Wisdom and Prudence

Introduction: The Overflow of Grace in Wisdom and Prudence

0:02 grace, he then takes off in another amplification of this salvation. And he says that grace, which is the measure of forgiveness, is the grace which has overflowed to us in all wisdom and prudence. Grace which overflowing in wisdom and prudence has made known to us the mystery of the will of God. And as you study through these next few verses, though there is much in them that fits the description of Peter's assessment of some of Paul's words, 2 Peter 3.16, you remember where he says, our beloved brother Paul has written many things, some of which are hard to be understood, well, difficult to grasp. But though there may be difficulty in understanding some of these things, there is much in them that fits the description of Peter's assessment of some of Paul's words. And as you study through some of the details of these words, summing up in Christ all things, made a heritage, mystery of his will, that may sound just like so much accumulation of words to you. If you

1:11 can back off and catch the overriding thrust of this section of the hymn of praise, I believe you'll be well on your way to getting some understanding of the details. And what is the focal point of this part of Paul's praise? May I state it simply this way? He not only praises God for the abundance of grace that provides redemption through the blood of Christ, but he now praises God for that grace which has overflowed to impart wisdom through Christ. There is not only redemption through the blood of Christ according to the blood of Christ, but there is also redemption through the blood of Christ according to the riches of his grace. But that same grace has overflowed to impart wisdom in Christ. And when you catch that dominant note, you see then the beautiful progression that is already occurring in the hymn. What is our salvation? Well, it is a

2:21 salvation which has as its focal point of blessing that which is given to us in Christ. Well, where did it begin? Well, it begins in the purpose of God, verses 4 and 5. God purposed in election and foreordination this great salvation. Well, how does it come to us? It is purchased by Christ, verse 6, in whom we have redemption through his blood. But here is a problem. A salvation purposed by the Father and purchased by the Son is a salvation of no use to us. Until it actually comes to us, is made known to us. And so the same grace that purposed

3:08 it, the same grace that purchased it, is now the grace that what? Reveals it and makes it known. And that is the progression in the apostles' thought. And what may seem to be a mere jumble of words is a carefully thought out development of biblical truth. Our salvation rooted in grace, coming to us in Christ, is a purposed salvation, a purposed salvation and a revealed salvation. So we see then the connection of this passage with what precedes. And then we see how this passage, particularly verse 8, opens up what is going to follow. What do we have in verses 9, 10, and 11?

3:59 We simply have an amplification of the wisdom revealed in Jesus Christ. Up till now, Paul says, it was a mystery. It was hidden. Why has he revealed it now? It was his good pleasure.

4:15 And when is it revealed? In this dispensation, this age, this gospel age. And what is its ultimate purpose? To sum up all things in Christ. And everything that follows is simply an amplification of the gospel age. And what is its ultimate purpose? To sum up all things in Christ. And everything that follows is simply an amplification of the gospel age.

4:29 This is called the statement of verse 8, Grace has abounded to us in the impartation of wisdom and of knowledge. So much then for this broad overview of this section. And after spending a number of hours just reading and rereading and studying and trying to feel the weight of it. I've just given you in seven minutes the fruit of many hours of meditation and I hope I have been true to the mind of the Spirit of God in the passage.

Defining Wisdom and Prudence

4:58 Well then, let us address ourselves to verse 8, particularly this morning. And the first thing we must do is understand the meaning of the words in verse 8. According to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence.

5:21 Verse 8 is a modifier of that grace of which He spoke in verse 7. Forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound to us in wisdom. Now, what is wisdom? What is wisdom?

5:38 Well, in the biblical sense, wisdom is knowledge plus perception. One author has said, and I found this most helpful, the wisdom of verse 8 is penetrating insight into divine realities.

5:57 Penetrating insight. Into divine realities. God is a reality. Christ is a reality.

6:05 Sin is a reality. Heaven is a reality. Hell is a reality. Forgiveness is a reality.

6:11 How forgiveness comes to us. How we are made partakers of grace. These are heavenly, divine realities.

6:20 And what is it that a man has when he has insight into those realities? He has wisdom. A wisdom that is. The result of the overflow of grace.

6:32 Things he could never know apart from grace. Man by his natural faculties cannot penetrate these realities. They must be revealed. And when they are revealed, they are revealed as the wisdom of God.

6:47 Well, what about the word prudence? Well, the word prudence means basically discernment. Or the practical ability to apply the insights of wisdom to the reality. To the realities of life.

7:01 It's one thing to see divine realities. It's another thing to see how those divine realities fit my human circumstances in all their reality. And Paul says grace has overflowed to give us both. Penetrating insight into divine realities and then prudence, the ability to see the relationship of those realities to my own circumstances.

7:28 It's one thing to have. It's one thing to have penetrating insight into who God is. It's another thing to know how I may personally know him here and now. It's one thing to have penetrating insight into the way of forgiveness.

7:43 It's another thing to know how that way suits me and how I may walk it by grace. And so the apostle says the grace of God, which is richness of grace, that great storehouse of grace. Has spilled over. And when it spilled over, it imparted wisdom and prudence.

8:07 But then notice he uses another word, which he hath made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Now this refers, of course, primarily to saving wisdom, as we shall see in our further development of these thoughts in these verses. It's not primarily concerned with the whole feeling, not primarily concerned with the whole feeling, but it's not only concerned with the whole feeling. It's concerned with the whole feeling of grace.

8:33 Grace is the key to any field of human wisdom. But there's a sense in which only grace can open the key to any field of true wisdom, for the simple reason, and I quote now Colossians 2,3, that in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge. There is no field of true wisdom to which Christ is not the key, and grace, the hand that opens the door into wisdom. wisdom. If all the treasures are stored up in Christ, unless you get into Him, you can't explore those treasures. And so there's a very real sense in which a man does not know anything in its truest sense unless he knows it with reference to what grace reveals and grace unfolds. But the all refers in this context primarily to all that is necessary for sinners to find acceptance with God and to walk well-pleasing before God. And then he says, He hath abounded to us. And we must be careful not to make the us of verse 8 any

Why Paul Praises God for Abounding Grace in Wisdom

9:45 broader than the us of verse 4, of verse 5, particularly. The us of verse 8 is extraordinary. Exclusively referring to the people of God, those chosen in Him, foreordained unto sonship through Him, called by His grace. So then what is Paul saying in verse 8? In summary, I believe it is accurate to say he is praising the God of grace whose grace has overflowed in the impartation of saving wisdom. Now having looked at the meaning of the words, secondly, let us address ourselves to the question, why does Paul bless God for this abounding of grace in heavenly wisdom? Why should he get excited about it? Some of you don't look excited. You're half asleep. You

10:45 should look at you. Stand here where I stand. I can read these words and they don't get you excited. You don't get any tingles. You're not thrilled. You can read these words, where any aboundance of love and love is buried, it doesn't get you excited. Well, I can read these words and they don't get you excited. You don't get any tingles. Well, why in the world did Paul get so excited? He's blessing God. Remember, he's still in the context of praise and of adoration. Blessed be God. This God whose overflowing grace has imparted wisdom, penetrating insight to divine realities. It has imparted prudence, the ability to apply those realities to my own life. May I suggest there are two reasons why Paul gets

11:32 excited. And unless you are a Christian, you are not a Christian. You are not a Christian because you look at things as he did. You won't get excited as he did. And here are the two things. He blesses God for this abounding grace in the impartation of heavenly wisdom because, one, he knew the futility of the world's wisdom, and two, he knew the fountainhead of heavenly wisdom. He knew the futility of the world's wisdom, and he knew the fountainhead of heavenly wisdom.

The Futility of the World's Wisdom

12:04 Now, suppose this is the case. Suppose this afternoon it were possible for me, for you, for someone in this area, to convene under one roof, say they hired a large hall somewhere, the five most brilliant men in every field of academic discipline, every one of them with earned Ph.D. degrees or doctor's degrees in their field, and we gather together the five most brilliant nuclear physicists from all over the world. Then we gather together the five most brilliant philosophers from the five most brilliant computer scientists, and the five keenest sociologists, and the five best neurosurgeons, and the five best astronomers, and the five most brilliant psychiatrists and biologists, and all the rest. And we have all that brain power under one roof, if the roof could stay on when you get all that underneath it. There's all that brain power. Now they've convened to discuss the great problems of the day. And here they are, expending all

13:05 of that gray matter in great detail. And here they are, expanding all of that gray matter and grappling with problems and using terminology and concepts and equations and thoughts that just leave us standing there with our heads reeling. And on they go, and we're just sort of like a fly on the wall listening to all of this and watching the great sagacious men of the world grappling with problems. And right in the middle of all this, just before one of their coffee breaks, a little kid comes through the door. And he comes in on a pogo stick, bouncing right in.

13:39 And it isn't long before people notice this is a little incongruous, a little out of place. And so the little kid's got everybody's attention. And he hops off his pogo stick. And they say, what are you doing here, Sonny? He said, I understand you're a bunch of smart men. Well, they say with feigned modest ego, we have a few retainers. What can we do for you? He says, I've got a few simple questions I'd like you to help me with. And they say, what is it, Sonny? I want you to notice every one of these questions. I wrote them out to make sure, every one of them. Every one of them has only one syllable words. There's not a two-syllable word in all his questions. He says, well, misters, you're brilliant men. You're smart men, learned men.

14:20 And I've got some very simple questions. I want to know, can you help me? Well, Sonny, what are your questions? Is there a God? They begin to get a little flushed. Deathly silence comes over this great group of august, brilliant men. He follows up the first question with the second one. If there is, what is it? If there is, what is it?

14:45 What is God like? What about me? Am I made so as I can know him? If so, how can I know him? What is wrong? What is right? How can I get rid of my wrongs? All questions with one syllable words. And all the astronomers and the philosophers and the sociologists by this time are either purple in their eyes or they're not. In their embarrassment or in their rage. But they don't have an answer to one of those questions. Not a one. Not a one. If the little boy comes in and says, what is a light year?

15:43 They can answer it and simplify it. How many light years away is such and such a galaxy? They can answer it. But when he says, is there a God? Silence. What is wrong? Silence.

16:13 God know me? Silence. Oh, my friend, this is why Paul got excited when he said, grace has overflowed in wisdom and in prudence because he knew the futility of the world's wisdom. And what is that futility expressed in its simplest terms? Listen as the Apostle Paul answers that. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, what is the essential futility of the world's wisdom? Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 21, for seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom knew not God. That's it. Whatever else it knows, it doesn't know and cannot. And so Paul says,

17:23 I could say a lot of things about the world's wisdom. It doesn't know this, doesn't know that, doesn't know anything. But I'll tell you one that is foundational to the world's wisdom. And descriptive of all others, the world through its wisdom knew not God. And so the futility of the world's wisdom focuses on this principle. It cannot bring us to the knowledge of God. And apart from the knowledge of God, living in life, in history, in time, and if there is an eternity, it's nothing but hopeless confusion. Despair. For man was made to know God and to function in the light of that knowledge

18:09 of God. And he never is a true man until he knows Him. That's why our Lord said, this is life eternal. Whatever else it is, this is foundational to everything. That they may what? Know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. Paul, let me press the question in the conscience of every man, woman, fellow girl in this building this morning. Have you been brought with Paul to the place where you have seen the absolute futility of the world's wisdom? Have you? It's futility to impart the most essential thing in life, the knowledge of God. Have you felt its futility? Have you seen that futility? And having seen that futility, have you felt its futility?

19:04 As God's grace overflowed in giving you penetrating insight to divine realities and the ability to apply those realities to your own life so that the words sin, forgiveness, grace, redemption, they thrill you. Why? You have penetrating insight. These are realities. They're not God words. They're not preacher's vocabulary. They are divine realities. The blood of Christ has been applied to your conscience by the Spirit and forgiveness is a reality as real as that desk and as that nose on your face.

19:45 Oh my friend, you're going to get excited. You're going to get carried out of yourself. I don't care what your national temperament is. You'll get blessed and you'll want to blow your fuses.

19:59 Blessed be God for grace that not only redeemed us and brought the forgiveness of sins, but it overflowed and opened up to us divine realities. Blessed be God for such grace. It has abounded to us in wisdom and prudence. And that's why Paul got excited because he knew the futility of the world's wisdom.

The Fountainhead of Heavenly Wisdom: Jesus Christ

20:25 But secondly, because he knew the fountainhead of heavenly wisdom. A lot of people that know the futility of the world's wisdom, but they're not blowing their fuses, they're blowing their brains out.

20:39 Literally, literally, some of the most thoughtful, perceptive people are destroying themselves. Why? They've seen the futility of the world's wisdom. And in the age that has had the most advance in human knowledge known to any age, there's the age that has had the most advance in human knowledge known to any age.

20:57 That knowing awareness, my most basic, fundamental question, who am I? Is there a God? If so, does He know me? Does He care for me? Can I know Him?

21:07 Astronomers, sociologists, scientists, no one can answer. And if you feel the futility of the world's wisdom without knowing the fountainhead of heavenly wisdom, that despair will destroy you, or in that despair you'll destroy yourself.

21:27 Some of you find it difficult to understand something of the drama, or the drug culture in our day. A lot of it's just plain man looking for another out, running from God. But some of those involved in it are involved in it with a deeply philosophical reason. And this is what's behind it.

21:46 The world in its wisdom has not answered my basic questions. Maybe, maybe if I can penetrate deeper into myself by dropping acid, I'll get some insight and get some answers. And there are serious...

22:02 ...drug takers who are being driven by this hope that maybe, maybe some answers will come there.

22:10 Why is this return to oriental mind cults and all the rest? Well, it's man's effort again to find answers that he hasn't found in mathematics and in computers and in science and in the so-called wisdom of the world. He wants to find it in a way in which he can still cling to his sins. So it's poor man groping, admitting that the answers are...

22:34 They're not here in the material, in the mathematical, in the scientific realm.

22:39 Beloved, our hearts should bleed. But Paul rejoices instead of despairing. Why? Because he not only knew the futility of the world's wisdom, but he knew the fountainhead of heavenly wisdom.

22:51 And who is that fountainhead? Come back to verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ. Is this wisdom?

23:05 Is this wisdom? Is this wisdom in prudence of spiritual blessing? Yes. Well, where is its fountainhead?

23:09 It is in Christ Jesus. And Paul knew the fountainhead of this heavenly wisdom, even Christ himself. Therefore, it's not surprising that when he picks up his pen to write to the Corinthians, he says these words. And I quote now from 1 Corinthians 1.30.

23:28 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us. And what's the first thing he mentions? Wisdom from God. Jesus Christ, that unique God-man.

23:46 Jesus Christ in the unique work that he accomplished. For Paul can never think of Christ apart from the uniqueness of his person and the uniqueness of his work as a mediator. And he says this unique Christ in his person and in his work is made to us. Wisdom.

24:05 From God. I quote again Colossians 2.3. For in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

24:16 Not that they're hidden so no one can see them. No, no. They are stored up in him so that all that are in him have the full display of them. But outside of him they are hidden.

24:30 Just as certainly then as Paul knew that seeking answers to the child, the child's questions at the feet of human wisdom was futile, so he knew that those same questions asked in the presence of Christ, the Christ of Scripture, are fully and satisfactorily answered. The little child comes into the presence of the Lord Jesus as he's found in the Scriptures. And he says, Sir, can you tell me, is there a God? Jesus says, I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

25:11 Yes, there is a God. And he has sent me. And the little child says, Well, how can I know what he's like? And Jesus says, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.

25:24 And then he says, But how can I come to know that God? And Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Why?

25:36 Why? Why do I do what I do, sir? And Jesus says, For from within, out of the heart of man, proceed. Sonny, you do what you do because you're part of Adam's fallen race.

25:49 Sir, how can all this be changed? And Jesus says, I came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give my life a ransom for many. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me shall not come into condemnation, but is passed. From death unto life, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life in him.

26:12 And all the questions that baffled philosophers and psychiatrists and sociologists and all the world's great men are answered in the Lord Jesus. The Apostle Paul rejoices that grace has overflowed to impart wisdom and prudence not only because he knew the futility of the world's wisdom, but he knew, he knew the fountainhead of heavenly wisdom who is nothing other than, which is nothing other than our own Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Before we move on in our study in subsequent weeks to verses 9, 10, and 11, begin to analyze something of that heavenly wisdom that has come to us in grace, I do wish to press upon your consciences most carefully this morning some very, very important issues. Let me ask you as you sit in this place this morning, have you personally been brought to see and to feel, and I put the two words together, to see and to feel the absolute futility of the world's wisdom?

Personal Application: Seeing the Futility and Embracing Christ

27:27 Have you? Have you? How about you teenagers? Why are you going off to college soon?

27:34 There you'll see keen young men with their Ph.D. degrees and their doctorate degrees, who will make as a status symbol of academic attainment the slurring of anything that has to do with God and the Bible and truth.

27:54 Can you face that situation as one who has seen and has felt the futility of the world's wisdom to answer the most elementary questions? If so, you'll not be moved. But when that professor swings around the weight of his doctorate, his doctor's degree, and his academic cleverness, we go up to him after class and say, Dr. So-and-so, I want to ask you one question.

28:22 Is there a God? Do you know Him? Do you know how to have your sins forgiven?

28:33 You can say, I know the answer to those questions.

28:37 I know.

28:41 Have you been brought to see and to feel the utter futility of the world's wisdom? Let me follow with the second question. Have you been brought to see and to experience and enter into vital communion with the fountainhead of heavenly wisdom? Can you say, I know who I am because grace has overflowed in wisdom and prudence from that fountainhead of all wisdom.

29:09 Christ has been made by God unto me. Wisdom. If you ask me how I know that I know what I am, where I'm going and what I'm here for, can you gladly confess, I know because of the wisdom and prudence that grace has imparted through Jesus Christ. Can you say that?

Exhortation 1: Don't Quake Before Worldly Wise Ones

29:33 Oh, I trust if you can't that God, even as the word is preached this morning, will bring you to see and feel the futility of the world's wisdom and enable you to embrace the Lord Jesus as the fountainhead of heavenly wisdom. Let me give two specific exhortations as I close out the message this morning. One directed to you as God's people in general. Don't quake before the vaunted wise ones of the earth.

30:05 You know, there's a mood in our day that bullies the Christian into feeling, you know, he's sort of like the snotty-nosed, baggy-kneed guy in the midst of gentry. In the midst of the elite of the world, if you still are stupid enough to believe Genesis and sinning, stupid enough to believe in miracles and stupid enough to believe in hell and stupid enough...

30:31 That's the whole mood. Stupid enough to believe that premarital sex is sin. Stupid enough to believe that divorce on anything other than scriptural grounds stands under the judgment of God. Stupid enough to believe these things.

30:48 That's the whole mood. Stupid enough. Stupid enough. Anybody else can believe anything they want.

30:53 That's just academic liberty.

30:56 Not... Not stupidity.

30:57 You can believe anything you want. That's just academic liberty. But believe what God says and that's the essence of what? Stupidity.

31:04 That's a calculated effort to bully the people of God into feeling like they're baggy-kneed and dirty-nosed. My friend, you can stand in the presence of anyone with humility but with God-given boldness and say from the heart, grace has abounded to me in wisdom and in prayer and in potency. I have insight into divine realities. Well, who in the world are you?

31:35 Where's your degree?

31:39 You say, my degree is grace. Rooted in election. Rooted in predestination. Rooted in...

31:47 Grace has overflowed to give me wisdom. I've been brought into the school of grace. Taught to see my own native corruption. Taught to see my own native blindness.

32:00 Taught to see the glory of God in the face of God. Taught to see the grace of Christ and God has made Christ unto me. Wisdom! Oh, you young men aspiring to the ministry.

32:11 Let this thing, by God's grace, grip you until it thrills you and takes away all diffidence. And it'll give you a boldness that no amount of the training in the arts of elocution can ever do.

32:29 When the reality of it grips you and you come in the presence of a confused age that reels you in. It reels to and fro like a drunken man. And you can say, I know. And I know how you can know and point men to Christ, the fountainhead of wisdom.

Exhortation 2: Beware of Questioning Scripture's Authority

32:46 And there's no sense in which you're bullied about by the vaunted wise ones of the earth. And then my closing exhortation is particularly directed to you young people.

32:59 And as I thought of the text and thought of the congregation, thought of my responsibility as a pastor, I was reminded of the fact that I was constrained to address myself particularly to you. Listen carefully to me this morning. You're going to be tempted, some of you if not many of you,

33:18 to allow some gray question marks to begin to be formed over the absolute authority of Holy Scripture.

33:26 It may not start with gray question marks over Christ and salvation and forgiveness of sin and heaven and hell. Just some gray question marks over some area of biblical authority. And it usually starts with gray question marks. And it usually starts in the area that seems most remote from saving issues.

33:44 Let me repeat it. It will begin with a gray question mark over the areas of Scripture that seem to be most remote to the saving issues. Now what relationship can there be between Genesis 1 and 2 and Christ bleeding on a cross?

34:04 My friend, there's all the relationship in the world. The Word of God is an organic whole.

34:10 And at any point where you begin to put gray question marks over one facet, it's only a matter of time before red X's will stand over the whole and you'll be given up to the blinding effect of your pride and impudence to question one word of the living God.

34:30 That's why Jesus said, till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law till all be fulfilled. The Scriptures cannot be broken. And whatever constitutes Scripture is infallible. And cannot be broken.

34:47 And so if you begin to have temptation to cast some gray question marks, remember this,

34:55 the end of that road is the despair of the world's wisdom.

35:03 And you better face the issue seriously before you begin to entertain those question marks. You better face the issue squarely before you begin to entertain those question marks.

35:18 The futility of the world's wisdom will be your portion. And I have seen some of my own personal friends go down that road. I'm not talking from theory, something I've read in books. Until now they stand at my age with broken homes, blasted, withered lives.

35:39 And they say the only thing I know is that I know nothing. Where did it start? Little gray question marks. Little gray question marks.

The Inseparable Link Between Christ and Scripture

35:55 Blessed be God who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the world. Jesus Christ, in whom we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and in all prudence.

36:14 The only thing you and I know of that abounding of wisdom and prudence through grace is what God tells us about it within the pages in that book. And don't you ever be deceived into thinking you can keep Bounding wisdom through Christ while casting aspersions upon the absolute authority of this book. That's one of the greatest theological lies that's ever been spawned upon men. And it's believed on every hand in our day that we can continue to have all the benefits of Christ without submission to the authority of the words of Holy Scripture.

36:56 And it just is not true. For the Christ who comes to us in the pages of Scripture comes to us not only as the unique God-man, but I say it reverently, He comes to us as a Christ who is clinging to the Scriptures. And He says, if you have Me, you have Me with that which I hold.

37:19 And so my exhortation to you, dear young people, whom I am very conscious,

37:25 some of you won't be sitting there next year. You'll be off to school. You'll be off in other places. A couple of years from now, many more.

37:32 I hope that these words will ring in your ears and in your heart and the Holy Ghost will bring them back again. Beware of gray question marks over any facet of God's eternal truth.

Conclusion: The Urgency of Heavenly Wisdom

37:52 Do you have that heavenly wisdom? Do you know who you are? Where you're going?

37:58 Do you know that God knows you? Do you know that your sins are forgiven? You say, that's kindergarten stuff. That's Sunday school stuff.

38:07 Yes, it is, my friend. But that's the stuff by which we get. Go back to heaven or miss it.

38:12 May God grant that you shall yet have occasion to bless God for grace that overflowed in all wisdom, penetrating insight to heavenly realities and prudence the ability to apply those realities to your own life. And God willing, next week, we'll begin to trace out the Apostle's thought as he opens up the various facets of this heavenly wisdom. Amen. Amen.

38:40 May God grant that our hearts shall be filled with it and our spirits rejoice in it unto his praise. Let us pray.