Turn with me if you will then to Proverbs once
again this morning 16th chapter And we'll begin
reading in verse 16 How much better is it to
get wisdom than gold, and to get understanding
rather than silver? The highway of the upright
is to depart from evil. He that keepeth his way
preserveth his soul. Pride goeth before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better is
it to be of an humble spirit with the lowly.
than to divide the spoil with the proud. He that
handleeth the matter wisely shall find good,
and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.
The wise in heart shall be called prudent, and
the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.
Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him
that hath it. But the instruction of fools is
followed We'll stop there So again we find in
the Proverbs a Hardy recommendation of the Christian
life Get wisdom get understanding get knowledge
Get on the highway I Just want to read this one
verse here Corinthians first chapter you don't
have to turn but it's a description of the work
of Christ and who he works in and how he doesn't
work in the wise and the mighty but but the base
and the insignificant people are the ones that
he calls and then in verse And he says in verse
29 that this is so that no flesh should glory
in his presence. But of God are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. That, according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. So you can see, and we've been saying
here, that Christ is obviously the prerequisite
in all these instructions that Proverbs give
us. He is all that we need. There used to be
a chorus like, Jesus Christ is all I need. All
I need. And that's definitely true. But what
we sometimes find is that We use that as an excuse.
We say, Jesus Christ is all I need, I've got
it. However we want to rationalize our walk with
the Lord, that's what we do. I hesitate to say,
but many times I've found it to be true, we make
excuses for ourselves. We know what we should
be doing, but we don't. I mean, it's true in
my life. So, you know, I am kind of assuming,
I suppose, that it's true in all of our lives.
But as I've said before, and other people as
well, we have to deal honestly with ourselves.
We have to be able to ask questions of ourselves.
Do I really believe this verse that I'm hearing
or reading? Am I really going to put this into
practice? What will I have to do in order to
put this into practice? Do we talk to ourselves?
Do we question ourselves? That's how you apply
the Word. That's how you get understanding. That's
how you get wisdom. Yeah, I know. It comes from
the Lord. These are not contradictory. The Lord
has given us minds to reason. He expects us to
use them. And He does meet us when we do use
them. It's not a simple self -effort. That would
be vain for us to think that we could, of ourselves,
accomplish a successful Christian life. That's
impossible. But when we have Christ, who is our
wisdom, who is our righteousness, and we apply
our minds to understand His Word, therein we
find Christ. There are we to be successful. And
really only there. You can slouch through the
Christian life. You can. And we do at times.
All of us do. And we miss the blessing. That's
all. I'm not proclaiming that you can lose your
salvation, but I am proclaiming that you are
missing out on the great value, the great privilege
of knowing and experiencing God. The more that
you slouch through, the more that you miss. You
miss the opportunity to grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is
exactly what we're commanded to do. in the scriptures.
You miss out on the opportunity of serving others,
of loving our neighbors, loving our brothers
and sisters. It's like Jake said, Jesus Christ
willingly sacrificed himself. And if you ever
get a hold of that completely, let me know. But
just in the very little bit of it. Christ is
our what? Our example. Can we follow that example
at all? Have we followed that example? Have I
willingly laid down my life in any area for the
good of somebody else? Or am I so focused on
myself that that's all I can see? It's a legitimate
question. It's one that we need to ask. probably
more frequently than we do. Many times, I mean,
you know, we get cross. We don't get our way.
We pout. We get mad. Giving up ourselves for
our husbands, for our wives, for our kids, for
our brothers and sisters. We willingly do that.
That therein is love. Well we've got these few
verses here this morning and it's just really
one admonition and after the other and it's just
beautiful the way the scriptures do these things.
In the New Covenant and the Proverbs may be one
of the closest to the New Covenant in the Old
Testament but It never comes with a hammer Never
comes with it with a sledgehammer or anything
to beat us or a whip It always comes with a carrot
It always comes with a reward It always comes
with this This is obvious folks. This is that's
what that's what the what's solemnness. This
is so obvious How can you miss this? Don't you
want this? Don't you want to be like this? Don't
you want to experience these things? Here's what
you do. And he starts off with the very basic
question for us in verse 16. How much better
is it to get wisdom than gold and to have understanding
rather than silver? Is this true for us? Do we
believe that? Do we believe that these are the
greatest things that we can possess in this life?
That's what he's telling us. It's better than
anything that you can buy with gold and silver.
And you can buy anything you want if you've got
enough gold and silver. It's just incomprehensible.
That we would spend more time trying to acquire
gold and silver Rather than what then wisdom?
Understanding There's no reason for it it's um,
it's in you can't You can't explain it to me.
You can't explain it to yourself And on top of
it all, you all know that this is what God has
promised that you would attain when you seek
it. When you seek after God, you will be granted
wisdom and understanding. He will beat that need.
He's told us to pray for it. He's told us to
find it in His Word. It's not like you've got
to wonder, am I going to spend all this time
and just waste it? No, you already know it's
a sure thing When you seek after God you find
him he doesn't hide He's always right there He's
always waiting to hear from you. He's always
waiting for you to draw near to him What's the
proud draw near to you? You lack wisdom ask You
know, in the Bible, the advantages of money are
not denied. There's great advantages to having
money. So, how much greater is wisdom and understanding?
How much greater is a full -orbed relationship
with God through Jesus Christ than gold and silver
or money? in verse 18 or 17 sorry the highway
of the upright is to depart from evil he that
keepeth his way preserveeth his soul what's more
important to us than our soul what's more important
what do we want to preserve says god tells us
not to fear those kill the body only. They can't
hurt us. You got to fear the one who killed the
soul. You got to fear God. Every one of us needs
to apply ourselves through the preserving of
our soul. You say God's going to preserve you.
Again, it's not a contradiction. How does God
preserve? preserves by when we persevere. That's
how he preserves. Now, the highway of the upright.
We are on a highway, right? We all know that.
We're on the highway. I love that description
of a road. The highway. In St. Louis, there's
the King's Highway. It's the name of the street.
I'd like to live on the King's Highway. That'd
be great, wouldn't it? So that's what it is,
right? That's where we're at. That's what we're
walking through. That's what we're going on.
And when we're on that highway, we depart from
evil. Do you know what evil is? Oh, I know what
evil is. That's when somebody comes up from behind
you and stabs you in the back. or shoots you
or does some despicable thing to you robs you
breaks into your evil evil evil there's evil
all over the world yeah there definitely is there's
no doubt about it is that what we should be thinking
about and considering we that's not that's not
it is it we may have an encounter with something
like that maybe But how are we encountering evil
day by day? What do you think of evil? If you
come across evil, what are you supposed to do?
You're supposed to get away from it, right? You're
not supposed to be anywhere around where evil
exists. Well, what is evil? Well, sorry to say,
but evil is anything that is in opposition to
God. That's a simple basic definition. That's
evil. Somebody that is set up in his departure
from God, his refusal to hear God, his refusal
to honestly deal with God, that's evil. So again,
you've got to ask yourselves, you've got to ask
questions. Is there something, is there evil
in my life? Am I still associating with evil?
I'm on the king's highway. How can I associate
with evil? Do I have a real relationship with
an evil person? How's that? That might be a good
thing if you're constantly sharing the gospel
and telling them about Jesus Christ. That might
be a wonderful thing. But it's not a wonderful
thing just to sit there like he's just a he's
one with you And you never say a thing about
the Lord with Jesus Christ You'd never been never
trying to point out his sin or her sin You're
just having a good old time Well, that's that's
what you're supposed to depart from So that's
that's it's a personal We can't depart from Iran
or Trump. We shouldn't be any way influenced
by those people. But we can depart in a very
real way from our personal relationships with
evil. That's what the Bible is calling us to
do. And that's how we're going to preserve our
soul. Bad company corrupts good manners. That's
true, isn't it? You believe that. Eventually
it's going to get to you. Eventually it's going
to knock off some of that sharp edge that you
used to have for the gospel. I mean, we see that
all the time, don't we? We see it in this whole...
homosexual thing people this this was a dividing
point for ever now all of a sudden it's it's
all trying to mesh together they're trying to
tell us it's all okay what happened well they
just associated with evil they let it affect
the way they thought 18 and 19 pride goeth before
destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall
Better is it to be of a humble spirit with the
lowly then to divide the spoil with the proud
So there we have it What's the mark of a Christian
what's one of the basic marks of a Christian
that we always talk about humility, right? There's
no such thing as a proud Christian. There's no
such thing as somebody that's all conceited and
self -centered and prideful. That's not Christianity.
That's not what the Spirit works within us. Now
we might fall into those sins temporarily, but
when we do, God is not going to leave us in those
sins. And that will lead to a fall. All of that
pride. Again, giving an example of pride. You
know what pride is, surely, right? You know what
pride is. Well, let me ask the question then.
If you go through a day without praying, you
do not pray. Is that prideful? Do you think that
that's pride? Yes, that's pride. That's exactly
what that is. You told God that whole day you
didn't need Him at all. You were self -sufficient.
That's pride. Is that how you think of pride?
Do you get mad when people insult you? Why do
you do that? When they say something bad about
you? Does that start to rile you up a little
bit? You resentful? That's pride. The way we
should think about that is if they really knew
me, they'd say a lot worse than that. i'm trying
to make it personal i guess that's obvious right
it doesn't do any good if we don't take it personal
the scripture has got to be personally understood
it's got to be received by us where we are that's
how we get understanding that's how we get wisdom
what would your wife or your husband say if he
went through all day and you didn't pay a bit
of attention to them you didn't listen to what
they were saying you didn't talk to them you
didn't what would that would that be something
oh well no that wouldn't be a well that'd be
a big deal right it should be but that's the
same that's the same thing we're talking about
only it's worse because it's an offense to god
and it sure Pride will surely destroy us. It's
left to itself. That's what it says. Remember
Pilgrim, the Christian, the Pilgrim's Progress?
Christian? He had a terrible time in the Valley
of Humiliation. And he went down into the valley.
He didn't like it. But Christian loved her. I
mean, Faithful loved him. Because he was already
down. He already had the right opinion of himself
He wasn't getting chopped down. He wasn't getting
worked over like Christian Because he was already
at the right place and he could peacefully walk
through the valley of humiliation And he just
enjoyed all the sights That's what we're shooting
for folks. That's what it says here Better is
it to be of a humble spirit with the lowly. Again,
watch who you associate yourself with. Somebody
that's... I had a friend, well we all knew him,
I mean he could keep you humble. He knew how
to keep you humble, he'd get right on you. And
you could do the same with him. That's a good
sword. A lot of people just got aggravated at
him or whatever, but he really was performing
a useful service if you could receive it. All
right then, verse 20. He that handleeth a matter
wisely shall find good. And whoso trustseth in
the Lord, happy is he. Those who listen to the
Lord's instruction prosper. Those who trust in
the Lord are blessed. Another alternate. Those
who listen to the instructions of the Lord prosper.
Because we trust in the Lord, we are happy. Those
are all true. Those are all wonderful sayings.
You can't go wrong, can you? You can't go wrong
with this frame of mind, with this way of thinking.
You want to prosper? You want to find good? Listen
to the Lord and do it His way. That's wisdom.
That's handling it wisely. And then when you're
going, you're trusting. As you're putting into
practice living the way that the Lord has instructed
us to live, you're trusting the Lord to make
it all good, to grow me up, to prosper me, to
make me more like Christ than I was the day before,
however it applies, whatever it is. We're trusting
the Lord and He's going to be, you're going to
be happy because He's going to bless you. Listen
and luxuriate, that's what I wrote. Listen and
luxuriate. Luxuriate. That's what we're talking
about. This abundant life, this great wonderful
relationship with Jesus Christ. It's a luxury.
It's luxury personified when you listen to the
Lord. It's not a fool's errand. It's a luxury.
Your life is going to be happy. Believe and be
blessed. Listen and luxuriate. Believe and be
blessed. That's what the Proverbs is saying.
Do things the way the Lord decides to do it.
Do it His way. Seek Him first. Don't wait till
you get in trouble and then say, I need help
to get out of this mess that I made for myself.
He'll get you out of it alright, but you went
through a lot of stuff for nothing. Seek him
first In verse 21 then the wise in heart shall
be called prudent and the sweetness of the lips
Increases learning this is so important. This
is so much for everybody everybody That in any
way tries to teach somebody else And we all do
at some point. Some people do it a lot more than
others. But, everybody does it. The wise heart
shall be called prudent or discerning. You can
discern things. If you're wise, you have discernment.
You're prudent. A wise heart is a discerning
heart. In other words... Truth from error, right
from wrong. You can discern these things. And
you have an interest then, or perhaps you have
a responsibility, in instructing others in these
same matters. What does it say about that? Well,
it says that the sweetness of the lips increase
of learning I don't know what you have you might
have what pleasant words you might have that
in your bottles pleasant words promote instruction
sweetness kindness how we say something matters
that's what it amounts to how you use The wisdom
that you have to instruct others matters. And
the Bible's telling us here that the kindest,
most loving way of expression is the best way.
And that sometimes takes a lot of grace and a
lot of thought and a lot of restraining our flesh
to accomplish that goal. If you're trying to
teach your kids, this is important. You're going
to have to do it with pleasant words. You're
going to have to make it so they can understand
it. You're going to have to make it so that they
know that this is in their best interest. You're
not going to do it with threats. You're not going
to do it with losing your temper. You're going
to do it with kindness and loving, consistent
Discipline. Discipline is a great word. It's
what we all need. It's what we all want, or we
should anyway. We want the Lord to discipline
us. We want that instruction in our life. But
how we give it out matters. Surely you've all
had experiences with a good teacher and a bad
teacher. Preachers are... This is so important
to somebody that's going to teach the word. If
it's in a Sunday school class or up here or however
it is, wherever it is. The way we say something
is critically important to getting the point
across. I'm not saying that you don't tell the
truth, you always tell the truth. But there's
always a myriad of ways of expressing it. And
the kinder, most loving way is more likely to
be successful in what you're trying to accomplish.
That's what the Bible says. I just read it to
you. So, let's be mindful of this. Husbands,
when you try to instruct your wives. Parents
and their children. When you have to go to some
adult and try to help them and give them some
good advice. It's constant. This is applicable
throughout our lives. That we speak the truth
in love. We're going to do this 23 of it, 22.
Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him
that hath it, but the instruction of fools is
followed. The Bible always makes a big deal out
of an abundance of water, probably because it
was in desert lands, dry lands. So if you had
a well of water, you had a good thing there.
real possibility of flourishing in your life.
And so he's making this comparison of understanding
is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it.
So get understanding. Let the well spring forth.
Let it enrich your life. You can know the importance
of it just by the opposite of it. If you don't
have any water, you got big trouble. If you don't
have a well spring of water, you got problems.
If you do, you don't. It's the same with understanding.
If you can't understand a thing, you got problems.
As soon as you understand something, the problem
is over. Then you go around, you go about correcting
it, changing it, fixing it. Whatever it is, understanding
is a life -enriching thing. And it doesn't come
without application to it. It doesn't come without
work. It doesn't come without study, reading,
putting into practice that which you know, gaining
understanding. It's a wellspring of life. Conversely,
the instruction of fools is folly. So remember
that as well. I don't think we've got any fools
here. But I'm sure we all come across it in our
daily lives. People that don't know the Lord.
People that have no interest in the Lord. People
that claim to be wise but are fools. Don't be
deceived. Don't be easily tricked. It's folly.
It's empty. Their advice is worthless. Their
teaching is worthless. Anytime they contradict
the word, forget it. Don't care who he is, who
she is. Doesn't matter. Anybody that tells you
corporal punishment is unnecessary, that's not
good advice. That's in direct conflict with the
word. So you decide. So as you can see these
proverbs that we've looked at today they're extremely
practical and like they're all They all require
effort on our part. There's no doubt of that
But they all carry a wonderful reward. They all
carry a great promise They are all carrying the
blessings of God unto us This is how you have
a relationship with me the Lord says And I will
repay you abundantly. You're going to be blessed.
You're going to be happy. You're going to prosper.
Why? Because your life is going to glorify God.
And on the road to glorifying God, you're going
to be enjoying God in your life. Or you can just
go on and slip -shot through life. Every now
and then you have a little bit of an encounter
with God and you think you're satisfied with
that That's not luxury that's not luxuriated
So wallow in the luxury of the Lord like he would
have us to do be happy in him seek him Seek him
in his word seek him in prayer Seek them in your
relationships and in your evangelistic efforts.
It's a happy life. It's a blessed life. It's
a life God has for all who will. Amen.