A Parental Appeal: Embark on the Quest for Wisdom (2)
Notes
Transcript
Proverbs 2:12–22
The Results of Relationship with Wisdom
Introduction:
In April of 2023, a golfer by the name of Jon Rahm won his second major golf championship. When interviewed a week later about what his plans were after the exhausting whirlwind of interviews and appearances he had undergone, he talked about the time off he planned on taking, and he made a comment that sheds light on a vital component of human nature. "I'm beyond addicted to this game. I always say I'll take some time off and tomorrow you'll see me chipping in the afternoon."
Like all of us, Jon Rahm is on a journey. He wants to be recognized as the best golfer in the world. And like anyone on a journey, there are two parts to Jon’s trip: the destination and the journey itself. Jon’s comment makes it clear that both the destination and the journey have components to them that serve as motivating factors that drive him in his journey.
The father in Proverbs recognizes this truth. Consequently, after sharing with his son the how of obtaining wisdom, he immediately follows it up with the blessings of obtaining wisdom. He knows that there is a long and arduous journey ahead for the son, so he makes it clear to him that not only is the destination worth the journey, but there are blessings along the path that should serve as motivating factors to perseverance as well.
I. Deliverance from rationally-driven folly (Prv 2:12-15)
I. Deliverance from rationally-driven folly (Prv 2:12-15)
A. Where twisted men speak twisted words (Prv 2:12)
A. Where twisted men speak twisted words (Prv 2:12)
Explanation: Words merely disclose the thoughts that are going on in our minds and the values that we have established there. Once we have an established relationship with God and His wisdom, it becomes so much more obvious when deceivers like these men of Proverbs 2:12–15 use their twisted arguments to try to draw us into the actions justified by their upside-down worldview.
Quotation: As Jesus said in Luke 6:45, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”
Application: Satan has many followers in our world today who call themselves Christians, but they reject the clear teaching of the Scriptures and twist them for their own advantage. They justify abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, and many other evils that are contrary to God’s character and his creative design all while twisting the Scriptures to do so. Paul referred to this type of behavior in his letter to Titus.
Quotation: Titus 1:10–11, 16: “For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers…Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” Peter noted similar behavior in his second epistle, “which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.” (2 Pet 3:16–17)
B. Where twisted men reject the light to walk in darkness (Prv 2:13)
B. Where twisted men reject the light to walk in darkness (Prv 2:13)
Explanation: Eventually the thoughts we continually think and the values that we have established will come out not only in words, but in actions as well.
Application: You and I need to understand that our default setting is to have wrong thoughts and mis-directed values. It is only by the change of heart we receive through the redemptive work of Christ in our hearts that we can overcome this default setting and see our hearts become like that of our Savior. Listen to what James tells his readers.
Quotation: “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:1–4)
C. Where twisted men enjoy doing evil and advertising it (Prv 2:14)
C. Where twisted men enjoy doing evil and advertising it (Prv 2:14)
Explanation: Because their evil is fully justified in their own minds, these tempters can take great joy in their evil deeds. Some of these people achieve very influential positions and seek to promote their anti-God lifestyle and try to get it popularly accepted and even legalized.
Illustration: One example is from a report issued by the International Commission of Jurists entitled The 8 March Principles for a Human Rights-Based Approach to Criminal Law Proscribing Conduct Associated with Sex, Reproduction, Drug Use, HIV, Homelessness and Poverty. Let me quote just one paragraph from the introduction of that report that will illustrate the twisted logic and twisted actions of these people. “there has been continued use and, in some cases, a new proliferation of arbitrary criminal laws proscribing conduct associated with sex, reproduction, drug use and the possession of drugs for personal use, HIV, homelessness and poverty. These laws have led to egregious human rights violations, including by engendering and perpetuating stigma, harmful gender stereotypes and discrimination based on grounds such as sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and other protected fundamental characteristics.”
D. Where twisted thoughts lead to a twisted path (Prv 2:15)
D. Where twisted thoughts lead to a twisted path (Prv 2:15)
Quotation/Illustration: Ray Ortlund describes these tempters accurately. “They are often highly impressive, successful, formidable men. You secretly hope that they will include you in their ‘inner ring' at the office or the dorm or the recording studio. Over coffee one day in friendly conversation, the hint will come that they want you, they are welcoming you in. It will mean a little bending of the rules now and then, but cool people are never held back by that. In your insecurity you want to be included. But if you take that step, the next time you will go further away from Christ, and the next time further still. You might end up in scandal and even prison, or you might end up on top of the heap. But either way you will be a fool, with a heart that loves darkness. Here is what you need to know, so that your heart can stay on alert as you move among such men this week. 'Perverted speech' is not limited to bad words and dirty jokes. It includes even good words, but good words being used to turn things upside down. Upheaval, turning things upside down and inside out—that is the force of the Hebrew behind the word 'perverted.' Words should represent reality, they should be true to what is; but words can be used to twist reality, words can be used to flip meanings into their opposite. In politics, for example, listen for the way people use a good word like patriotism. In sociology, listen for the way people use a good word like family. In religion, listen for the way people use a good word like Jesus. Bad men use good words to smuggle in bad realities, and some people are fooled.” It is the wise who are able to discern the falsehood being spread by the twisted world around us.
Quotation: John Milton, the English poet, has an accurate description of how this type of person operates in Paradise Lost: “But all was false and hollow; though / his tongue / Dropt manna, and could make the / worse appear / The better reason.”
II. Deliverance from emotionally-driven folly (Prv 2:16-19)
II. Deliverance from emotionally-driven folly (Prv 2:16-19)
A. Where the temptress’ words are smooth (Prv 2:16)
A. Where the temptress’ words are smooth (Prv 2:16)
Explanation: The root behind the word translated in the King James Version “flattereth” carries the idea to be smooth or slippery. Someone has said that flattery isn’t communication, it is manipulation; it’s people telling us things about ourselves that we enjoy hearing and wish were true.
Application: Brothers and sisters, there are people in this world whose words appeal more to our emotions than to our minds. Their words make us feel good about ourselves, and this makes them smooth and slippery. It becomes hard for us to get a grasp on them and recognize that they are wrong, evil, and spring from ungodliness. Only the truly wise mind can get a grasp on them and recognize what you need to do when confronted by this type of situation: RUN!
Illustration: Joseph was a wise man in Genesis 39. “And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her. And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out” (Gen 39:10–12).
Argumentation: The temptation doesn’t have to be sexual sin. That is just used here in Proverbs because it is an obvious example of one way in which the tempter uses flattery, uses emotions, to shut down your rational thought processes and get you to partake in sinful activities. Whether the sin is literally sexual or not, the solution is the same. Get out! Don’t stay in the place of temptation! Get yourself surrounded by people that can help you and keep you accountable! It would be better to lose your job than to stay and give in to the temptation!
B. Where the temptress’ faithlessness is exposed (Prv 2:17)
B. Where the temptress’ faithlessness is exposed (Prv 2:17)
Explanation: What is really going on with those in our lives who would tempt us to sin using smooth, flattering words? The Sage makes it very clear that the core component of the character of this type of person is unfaithfulness to God! Just like the son in our passage, this temptress was taught the ways of God in her youth. However, she has forsaken the way of wisdom that she was taught and now wholeheartedly pursues the path of folly, using her smooth, flattering words to entice others to follow her example.
Application: My friends, this is the way of the world in which we live. Satan, the god of this world, is constantly at work to blind our minds to the glory and beauty of God (2 Cor 4:4). As the one who wanted to sit in place of God, it is only natural that he wants to usurp the worship of God’s creatures to bring glory to himself rather than to God. He uses flatterers as his instruments to tell us lies so that we follow the way of folly rather than the way of wisdom. Our only protection from this is to know God so intimately that we can recognize the deceitful nature of these emotionally targeted flatteries, which, in reality, are nothing more than lies.
Quotation: As Jesus made clear in John 8:44, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
C. Where the temptress’ destination is revealed (Prv 2:18)
C. Where the temptress’ destination is revealed (Prv 2:18)
Explanation: The kind of people we are being warned against through the illustration of the “strange woman” are people that are part of a distinct group mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 7:13, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” To follow the path of these fellow travelers is to follow them to the cemetery. They will lead you to physical death and to eternal separation from God.
D. Where the temptress’ impact is destructive (Prv 2:19)
D. Where the temptress’ impact is destructive (Prv 2:19)
Quotation/Argumentation: As Hubbard and Ogilvie write in their commentary on Proverbs, “Folly is nothing less than pagan living, foreign to God’s people and fraught with the threat of physical and spiritual ‘death’ (v. 18). The mention of death and ‘the dead’ (v. 18) may suggest some connection between dame folly and the mythology of the Canaanites, for whom death was a deity that had to be conquered every spring to ensure the fertility of crop and flock and the dead were...spirits that hobnobbed with death. In other words, folly may have been not merely the absence of Israel’s covenant ideals but also the blatant presence of Canaan’s pagan practices. Hosea, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel each tarred Israel’s drift into Canaanite religious practices as expressions of spiritual adultery; in their parlance Israel was the woman and Baal or other foreign deities the seductive man. Whether literally or figuratively, dallying with the loose woman meant a descent to an underworld in which ‘death’ not ‘life’ was ruler (v. 19) and from which ‘return’ was impossible.”
III. Blessings of obedience (Prv 2:20-22)
III. Blessings of obedience (Prv 2:20-22)
A. The blessing of righteous companions (Prv 2:20)
A. The blessing of righteous companions (Prv 2:20)
Explanation: The father now highlights the positive benefit of wisdom. Since the father has said that wisdom will “preserve” the son by delivering him from keeping company with those whose thinking is upside down or twisted (v 12) and those whose words are smooth and falsely flattering (v 16), there must be something that he has been delivered to, not just from. The way of wisdom will keep the son in company with good and righteous men. This only makes sense when we consider the influence that companions have on us.
Quotation: The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor 15:33). Or, as it would be translated in more modern English, “Do not be deceived: Bad company ruins good morals.”
Application: My friends, if you would be holy, keep yourselves in the company of the holy. If you would be righteous, keep yourselves in the company of the righteous. If you would be wise, keep yourselves in the company of those in close fellowship with God.
Illustration: I work daily in an environment where it is common to take the Lord’s name in vain and use vulgar language when one becomes frustrated or upset. Because of that, I find that those same words come to mind when I am in a stressful situation at work, and it takes self-control enabled by the Holy Spirit to avoid using those same words to express my frustration. How much easier a time would I have if I were surrounded by computer programmers who, confronted by a problem, said “let’s stop and pray for a moment and ask the Lord to guide us in solving this problem” rather than cursing? I think you see the point of the blessing of righteous companions.
B. The blessing of a promised land (Prv 2:21)
B. The blessing of a promised land (Prv 2:21)
Explanation: There seems to be one thing the Israelites failed to recognize, and we fail to recognize it as well when considering the blessings of the promised land: it was only a blessing to them when the presence of the Lord was with them. Consider Moses’ exchange with God in Exodus 33:14–15. “And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.”
Application: Today we can always live with the presence of God in our lives, regardless of our physical residence. Jesus said, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever” and “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:16, 26).
C. The blessing of a holy land (Prv 2:22)
C. The blessing of a holy land (Prv 2:22)
Explanation: The Sage’s words here remind me of Psalm 1: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
Conclusion:
So far, Proverbs has laid out before us a clear contrast between the choice of paths that we have in this life: the path of wisdom or the path of folly. In further contrast, Proverbs makes it clear that the path of wisdom is the path of life. The path of folly is the path of death and destruction. To fear the Lord is to seek wisdom. To trust in one’s own wisdom is to forsake the Lord.
Today, I wonder what your choice will be. Will you choose to accept reality and see things as the Lord presents them? Will you surrender to the only truth there is: His truth? Or will you be satisfied to follow your own path, guided by your own feelings and seeking what you think will meet your needs as you see them?
These are the only two choices in life. You can submit to God and experience life as it was meant to be, or you can choose your own path and follow it on to your hurt and ultimate destruction. My prayer is that you will choose the path of wisdom: God’s path.