When we have placed our trust in Christ,
Then we can ask God for wisdom.
Once the foundation of the gospel of Proverbs is laid,
Then there is a great amount of practical application to be found in Proverbs.
Because Proverbs deals with the mundane parts of life,
It teaches us that every part of life is to be lived to the glory of God.
Jesus is the ultimate Son of David that vs. 1 references.
We need Jesus, the Son of David, the Messiah,
To establish His Kingdom.
We need to submit to His wise rule,
So He can produce wisdom in us.
He is our only way to wisdom.
Proverbs lays out how citizens of His Kingdom are to live.
Therefore, we need to learn this wisdom.
GOD: The Markers (vs. 2-6)
GOD: The Markers (vs. 2-6)
Proverbs 1:2-6 states The Markers of the path of wisdom.
To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles.
The book of Proverbs is a guide into wisdom.
Wisdom encompasses both the mental intellect and the self-control that comes from it.
It is a way to think about reality in a way that enables us to pursue what is good.
It is having mastery of a subject.
Or the ability to apply biblical knowledge to a given situation in life.
Wisdom is best seen in everyday life.
It answers the question,
Can you read a person or a situation correctly?
Ultimately, wisdom is a gift from God.
It is the lens through which God reveals what is of true value and how we can achieve it.
He loves to give us wisdom.
In vs. 2-4, Solomon lists out four purposes of this book that are the markers on the road of wisdom;
To know,
To understand,
To receive,
And to give.
The first marker is to know instruction.
Think of this instruction like training or discipline.
It implies that it is hard to gain wisdom,
Because wisdom effects character as much as it effects the mind.
Discipline can be painful,
But the wise understand that discipline comes from love.
It takes humility to recognize that we do not know everything,
And we need to receive correction from others.
Discipline includes stern warnings or consequences from a lack of wisdom,
Like loving correction.
Discipline is for disciples.
The purpose is edification or education.
So, the question is, do you accept discipline and correction?
Your answer reveals whether or not you are wise.
The know-it-all is not as wise as he thinks,
In fact, Proverbs says he is a fool.
Do you have any relationships in your life where someone can correct you and you accept it?
Do you have a relationship where someone can call you out?
We all need brothers and sisters who can correct us,
That is wisdom!
The second marker is to understand words of insight.
Insight is the idea of discernment.
It is knowing right from wrong,
Understanding is a deeper awareness to discernment.
Discernment knows the difference between right and wrong,
Understanding knows the why behind what is right and wrong.
The third marker is wise dealing.
It is to have the skill of cleverness,
The talent of insight,
And the ability to make scrutinizing observations.
It is knowing good from evil.
This is a very practical form of wisdom.
What the general population might call common sense.
And it is guided by righteousness, justice, and equity.
These are the ethical contexts of our world,
It is the idea of integrity.
Biblical wisdom is concerned with these worldly matters.
But it does not see them with a temporary lens like our world.
Rather, biblical wisdom is concerned with these matters according to God’s design and created order.
It is not merely a high IQ,
A wise person knows the difference between right and wrong in a given situation.
The problem is that we think wisdom and foolishness is morally neutral.
For example,
You likely know that I am a big Chiefs fan and today is their first game of the season.
If Mahomes throws not one, not two, but three interceptions.
And that third interception costs the Chiefs the game.
When he throws that interception and I slam my hand into the wall and break it.
You might think,
Well that is not a sin,
But it is foolish.
That way of thinking would be wrong.
Vs. 3 shows that foolishness lacks the ability to discern between good and evil.
This means that foolishness is sin.
Wisdom is righteousness.
God determines what is right and what is wrong.
We are too depend on God for that knowledge.
However, we like to decide for ourselves what we see as right and what we see as wrong.
This is what Adam and Eve did when they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
The fruit appeared desirable,
It seemed right to them,
So, they ate.
They sought wisdom apart from God.
That is foolishness.
And foolishness always ends in death.
Wisdom comes directly from God,
So, we submit to what God says is right and wrong,
Not what we think is right and wrong.
Our society is very confused about this,
Because humanity does what is right in our own eyes,
Rather than what God says is right in His Word.
Even as a Christian,
We all fail to submit to what God says is right.
We affirm that wisdom is found in God’s Word,
We agree that we should always submit to it,
Except for some reason,
We always treat ourselves as the exception.
We find every way to evade what God’s Word says,
To do what is right is our own eyes.
That is foolishness.
We must submit to wisdom,
To what God says is good and evil in His Word.
God has revealed wisdom to us.
The fourth marker is to give prudence to the simple.
To teach the inexperienced how to be shrewd.
This is talking about people we might describe as naive.
Generally, a naive person is considered naive due to a lack of common sense.
The simple and naive do not choose wisdom,
But they are also not entrenched in folly,
They simply believe anything,
They are gullible.
They can be easily enticed or persuaded.
This is why it is so important to mentor and disciple younger believers,
Because they are impressionable,
There is still hope to impress wisdom into their hearts and minds.
The word translated to prudence is the idea of cleverness or discretion in practical affairs.
Often it is used in a negative sense,
For example, the serpent in the Garden was described as the most cunning,
Or the most shrewd.
But this quality does not have to be corrupt.
Here it is being used as a positive connotation.
It is the ability to foresee difficulties and formulate solutions.
That is the point of Proverbs.
The idea communicates that there is evil just beneath the surface,
But on the outside everything looks okay.
A wise person knows the dangers of the course before him,
And he plans accordingly.
A great illustration comes from the explorer Magellan.
He was the first to sail around the entire world.
The most challenging part was off the edge of South America.
There were numerous reefs and obstructions just beneath the surface that capsized numerous other ships before.
On the surface, Magellan seemed to be aimlessly zigging and zagging his ship unnecessarily.
Later, he revealed that he knew about the dangers just below the surface,
He learned how to read currents on the surface that revealed the danger below.
So, he managed to sail his ship through this unknown difficulty because he was shrewd.
He could see the evil below the surface.
The author seems to compare prudence with the knowledge in the second part of vs. 4.
But knowledge seems to have a slightly deeper meaning here.
Knowledge communicates more than being informed,
It is the covenantal relationship with God.
Knowing the truth and person of God like we know a loved one.
One commentary illustrates knowledge as the tool and wisdom as the worker.
Without a worker to use a tool, it just sits there.
Such is the case for knowledge without wisdom.
Those who are already wise are wise because they listen and learn.
Likewise, Solomon continues in vs. 5,
The one who understands will obtain guidance.
The one who is wise will learn how to think rightly and how to make decisions.
This implies that the wise have room to grow in wisdom.
So, this means being wise doesn’t mean you have arrived to a place where you do not need to learn anymore.
That is actually foolish.
The truly wise are humble enough to know they still need counsel,
Instead of arrogantly believing they do not need counsel.
The wise realize no one can graduate as long as they are still living in this world.
We all need to keep listening to the wisdom of others our entire lives.
It is not a goal to be attained,
It is a lifelong pursuit.
In vs. 6, Solomon says the wise will understand proverbs and sayings.
They obtain the words of the wise,
And their riddles.
Jon Akin summarizes the markers of wisdom well;
“Wisdom is being corrected and disciplined. Wisdom understands and reads situations. Wisdom is godly morality. Wisdom is justice. Wisdom is discretion and discernment of right and wrong, stupid and smart, what path to take and which one to avoid. Wisdom is listening to instruction and receiving wisdom.”
YOU: The Key (vs. 7)
YOU: The Key (vs. 7)
Now that we have seen the markers of wisdom,
The question remains,
What is They Key to wisdom?
How can we be wise?
How can we learn how to read situation?
How can we learn discernment?
Vs. 7 answers this question by showing us the key to wisdom.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
All throughout Proverbs we will see that the key to wisdom is spiritual in nature,
Because the key to wisdom is through a relationship with the Lord.
The fear of the Lord is the controlling principle.
You cannot have something if it does not have a beginning.
Therefore, you cannot have knowledge without the beginning of knowledge.
This means fear of the Lord is the only way to have true knowledge.
This fear is a loaded description.
It is reverence and awe and love and trust and worship of the Creator, Savior, and Judge.
It is what faith is made of.
It accompanies knowledge, humility, obedience, and blessing.
But fear of the Lord is the prerequisite.
It is the chief principle.
It is worshipful submission to the Lord.
It is depending on God rather than self.
Every day details of life need to be lived in fear of the Lord.
We cannot create this divide between church life or quiet time,
And work, sports games, spending money, or the non-spiritual parts of life.
Every part of life is lived in fear of the Lord.
And the way we live in these every day details will reveal whether or not we truly fear the Lord.
God cares about every detail of your life.
He cares about how you eat dinner, how you work, how you spend money,
How you parent, how you respond to your parents, and everything in between.
Every little part of your life must be led by God.
We all have a particular worldview,
But sin has discolored the way we see the world.
We do not see the world the way it truly is.
The result is that we make wrong decisions.
We do not live in the world by its created order.
However, if we begin to see the world through the lens of fearing God,
We can begin to perceive how things really are.
We will live in wisdom.
The only way to be wise is to trust in the Lord.
The Lord in vs. 7 is the name, Yahweh.
It is the covenant name used by God’s people.
It indicates God’s redemptive promises.
It encompasses the revelation God has given to His people.
It is the foundation of truth and wisdom.
Fearing the Lord is used earlier in the OT as a stipulation for the covenant.
For example, Ec 12:13 says;.
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
Picture it like the vows at a wedding ceremony,
It is as if you are being asked,
Do you, God’s child, promise to fear the Lord as a grateful response to His redemptive grace in your life.
The start of wisdom,
The start of the covenantal relationship,
Is for you to respond by saying, “I do.”
It is interesting,
The temple that God had Solomon build is described as the fear of the Lord in 1 Kings 8:43
hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.
The temple was a display of God’s covenantal relationship with His people,
And Scripture describes the temple as fear of the Lord.
When we try to separate knowledge from its relational aspect,
We are missing out on the context of that knowledge.
It is an arrogant and distorted knowledge.
It ultimately means you know less.
It is foolish.
As the author goes on to acknowledge,
Fools do not fear the Lord.
They do not have true knowledge,
They hate wisdom and correction.
They see themselves as self-sufficient,
They do not need advice from you or anyone else.
They are not opened to possibly having their minds changed.
This means there are some really really smart people in this world,
Who are actually fools.
So, the question is,
What category are you in?
Are you open to instruction?
Do you seek counsel?
Or do you think you know it all?
Do you always think you are right?
WE:
WE:
Doing what is right in your own eyes results in chaos and disaster.
The entire book of Proverbs presents this ongoing fork in the road.
The book works as a test to know which path we are taking.
The path of wisdom or the path of folly.
We need a wise King to lead us down the path of wisdom.
As we talked about earlier,
Solomon was not that wise king,
He failed to live out the wisdom of Proverbs.
Christ not only lived out the wisdom of Proverbs,
He is the embodiment of wisdom.
Acquiring wisdom is important because it helps in everyday life.
It helps us to win at life.
But the other path at the crossroads,
The path of folly is the path of destruction.
Lord willing, we will spend more time with some of the warnings against the path of folly.
So, for this morning,
I would like to briefly introduce the five markers on the path of folly.
First, is naivety.
We were introduced to this first marker this morning.
The simple or naive are pulled down the path of folly like quicksand.
When a person is irresponsible,
They are unaware of the destruction of the path they are on.
After a naive person starts down this path,
They come to the second marker of stubbornness.
A wise person will respond positively to correction.
A fool will respond stubbornly to correction.
They begin down the path of folly naively,
And when corrected,
They become stubborn.
They have tasted the wickedness of their folly,
And now they do not want to give it up.
Which leads into the third marker,
A hardened heart.
No longer is this person naive,
Now he knows the path he is on,
He knows what he is doing,
But he is unwilling to be convinced that it is foolish,
That it will end in destruction.
This type of person laughs and jokes about sin.
The fourth marker is that they become completely closed off to God.
And the fifth and final marker is that they are confirmed as a rebel.
Proverbs refers to this type of person as a scoffer or mocker.
Not only do they reject correction,
But they respond in hatred toward correction.
So, throughout this series,
We will continue to ask ourselves,
What is our response at this crossroad?
Do we try, by the sheer force of will to be wise?
As in, we just try harder to choose the wise path?
Certainly not,
That way of thinking is the first marker on the path of folly,
That way of thinking is naive.
If you think you will choose the wise path by your own will power,
Then you truly do not know yourself and you do not know the devil.
The problem is that we all repeatedly fail at being wise.
We all are broken.
So, where do we turn?
What is the answer?
How do we become wise when we are so broken?
You need someone to be wise for you.
You need someone to be wisdom for you.
You need Jesus.
Because wisdom is more than words.
Wisdom is a person you can have a relationship with.
Wisdom is a person who loves you and who you can love.
Wisdom is a person you can walk with.
Wisdom is a person you can speak with and listen to.
Wisdom is not a how-to list.
Wisdom is the person, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, remember who wisdom is.
Pray.