We're going to be in Proverbs chapter 3 again.
We've been kind of bouncing around in Proverbs
3 for the last couple of months. Proverbs 3,
that's kind of toward the middle part of your
Bible. Proverbs 3. We're going to start in verse
13. We read this verse a couple of weeks ago.
We're just going to kind of revisit it and read
on through the next few verses. While y 'all
are turning to that, one thing I forgot to mention
yesterday about the church picnic was we need
to make sure to give a special thanks to Peyton
Rhodes. She's the one that's headed all that
up for us yesterday. So y 'all make sure to thank
her on your way out if you had a good time. And
even if you didn't have a good time, still thank
her because she still did all the work. So thank
you for doing all that for us and getting that
set up. All right, Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs
chapter 3, we looked at verses 13, 14, and 15
a couple of weeks ago, and we talked about what
it means to be happy, and part of happiness comes
from wisdom, as we see in those verses. But then
we trailed off and we looked at some other scriptures
that talk about happy, things that make us happy,
and what the world says makes us happy looks
a little different than what scripture says will.
bring happiness to our life. And so we're just
going to continue on, not so much on the happiness
side of it today, but talking a little more about
wisdom. Not too much, but just a little bit.
I was visiting one of our church members a few
weeks ago, and conveniently they handed me a
newspaper article and said, I thought you might
like to read this article. And the article happened
to be about how good it is when preachers preach
short sermons. How convenient that they gave
me that article to read. So maybe we'll have
a short one today, but I won't make any promises.
But let's pray, and then we'll dig into the Word.
Dear Lord, we come to you. We thank you for being
good to us. I thank you for all the smiling faces
that are here. I thank you for loving us. I thank
you that we just have the freedom and the privilege
to come and to worship. And I thank you for all
these beautiful people today. I pray that you
bless them, dear Lord. Whatever we come in here
with, God, maybe we come in here and things are
going good and we're happy today. Or maybe for
some we come in and we're tired or we're stressed
or we're sick or whatever it may be, dear Lord.
Whatever's going on, we're here today and we
want to encounter you and grow in you. And I
pray that something in these words that we read,
God, these are your words. And that's where the
strength's going to come from today. So I pray
that you would take away any pride or fear that's
within me that you just... Would allow your Holy
Spirit to speak to us today and help us to seek
wisdom and to live in wisdom and the peace that
comes with that, God. And if there's foolishness
in our life today, I pray that you help us to
see that and repent of that and seek to live
according to your word and your will. And I ask
these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Proverbs chapter
3, verse 13. Happy is a man who finds wisdom
and who acquires understanding. For she is more
profitable than silver, and her revenue is better
than gold. She is more precious than jewels.
Nothing you desire compares with her. Now according
to the proverb here, wisdom is something that
is to be treasured among us. We should treasure
wisdom above all things. It's more valuable than
even some of the most valuable things that we
have in this world, in gold or silver or jewelry
or whatever it may be, or cars or homes or boats
or you name it, whatever it may be. Proverbs
tells us something very important here, and that
is that we need to treasure wisdom in our life.
The question you have to answer today is, It's
how much do you value wisdom? Maybe you value
wisdom a lot. If we value wisdom a lot, then
it's going to be evident in the choices that
we make. That's going to guide us to make wiser
choices. If you don't value wisdom, then you're
just going to continue making a lot of foolish
choices. Now, it won't take us but a moment to
sit and pause and look at our life. And you don't
even have to go back very far. You don't have
to go back to when you were a kid. Just look
back at the last week of your life and ask yourself,
how many wise decisions did I make and how many
foolish decisions did I make? How many times
did I know that what I was about to do or what
I was about to say or what I was thinking is
foolishness and yet I continued down that path?
Well, when we do that, then... It's pretty obvious
that maybe we don't value wisdom in the way we
should, but the proverb here says that we need
to really value wisdom and recognize its importance
and its significance in our life. Continuing
on, verse 16. Long life is in her right hand,
in her left, riches and honor. Now, we often
see proverbs make statements, and they're kind
of a broad generalization. They're not absolute
statements, that if you live a wise life, that
you'll live a long time and you'll be rich, that
everybody who always makes wise decisions or
more wise decisions or not will always live long
and will always prosper. Generally speaking,
that's true. That may not always be the case,
but more times than not, When we make the wise
decisions in our life, we will see the benefits
of that. If you go out doing a bunch of foolish
stuff and climbing up mountains without any safety
gear and all kinds of other dangerous things
that some would consider foolish, then it's no
real shock when someone dies young. But when
we make wise decisions in the way that we eat,
in the way that we exercise, If we don't take
care of our body and we live foolishly and we
put foolish things into our body and don't exercise,
then it's no real shock that our health begins
to decline or perhaps that we die young. But
if we're wise with what we eat and how we live
and how we exercise, then there's benefit to
that wisdom. And I think that's what the proverb
tells us is that there's benefit to wisdom. That
if we're wise with our finances, if we're wise
with how hard we work and how much we put into
the things we do, that there's going to be some
benefit to that. There's going to be far more
benefit to working hard and taking what you have
and maybe saving some of it or investing it wisely
in some way, shape, or form. I'm not necessarily
talking about the stock market, just in the things
that you buy and the things that you do with
your money. If you do wise things with your money,
then you're probably going to see some benefit
from that. If you work hard and you take what
you have and you plant a garden and you grow
those crops and you tend those crops and you
stick some away so that you have food to eat
in hard times, that's a wise thing to do. If
you take all the money that you make and all
the wealth that you have and you fly out to Vegas
for the weekend and put it all on black, that's
a foolish thing to do. And so the choices that
we make with what we have are going to impact
our life. Our wise choices are going to, more
times than not, work out for our good. Our foolish
times, more times than not, are going to work
out for our bad. Now you're going to tell me,
well, I know somebody that went and put it all
on black and they won $10 million. Well, that's
great. But do you know how many billions of people
that have done that and lost their house and
everything that they own? Because that's foolishness.
So sometimes bad things happen to the wise, and
sometimes good things happen to the foolish.
But more times than not, as the proverb would
tell us, that there's blessing that comes from
the wise choices. There's blessing that comes
in our life and how we live, both physically
and materialistically, and how we're taken care
of when we make wiser choices. Continuing on,
verse 17. Her ways are pleasant. and all her
path is peaceful. She is a tree of life to those
who embrace her, and those who hold on to her
are happy. Now listen to those words. These are
the things that accompany wisdom. Now you may
have a few different words in your translations,
but we get the idea. Listen to what it says here.
Pleasant, peaceful, brings life, brings happiness.
Well, that sounds pretty good. Does anybody in
there want their life to be less pleasant, less
peaceful, a life that's shortened, and a life
that's unhappy? Does anybody want that? If you
do, don't raise your hand. Please don't raise
your hand. Just talk to me after church. I don't
think anybody wants that. We all want a life
that is peaceful. We all want a life that's pleasant.
We all want a life that brings happiness. We
want to be full of life. You ever seen somebody
before and they're just so full of life and it
just makes you mad because you're like, man,
they're always just so happy. They must not have
to go through what I have to go through. I got
all this stress, this, that, and the other. We
just feel angry and tense sometimes and we see
people that are happy and sometimes we just get
aggravated. Maybe they're full of life because
maybe they're living in wisdom. Maybe we don't
have the peace in our life and our life's not
as pleasant. And we're not as full of life and
we're not as happy in our life because we're
making foolish choices. Now, I can tell you this
from my experience, and some of you know from
your experience, but, man, you feel bad when
you make foolish choices. There's no peace in
that. There's no joy in that. There's nothing
good about that. Even when on the surface things
may look good, you may make a foolish decision,
and it may seem good, but it leaves you feeling
bad. On the inside. And the same is true even
though it may be opposite for wisdom. Sometimes
you make the wise choice and it may even come
with some bad consequences or may even not look
good. It may even make life harder for you when
you make the wise choice. But there's something
about that wisdom that brings about a peace in
you. And that's a beautiful thing. That's a beautiful
thing when we seek wisdom and live by it. Are
we doing that in our life? If you want your life
to be pleasant and peaceful, if you want to be
full of life and you want to find happiness,
well, the proverb says that comes through wisdom.
Let's continue on a little further. Verse 19.
The Lord founded the earth by wisdom and established
the heavens by understanding. By his knowledge,
the watery depths broke open, and the crowds
dripped with dew. Isn't that a beautiful thing
just to kind of throw in here? If I were to say
what did God create the earth by or what was
it established by, you might say by strength
and by power and by might. But what does the
Proverbs say here? It says the earth was founded
by wisdom, the heavens by understanding. God
created our earth and the heavens. By wisdom
and understanding. By his knowledge he brought
these things about. That shows us the power of
wisdom and understanding. Is that there's enough
power that this is what God used to establish
the very earth that we live on. The very heaven
that he resides in. God established those things
by wisdom and understanding. There's great wisdom
and understanding. Great power and wisdom and
understanding for you and I. Are we tapping into
that power? There's great peace and wisdom and
understanding. Are we those who are making wise
decisions? Are we those who are making foolish
decisions? I can tell you there's not much power
in foolishness. There's a lot of pain in it.
And a lot of us have felt that pain. There's
a lot of power in wisdom. Verse 21. Maintain
your competence and discretion. My son, don't
lose sight of them. They will be life for you
and adornment for your neck. Competence, discretion,
common sense, some of your translations may say.
Sound judgment. Are we doing that with the decisions
that we make? Are we making sound decisions?
Are we using common sense? Do we have discretion
in our decisions that we make? It's a good question
for us to ask. Sometimes we don't use sound judgment.
Sometimes we don't use common sense. Sometimes
we just are a fool doing foolish things and that's
not good. Sometimes in life we spend days, weeks,
months, years of our life just being a fool doing
foolish things. And where does that get us? If
you keep doing foolish things and you keep getting
the same results and you say I want different
results then you have to quit doing foolish things.
Now the foolish things sometimes seem really
fun. They look really good. They really draw
us in. But we want better results in our life,
and we have to realize that better results are
not going to come through foolishness. They're
going to come through wisdom. They're going to
come through the wisdom of Jesus Christ. They're
going to come through the wisdom of God's Word.
And you might be amazed that if all of a sudden
you stop and think about the decision you're
about to make, And if there's something in you
that says, maybe this isn't a good idea, maybe
just taking 30 seconds to pause and ask yourself,
is this a good idea? You might save yourself
a lot of pain. Because in the moment you give
in to the idea and it may feel good, but man,
you've got to live with that. You've got to live
with that. There's no peace in that. But wisdom
may be saying no to something you want to say
yes to, but I'll tell you what, you'll leave
feeling a whole lot better making the wise choice
than the foolish choice. And too many times for
all of us, Lord knows I've done it way more times
than I care to admit, I've made the foolish decision.
But I can tell you there's no peace that comes
with that. There's a lot of peace and happiness
that comes from making the wise choice. Verse
23. Then you will go safely on your way. Your
foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you
will not be afraid. You will lie down and your
sleep will be pleasant. Isn't that a beautiful,
beautiful thing? That when we seek wisdom, when
we really seek wisdom and understanding. then
that's going to lead us on paths that are going
to be smooth. We won't fear wherever our path
takes us, smooth or rough. We're not going to
fear what comes before us. And when we lie down
and sleep, our sleep will be pleasant. Now I'm
going to tell you what, there is nothing worse
than a bad night's sleep. When you toss and you
turn and your sleep is unpleasant, that is not
good. But there is nothing better than a... that
a good night's sleep where you sleep is pleasant.
You wake up, you feel rested. That's a good feeling.
Proverbs says that that comes from wisdom. Maybe
the reason why we're not sleeping good at night
is because we're living too much in our foolishness.
We're trusting too much in ourselves and what
we desire. We might find that our choices that
we make that are based on wisdom may have some
tangible physical effect on how we sleep at night.
How we sleep at night may have an effect on how
we live the next day. Some of you are saying,
man, I haven't had a good night's sleep in years.
I love a good night's sleep. Well, maybe some
of the reason why we don't sleep good is because
of our foolishness. Maybe when we stop our foolishness,
we start making wise decisions. It brings about
a peace within us, a peace that follows us right
to our head laying on that pillow. It's a lot
easier to lay in bed at night with your head
on a pillow, knowing that you did everything
you could to make the right decisions and to
treat people right and to make wise decisions,
and you can feel good about that. And that leads
to a good night's sleep, Proverbs says. You'll
sleep peacefully. You'll sleep, and it will be
pleasant. Verse 25. Don't fear sudden danger
or the ruin of the wicked when it comes. For
the Lord will be your confidence and will keep
your foot from a snare. All right, so we have
stuff that we're up against that's scary sometimes.
But what does the Proverbs say? It says, look,
you don't have to fear that. You won't fear that
if the Lord's your confidence. And if you're
living in wisdom and understanding and you're
seeking God, then the things that come before
you... You won't fear those things. You won't
cave. You won't crumble under the weight of those
things because the Lord is your confidence. So
what about us today? Is the Lord our confidence?
Sometimes we trust in our own strength and our
own ability. And when we do that, guess what?
When the dangers come, when the hard time comes,
we do crumble. Because we can't bear the weight
of all of our struggle and all of our pain and
all of our sickness and all of our sin and all
of the junk that goes on in our family and that
goes on in our school and that goes on at our
job. We can't even begin to bear the burden of
that. We just, we crumble. And when we're not
living in wisdom and we're not seeking God and
we're not relying on His understanding, then
man, it's hard to make it through a day. But
when we begin to seek wisdom and we begin to
seek the understanding of God, it brings about
a confidence in us. God becomes our confidence.
We begin to think, you know what? I serve a God
who is powerful, who is mighty, who is with me,
and he doesn't promise me that everything is
always going to be easy, but he promises that
he'll always be with me through everything that
I do. And once we begin to seek God and we begin
to seek his wisdom and we begin to live in that
and begin to experience that peace that it brings
and we begin to experience the power of wisdom
and the freedom that comes through making the
right decisions that we can finish our day and
lay our head on the pillow and say, God, I can
sleep peacefully tonight because I know I did
everything I could today to try to live according
to your will. and to try to follow what you say
and to try to make wise decisions and to try
to do right by you and to try to do right by
others. And the more we live in that wisdom,
the more we experience that peace, the more we
see the power of God, the more that our confidence
is not in the things of the world, it's not in
our own power. If your confidence is in the things
of the world, then you will never sleep peacefully
at night. If your confidence is in how much money
you got in the stock market, bless your heart,
you're in big trouble. Man, you'll drive yourself
crazy watching that little graph go up and down
every day. If your confidence is based on something
of the world, if your confidence is based in
your job, if your confidence is based in your
popularity, then your confidence will fall and
you will be shattered. Because when hard times
hit, man, where's your strength? But if our confidence
is in God, That no matter what comes before us,
we'll have the ability through God's power and
through God's wisdom to overcome what's before
us. So what about you today? What kind of decisions
are you making? Are you making wise decisions
or foolish decisions? We have decisions before
us every day. Some of them real serious, maybe
some of them less significant, but we have decisions
every day as to whether or not we're going to
do the wise thing or the foolish thing. I remember
when I was a teenager, it was me and one of my
buddies. We were going to race to my house one
day, and so we raced all the way seven miles
up the road we lived up as fast as we could go,
which thankfully our trucks weren't that fast,
but we had them pegged out. I tried my best to
pass him all the way up there and never could
pass him, but I decided that I didn't want to
get to the house last, and so the right thing
to do would be Something he wouldn't expect.
That when he slowed down to turn into my driveway,
I would just cut the corner of the driveway and
pull in in front of him. That seemed like a good
thing to do at the time. But the result was that
instead of passing him, I slid right into the
side of his truck and T -boned him. Now that
was foolishness. That was foolishness. I should
have knew better than that. And it ended up costing
me, thankfully, just $600. But there's a cost
to our foolishness. There's foolish opportunities
before us every day. Are we going to do the foolish
thing or are we going to do the wise thing? In
that split second, we have to make that decision
of what we're going to do. We have to say, God,
what do you desire for me to do? Is this good
for me? It's not. Is this just what I want to
do, God, or is this what you want me to do? God,
if I do what I want to do, I'm going to get what
I want to get, and it's going to make me happy
for a moment. And God, I know that's foolishness.
And I know that if I do the wise thing, it may
mean that I keep my mouth shut. It may mean that
I don't get this thing that I want. It may mean
a million different things. But God, I want to
do what's wise. I don't want to do what's foolish.
Foolishness feels good in the moment, but the
wisdom will feel good for eternity. Now the scripture
says that wisdom is Jesus Christ. Now to the
world that looks like foolishness. But we can't
even begin to seek wisdom today if we don't seek
Jesus Christ. You can't seek wisdom today if
you don't seek the cross of Jesus Christ crucified
and resurrected. That's a message that's not
popular in our world today. It's a message that
a lot of people will say, that's foolishness.
It's foolishness, they'll say. Now this is the
same world that will tell you a whole bunch of
other junk. They'll tell you that men can be
women and women can be men. But then they'll
turn around and tell you that the cross of Jesus
Christ is foolishness. You tell me what's wisdom
and what's foolishness. We know what's wise and
what's foolish. Even the youngest of us have
had those decisions to make and have made those
foolish decisions and have made wise decisions.
We know the pain of the foolishness. We know
the peace of the wisdom. Wisdom comes through
Jesus Christ that we would seek Him. That we
would say, okay, I'm going to stop my sinfulness,
God. I'm going to repent. I no longer desire
to sin. Yeah, those days will come that maybe
we will fail. But our heart doesn't need to be
a heart that's focused on foolishness and sinfulness.
And we need to seek Jesus Christ that our sins
would be forgiven. That if we would just repent
today, He would forgive us. That's wisdom. And
once we're established in that wisdom, then that
will be what guides us as we continue to read
the Word of God, as we continue to seek God,
as the Holy Spirit begins to work in our life.
That comes through the wisdom of the cross of
Jesus Christ. Have you experienced that wisdom
today? I hope you have. If you've experienced
that wisdom today, then we need to make wise
decisions. If you hadn't experienced that wisdom
today, I pray that you'd seek the wisdom of Jesus
Christ this morning. Let's pray. God, we come
to you. We thank you for your good word. Dear
Lord, I pray that you would help us to seek you,
that you would help us to not live in our foolishness.
God, there's probably more foolishness in our
life than we care to admit. We've probably done
and said things that we regret and we're not
proud of. But God, I pray that you would just
forgive us of those things that we've come to
you today, that whatever foolishness we have,
we would repent. I pray, dear Lord, that you
would just help us to seek wisdom instead, that
we wouldn't live according to those things, but
we'd live according to your will, that we would
live according to the wisdom of Jesus Christ,
crucified and resurrected. So, God, I pray that
you just would help anybody today that's struggling
with their foolishness, that they would repent,
that they would find what is pleasant, dear Lord,
and that comes from wisdom, that they would find
peace and be full of life and be full of happiness,
dear Lord. They would know that wisdom brings
that and that they would seek that this morning.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.