How to Attain True Wisdom

Introduction: The Purpose and Structure of Proverbs 2

0:03 A book in which the Holy Spirit speaks to us in the proverbial form, those catchy, pithy statements that attack the mind with unusual vigor, attach themselves with unusual tenacity. The book in which God would teach us of that wisdom, which all of us desperately need in order to know Him aright and to walk before Him well-pleasing in His sight. The first chapter, which we concluded last week in our studying together, has basically three main divisions of thought. The introduction in which Solomon tells us the purpose for which he wrote these proverbs, and then gives us the key to an understanding of the whole business of wisdom and knowledge, namely, the fear of the Lord, which is the chief part of all knowledge. And after that introductory statement, he then gives us the key to an understanding of the whole business of wisdom and knowledge, and then gives this very serious warning to the young man, his son, or the one whom he is tutoring, concerning the danger of listening to the counsel of evil men. My son, verse 10, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. Then he illustrates one of the ways in which his son would be enticed to follow the counsel of evil men.

1:28 And after that sobering admonition and warning of the danger of listening to the voice of evil men, he finishes the chapter with this sober warning of the danger of not listening to the voice of God, speaking in this passage as wisdom personified. And so we concluded our studies of the first chapter last week by looking at that sober warning given to all who would turn a deaf ear to the entreaties of wisdom, wisdom in this passage being the voice of God. And so we concluded our studies of the first chapter last week by looking at that sober warning being none other than the Son of God himself, calling to men, calling them away from the path of sin into the paths of holiness and obedience to divine law. Now we come tonight to chapter 2, and I think we shall get as far as the first four verses, but perhaps it would be well to just give a brief overview of the entire chapter, that you see something of its internal structure, before taking out one of the sections and looking at it in some detail. And the best way I know to give you a brief, a succinct statement of the basic content is to read this paragraph in Bridges' commentary on the book of Proverbs. I quote now from Bridges,

2:52 Wisdom, having solemnly warned rebellious scorners, the latter part of chapter 1, now instructs her dutiful children. The dark question long before asked, Where shall wisdom be found? Job 28, verses 12 and 20, is now answered. Wisdom is here set before us as the fear and knowledge of God.

3:19 Verse 5, Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. Wisdom is set before us as a principle of practical godliness. Verses 7 through 9, He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to them that walk in integrity, that he may guard the paths of justice.

3:43 Wisdom is set before us, not only as the fear and knowledge of God. Verse 5, A principle of practical godliness. Verses 7 to 9, But also a preservation from besetting temptations. Verses 10 through 19, To keep thee from the evil man, to keep thee, to keep thee from the evil woman.

4:05 And then the chapter closes, having stated these things. Verse 21, The security of all of wisdom's scholars. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it, and the ruin of those who despise wisdom. But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.

4:28 And so this second chapter is, as you have in the heading of your American, in standard version, a number of you have that, the pursuit of wisdom wins security and virtue. Having warned against listening to the counsel of the ungodly, having warned against the danger of turning a deaf ear to wisdom's voice, now Solomon by the Spirit opens unto us the great blessings of wisdom, and in the first four verses, the path to attain that wisdom, which brings life and blessing, a guide to practical godliness, preservation from the evil woman and the evil man, that leads us into the path of God's favor. And so tonight we're going to consider the first four verses under the general heading of the path to divine knowledge, or how to attain true wisdom. Now since Scripture is a unit, what is said here, of the wisdom that Solomon would impart to his son, or look at the passage, it begins again in that setting of the father with his son, my son, if thou would receive my words, what is true of attaining the wisdom that Solomon would give to his son, is true in the attainment of gaining any wisdom that God would impart through his word.

The Path to Divine Knowledge: Exposure to Words of Wisdom

5:57 And so this is not just the path of attaining the wisdom contained in the book of Proverbs, but it's the path of attaining the wisdom contained in the whole spectrum of Holy Scripture. And there are three things that comprise that path to divine knowledge, or in answer to the question how to attain true wisdom, verses 1 through 4 set before us three things. First of all, there must be exposure to the words of wisdom, verses 1 and 2. Then secondly, there must be fervent prayer for the impartation of wisdom, verse 3.

6:39 And then there must be unflagging diligence in the pursuit of wisdom, verse 4. First of all then, if we would attain to that wisdom, which will be to our own preservation and safety, there must be exposure to the words of wisdom. Consider with me the fact, that this exposure is necessary, and secondly, the nature of that exposure which is necessary. Look at the words of Solomon.

7:11 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Solomon indicates that if there's to be any impartation of divine wisdom, that wisdom of which God himself is the author, verse 6, the Lord giveth wisdom. Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. There must first of all be exposure to the words which contain that wisdom.

7:50 And this brings us head on into one of the most fundamental principles of Biblical instruction, and it is this. God himself is the author of all true wisdom. The Scripture tells us that, that in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge. Now, if all the treasures are in Him, there's nothing left to be found anywhere else.

8:17 Therefore, all the wisdom needed to live before God according to His own will and purpose is to be found in God Himself. He made us, He knows us, He knows the purpose for which He made us, He made the world, He knows why He made it and how He made it, and so all that is necessary for us to take our place in this world, to the glory of God and for our own well-being, God Himself knows. And He has treasured up that wisdom in His Son. But now, how is that treasure made available to us?

8:58 The teaching of this passage and the teaching of the entirety of Scripture is that that wisdom is made known to us in the words of God, the very words that are recorded for us in Holy Scripture. Now, there's a subtle movement in contemporary theology, and you as ordinary Christians ought to be aware of it, that on the surface seems very honoring to Christ. It goes something like this. We do not make the Bible our starting point, we make Christ our starting point.

9:34 Now, doesn't that sound very spiritual? I mean, that sounds great in the heart of a believer who says, well, I go for that. Christ is central, Christ is the beginning, the middle and the end. And so they, in their confessions they make, they don't start with Scripture, such as the Confession of 67 put out by the United Presbyterian Church or adopted by that ecclesiastical organization.

9:56 I don't want to prostitute the word. Church by using it, their first statement is not concerning Scripture, such as you have in the old Westminster Confession, but the first statement is concerning God's revelation in Christ. Now, that sounds spiritual, but you see, the problem is simply this. How do I know anything about Christ for sure?

10:18 He's not here. I cannot stand and listen to him speak. And so the only thing I know of Christ is what God has revealed of Christ in the record of the life and ministry and work of Christ given to us in the gospel accounts and in the inspired interpreters of those facts and words, even the apostles and the writers of the New Testament. And so we must begin where Solomon begins.

10:47 Certainly he acknowledges to his tutor that it is Jehovah, it is God who has and who gives wisdom. Out of his mouth and his mouth alone cometh knowledge. And understanding, but where is the mouth of God to be heard? The mouth of God is heard in the words of Holy Scripture.

11:10 That's why the apostle Paul actually coined a word when he's describing the nature of Scripture in 2 Timothy 3 and verse 16. All Scripture is what? God breathed. Where does your breath come from?

11:26 It comes out of your mouth. All Scripture is the breath of God. Where is the breath of God? The mouth of God speaking.

11:35 Where is that mouth to be heard? All Scripture, the sacred writings, this inscripturated revelation of God himself. So then there can be no true wisdom until there is constant and serious exposure to the words of wisdom, those words found in Holy Scripture. My son, if thou wilt...

12:01 Thou wilt receive my words. Oh yes, out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding, but his mouth is expressed in the words of Scripture. Now by way of application, let me make several observations.

12:20 Many have been exposed to the words of Scripture who've never been made wise. Scripture teaches this, human experience confirms it. But the reverse is not true. Though many have been exposed to the words of Scripture, and have not been made wise, such as the scribes and Pharisees in our Lord's day.

12:40 He said, ye search the Scriptures, you're exposing yourself to the words of wisdom, but he says, these are they which testify of me, and ye will not come to me that ye might have life. It's possible to be exposed to the words of Scripture, and never attain to true wisdom, but it is impossible to attain to true wisdom without constant exposure to the words of Holy Spirit. without constant exposure to the words of Holy Spirit. scripture it is scripture by which to quote second timothy 3 15 we are made wise unto salvation it is through the word of christ dwelling in us richly in all wisdom that we know how to walk well pleasing to god colossians 3 and verse 16 so several exhortations are warranted before we move on to the next verse you and i must beware of any and all influences which would in any way undermine your absolute confidence of the words of god as found in scripture once that confidence in scripture begins to be undermined you are literally throwing away the key to all wisdom and plunging yourself in the dark deepest darkness of ignorance

14:04 beware of any influence religious philosophical intellectual subjective personal any influence which undermines your absolute confidence in the identity of heavenly wisdom and the words of scripture the two stand or fall together and i speak particularly to some of you to whom god is given a mind that that has been academic bent u you're logged this study in your haven't inquiring spirit that can be a great blessing but listen to me it could be your curse for after that in the wisdom of this world the world by its wisdom do not god it please god by the foolishness of the thing preaches to save them that believe the great stumbling block of the gospel in that first century a far as the greek world was concerned was that it was beneath its concepts of wisdom and so paul says the greeks seek after wisdom so when we preach christ crucified rooting all we say in the revelation of god in scripture saying none other things than that which the scriptures say that christ should suffer and the rest of the message this was an occasion of stumbling to

15:31 them it was foolishness so i seriously and soberly exhort you particularly you young people many of you with your college lives before you many of you who will be caught in the cross currents of a thousand opinions and philosophies of men beware of any and all influences which in any way undermine your confidence of the wisdom of god in the words of holy scripture and the moment you're entertaining any doubt remember that doubt entertained that doubt cherished to change the analogy that seed of doubt germinating sending a root downward and bearing its fruit upward will have your life hung heavy with the bitter fruit of absolute despair and the darkness of desperate ignorance the second implication of this principle that stands in the very face of the text the way into wisdom is exposure to the words of wisdom is this be cautious of any ministry no matter what else may be impressive about it if it is not a ministry primarily of bringing you face to face

16:55 with the words of god in holy scripture there's a way of preaching with a biblical flavor that is a way of preaching with a biblical flavor that is a way of preaching with a biblical flavor that is not true biblical exposition biblical exposition takes you to the words of scripture and opens up the mind of god as contained in the very words of god the apostle paul was conscious when he wrote that he was writing in the very words which the spirit directed first corinthians two thirteen which things we speak not in words which what man's wisdom teaches but that which the holy ghost teaches well if the holy ghost teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit that is the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit the holy spirit teaches us the wisdom of the holy spirit upon your mind and your conscience. It's much easier to have other forms of ministry that have a semblance of biblical flavor. The discipline upon a preacher to stick with the words of Scripture, to stick with the text of Scripture is an arduous discipline. One from at times he wishes he could run.

18:14 But oh, dear ones, you imperil your own soul if you ever are attached to any ministry that is not essentially a ministry of confronting you with the words of the living God. What is the path into true wisdom? It involves, first of all, exposure to the words of wisdom. Having considered now the fact that that exposure is necessary, look in the text at the nature of that exposure.

The Nature of Right Exposure: Readiness, Retentiveness, and Right Motives

18:44 Is it any kind of exposure to the words of divine wisdom that brings a man, a woman, a fellow, or a girl into the path of true wisdom? No. There is a certain kind of exposure. And in the text before us, there are three facets of a right exposure to the words of wisdom.

19:03 First of all, it must be exposure with readiness of mind. Look at these words. My son, if thou wilt receive my words. You've got to hear them before you can receive them.

19:18 But you can hear them, and not receive them. And the word receive here in this text is exactly the same word that is used in Genesis 33 and verse 10. And the meaning, I think, is quite obvious in this passage. Genesis 33 and verse 10.

19:37 Remember the setting? Jacob has not seen his brother Esau for a long time. Hearing that he's in the area, he's fearful that his brother will harm him. So he seeks to placate him with gifts.

19:50 And in that setting we read Genesis 33 verse 10. And Jacob said, May I pray thee, if now I have found favor in thy sight, then receive my present at thy hand. Here Jacob comes with his gifts. And he holds them out and he says, Esau, if I found favor, receive them.

20:13 That is, take them to yourself. The same word is used in Isaiah 36. Verse 7 and verse 14. Another setting in which the meaning is quite obvious.

20:25 Now what does this tell us? Well, Solomon is saying to his son, if you would enter into the path of true wisdom, there must not only be exposure to the words of wisdom that come from the mouth of God, but there must be an exposure with readiness of mind. Receive my words. My sons, don't simply expose yourselves.

20:50 Don't expose yourself to them. Let it be exposure with readiness of mind, receptiveness of mind. Perhaps some of you have already thought of one or two texts in the New Testament that are a very accurate description of this kind of exposure in operation. The first is the familiar text in the 17th chapter of Acts.

21:14 And verse 11. Speaking of those at Berea, Luke says, Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind. Receive the word with readiness of mind. And then 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13, where the apostle says, But God be thanked that when ye received from us the word of God, you received it, as it is in truth, the word, not the word of men, but the word of God.

21:57 When you received from us the word of the message. Involved then in this exposure with readiness of mind is the conscious acknowledgement that true wisdom is extended to me and that behind that wisdom is the authority of God Himself. My son, receive my words. But my son, they're not my words.

22:27 For the Lord giveth wisdom. Out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. O my son, you hear my words as I instruct you, but my son, see that behind my words is the authority of the God Himself who is the embodiment and the source of all wisdom. What does it mean?

22:50 To hear the words of God and to receive them with readiness of mind? It means precisely this. It means that when you sit here and the word of God is being expounded and you're being taken into the scriptures and you're very conscious that it's Solomon speaking in the context of the culture of that day or it's Paul or Peter speaking in their setting and it's the pastor or someone else opening up the words oh, that we might cultivate the sense of readiness of mind that will always be present in the heart of a believer when he realizes it's out of God's mouth that this knowledge and understanding are coming. Exposure with readiness of mind recognizing and submitting to the authority of the God who speaks in His words. Then secondly, the nature of that exposure which, which results in wisdom is not only described as readiness of mind but secondly, it is exposure with retentiveness of mind. My son, receive my words but that's not enough. You must not only have readiness of mind but lay up my commandments with thee.

24:13 The authorized version says hide my commandments with thee. Now it's interesting. This is the same word used in Exodus 2.2 speaking of Moses being hid for three months.

24:28 Here was something precious which a mother wanted to preserve and so she hid the child. It's the same word used in Joshua 2.4 concerning Rahab and her hiding of the spies. Here was something she wanted to preserve and protect and so she hid them.

24:50 It's the word used in Psalm 119 in verse 11. Thy word have I hid in my heart. So either translation is valid to hide, to lay up but both have the connotation of a treasure that is precious. And having received it, you just don't say, oh, isn't that nice?

25:11 And then just put it out in the front steps somewhere for somebody else to pick up and no, no. Having received, having been exposed to the words of wisdom with readiness of mind, there is now this retentiveness of mind. You're going to hide. You're going to lay up as a precious treasure that which God has given in His Word.

25:35 In Psalm 119 in verse 127, the psalmist carries out this very analogy in his statement in that particular text. Psalm 119, verse 127, Therefore I love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false way. What would happen if someone should appear on your doorstep or in your living room in the next three, four days and hand over to you two or three solid bars of pure gold?

26:21 I mean, you bit it and you found it's a real thing. It's not bogus. It's the real thing. What would you do?

26:26 Well, if you have any sense whatsoever and any awareness of the worth of gold, you would immediately, once you were sure it wasn't stolen goods and you had a right to keep it, you would set about to do something to lay that treasure up with you. You might immediately try to convert it into money and put that into a savings account or into your checking account, but certainly you'd have more sense than to take that which you truly acknowledge to be of unusual worth and just lay it around any old place. Of course not. You say, well, that's so elementary.

26:59 Why even bother to tell us what we do? But isn't it interesting that we so carelessly treat this great treasure of divine wisdom found in the words of God and allow so many things so quickly to take the word which we've received with readiness of mind and to drive it from our thoughts and allow the lust of other things entering in and the cares of life to choke the word, to use the analogy of the parable of the sower. And so Solomon says to his son, my son, the way into wisdom is not mere exposure to the words of wisdom. It is exposure with readiness of mind, exposure with retentiveness of mind, and then thirdly, exposure rooted in right motives. Notice very carefully the connection. Between verses 1 and 2. My son, if thou wilt receive my words and lay up my commandments with thee so as to incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thy heart to understanding.

28:16 In other words, he says, this exposure with readiness and retentiveness is rooted in right motives. Why are you receiving my words? Why are you laying up my commandments? Here's the reason.

28:30 So as to incline your ear to wisdom, so as to apply your heart to understanding. So this exposure is rooted in right motives. And what are the motives? There are two.

28:46 Genuine desire to be made wise with God's wisdom, incline thine ear to wisdom, and a heart longing to have truth, true understanding. Now when you think of those two things for a moment and put them in their biblical setting, they have tremendous implications.

29:09 To desire to be made wise with God's wisdom is always a religious thing. For what is the chief part of all wisdom and knowledge according to chapter 1, verse 7? The fear of the Lord. The right knowledge of God and a right relationship to God.

29:28 That's the chief part. So he's saying to his son, now look, my son, if you would attain true wisdom, there must not only be exposure, exposure with readiness, yes, exposure with retentiveness, but my son, there must be right motives. God's not in the business of just making you impressive with your knowledge of, quote, my wisdom. No, no.

29:50 No, my son, you must do this so as to incline your ear unto true wisdom, which is a religious thing, which involves the knowledge of God and a right relationship to God. My son, you'll never have true wisdom unless your heart is set to know God and to please God.

30:14 He's not out to make you an impressive Bible student. He's not out to make you someone who can dabble in all forms of biblical knowledge and impress people. No, no, my son. That exposure must be rooted in right motives, a genuine desire to be made wise with God's wisdom, which is always a religious matter.

30:38 And my son, it must be a heart longing to have true understanding, which in a biblical sense is always an ethical and a practical thing. Listen to David in Psalm 111 in verse 10, where he amplifies this concept of understanding being an ethical and a moral thing, not a purely intellectual thing. Psalm 111, verse 10, the fear of the Lord, is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all they that do His commandments.

31:14 Where is wisdom to be found? It is a religious thing, the fear of the Lord. What is understanding? The performance of God's commandments.

31:22 Psalm 119, in verse 34, you have a similar sentiment expressed. Give me understanding, why? And I shall keep thy law. Yea, I shall observe it, and I shall keep thy law.

31:34 With my whole heart. Do you know why some of you have made so little advancement in true heavenly wisdom? It's not because you've not been exposed to the Word. You've been exposed to the Word time after time.

31:51 It's not that you don't come with some degree of readiness and some degree of determination to retain what you've heard. The problem is here, in the realm of the motivation. There is no genuine, genuine desire to be made wise with heavenly wisdom. You've got some kind of a carnal itch to know more facts about the Bible rather than a sanctified longing to know the living God and to please Him.

32:20 Well, you can't have God's wisdom without its chief ingredient, which is the fear of the Lord. Can't do it. And so that exposure must be rooted in that right motive. I believe our Lord's words in John 7, 17 are another act or accurate commentary on this text.

32:38 Jesus said, If any man, what? Will to do my will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. You see what he's saying? He says the problems, to use the technical term for some of you students, in the noetic faculty.

32:55 The problems here, he says, are rooted in ethical and moral problems. He says, You Jews are having problems with recognizing my divine authority. And he said, The problem is that there aren't enough facts. The problem is the perversity of your own heart.

33:12 If any man will to do my will, he shall know of the doctrine. When there is the right motivation, there will be that illumination and that confirmation of divine authority. And so for us as the people of God, we need to be brought back again and again to a simple question like this. What in the world am I doing plunked down in a pew tonight when the preacher stands up to open up the scriptures?

33:39 What really do I want?

33:43 You say, Oh, I never thought of that. Well, maybe you ought to. What do you want? What seekest thou, to use the scriptural question?

33:52 What seekest thou?

33:56 Are you seeking to have an ear inclined to heavenly wisdom? A heart hungering to know God that you might walk more pleasing before Him? Is there a heart longing for true understanding that is the necessary perception of the will of God that you might perform that will? That you sit there to have your ears tickled, to have your conscience sad that you've been in church and you're not a once-er like some people.

34:25 You're going to be a twice-er. You're there Sunday morning, Sunday night. Yeah, but dig beneath all of that. And what are you there for?

34:32 What are you there for? Oh, the path into true wisdom, Solomon tells his son, is the path, first of all, of exposure to the words of God. We've looked at the necessity of that exposure, the nature of that exposure. Now, very quickly, we move in the second place to the second essential ingredient, the second essential block in the path of true wisdom.

The Path to Divine Knowledge: Fervent Prayer for Impartation

35:05 And I'm calling it fervent prayer for the impartation of wisdom. Having stated this necessity, of exposure, exposure, with right motives, with retentiveness, with receptivity, look at verse 3. Yea, if thou cry after discernment and lift up thy voice for understanding. What do these two words mean, cry and lift up?

35:36 Well, they're strong words. And both of them indicate deep, deep, yea, a vehement desire on the part of the one who is doing either of these things. A drowning man cries for help. You never heard a drowning man whispering for help unless he was so close to going down under for the third time.

36:00 All he could muster was a whisper. A drowning man cries for help. A beggar doesn't whisper to be heard. He cries out and listens.

36:13 He lifts up his voice even as we read in the Gospel account of that beggar who cried the louder saying, Son of David, have mercy upon me. A shepherd does not whisper after a lost sheep, but he cries out into the wilderness to find that sheep. A herald, a down-crier who comes to make announcements to the whole town does not whisper, but he lifts up his voice. A lost child who cries out, a child who cannot find his mother, cries out for Mama, and a prophet lifts up his voice to speak in Jehovah's name.

36:56 Those are some of the usages of those words and concepts in Scripture. So do you see when you put them together what you have? You have almost a vehemence of desire that shows itself at the verbal level. Yea, cry discernment, lift up thy voice.

37:17 For understanding. Now, having looked at the meaning of the words, for what are we crying? Well, two things. Discernment and understanding.

37:29 If thou cry out discernment, that is a practical experimental knowledge, the ability to be able to separate right from wrong, both in theory and in practice. Not just abstract knowledge. Not just detached knowledge. But knowledge that is rooted to the real stuff of life.

37:53 Oh, my son, as he told him in the first chapter, you're going to have the enticement of evil men. There are going to be their efforts to seduce you, and they won't all be as explicit and overt as the ones I've given you. They will come subtly. They will come in the overtones of apparent virtue, in the subtle nuances of evil's voice.

38:16 Oh, my son, cry out after what? After discernment. The ability to penetrate through to the heart of things and see things for what they really are. That's what you're to cry for.

38:29 That's the great element of true wisdom. And he says you're to cry out for understanding. Ability to know what is right and how best to perform the right. That's what Paul prayed for the Philippians.

38:44 You read it in Philippians 1, 9 to 11. He says, I pray that your love may abound more in all what? Knowledge and discernment, that ye may approve the things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. That's what we're talking about here.

39:04 He doesn't pray, oh, bending of eschatological distinctions and they can write their charm. No, no, no. May their love abound in a context of discernment to the end, that they may make wise moral judgments, approve the things that are excellent, to the end that they may stand blameless in the day of Christ. That's the thing for which we cry.

39:37 Fervent prayer is directed to God for these things. And then to whom do we cry for these things? Well, the only one who can give them. He doesn't say it in the text.

39:49 He just says cry after discernment. He says in the text, lift up thy voice for understanding. He tells us in verse 6, to whom we are to cry, for the Lord hath wisdom. Thank God the text does not simply say the Lord is or the Lord has wisdom.

40:09 That'd be a little comfort to me. You know, someone may have a reputation of being very wealthy, but very stingy. That doesn't give you much comfort when you're in need. So and so has.

40:22 Oh, but when I hear so and so give it, the fact that he can give it or he assumes he has it. But the word give is my hope, is my basis of encouragement. So he tells his son, the Lord giveth wisdom. With his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

40:42 So whom to whom do we cry in fervent prayer for the impartation of wisdom? The only one who can give it. That one described in James 1.17 as the giver of every good and every perfect gift.

40:59 That's why David prayed to God in Psalm 119 and verse 18. Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. The Apostle Paul in the passage we'll be studying shortly in Ephesians 1 says for this cause I bow mine eyes unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that He would grant you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. We're to cry to the living God and approach Him the only way He can be approached.

41:36 Through Him who has been made unto us wisdom, even our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There's an excellent statement by Bridges in giving some comments on this passage he says concerning this fervent prayer for the impartation of wisdom, the second great ingredient in the path of wisdom. There may be attention and earnestness yet not one spiritual impression upon the conscience, not one ray of divine light to the soul. Earthly wisdom is gained by study, heavenly wisdom by prayer.

42:18 Study alone may form a biblical scholar under a heavenly tutorage and therefore forms the wise and spiritual Christian. Now I'm fully aware in some so-called reformed circles any emphasis upon fervent prayer for inward illumination is looked upon as the height of enthusiasm and a drift into pietism. So be it as long as it stands in Holy Scripture you shall be exhorted in this place not only to absolute reverence for the words of God and as we'll see in the third point of our study tonight on flagging mental diligence in the pursuit of wisdom unless it is suffused with fervent prayer. It'll serve us right to be left to the barrenness of our own ignorance. Oh dear people of God in your private reading of the word lift up your voice. Does your prayer could your prayer witness frequent earth prayers that God up the words of God go to your closet of prayer

43:47 and ask it. But you ask it and let it answer you. Could it be that this is why trafficking in the scriptures by so many of the sensitivity ought to be clear even to babes in Christ? Could it be that God is not put upon great segments of the church a spirit of blight for our presumptuous self-confidence in approaching the scriptures without crying out without lifting up our voice and thereby acknowledging our absolute dependence upon the Holy Spirit?

44:30 And what is true of our private study of the word in our coming to the public ministry of the word? I hope that this reminder is not tedious. Are you crying out and lifting up your voice that as the word is expounded and applied you may be given discernment and understanding? Not just given more knowledge of the structure of Ephesians 1 and the structure of Proverbs 2 and the meaning of the word.

45:03 All of this all of this God himself will be putting into your discernment true understanding. Is that your prayer? My friend, the most biblical spirit anointed fervent prayerful ministry will be ineffectual by and large unless that kind of ministry meets a praying heart. A praying preacher must meet the praying heart of the saint of God.

45:37 Is that true of you? Here in this place tonight all wisdom is stored up in Christ all wisdom is embodied in the words of scripture but prayer is the key to unlock the treasury and open it up to us. So the second great ingredient of the path to the attainment of true wisdom fervent prayer for the impartation of wisdom. So thus far we've seen in the text there must be exposure to the words of God.

The Path to Divine Knowledge: Unflagging Diligence in Pursuit

46:12 My son if thou wilt receive there must be fervent prayer. Thirdly there must be unflagging diligence in the pursuit of wisdom. Look at verse four. If thou seek her as silver and search for her as for hid treasure.

46:33 In other words Solomon says to his son son you must add to your prayers some pains. As one man has said prayer does not stand in the place of diligence but it gives energy unto diligence. Now look at the two concepts that he uses. They're figures of speech.

46:54 That's another reason why I like Proverbs and why you know it's written particularly to the young especially these first nine chapters they just bristle with all kinds of figures of speech and poetic imageries that just make the thing live in the mind for a minute while we take up some of those imageries and then we gird up the loins of our mind as we seek to apply them. He says two things. If you seek her as silver and hunt for her or search for her as hid treasure. So you have the analogy of a miner who's out to get some silver and a prospector who's out to find a sunken treasure. Now you thought here's one way back in the book of Proverbs. If you seek her as silver now here's the man who's committed to finding silver. That's his life.

47:54 Convinced that there's silver in them there hills he goes out to find it. So with unwearying pains with unbending resolution with untiring perseverance he keeps digging here digging there digging yonder and finds it. Look out. Nothing else matters.

48:14 He gets into that vein and he's gonna follow it right through to the very end where he finds no more. Now Solomon says would you have that wisdom that comes from the mouth of God? Would you have that understanding that comes from Him? Well there must not only be exposure to the words in which the wisdom is embodied.

48:35 Fervent prayer that that wisdom be imparted but you must add to it and then he changes the figure if you search for her as for hid treasure. Apparently and from what I've been able to read this is true with Eastern life being what it was people would hide their valuables in sunken treasures. Sometimes they would die leaving no record of where the treasure was. So the hunting of treasures actually became some people's business or pastime and this was so common a thing for a part of one of his parables.

49:12 You remember in Matthew 13 44 he said the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man who is digging in a field and finds a treasure. So it was common parlance part of the common knowledge of that day that there would be these sunken treasures but now here's a man who says look I'm convinced there's a treasure out in that field and once he's convinced there's a treasure and he's going to go out to get it what are the things that mark him? Diligence perseverance labor digging up ten holes that bring him nothing but rocks and disappointment but convinced there's treasure he's going after it he's going to stick with it until the point of his shovel hits metal and he lets out a war hoop and he digs around it and there's the hidden treasure. Now those are the two figures that are used and they're very vivid imageries of what? Of what I have called on flagging diligence in the pursuit of that wisdom. And so Solomon says to his son if you would attain to that true wisdom it is going to be in the path of prayers plus pains.

50:24 You must join to your fervent supplications your diligent endeavors. Convinced that silver is there and that the treasure is there and convinced that pains and perseverance will make them both yield their treasure you go after it. Ah dear child of God that means that you and I must have that settled conviction that there's gold in these here hills. That in the words of scripture is rich treasure.

50:55 And though that treasure may not yield at a first reading though it may not yield at a first preachment though it may not yield at the first investigation convinced that this is gold of God's wisdom. The silver of God's mind. We're going to give ourselves with unflagging diligence to the pursuit of that wisdom. This means by way of application that in private and in public there must be an expenditure of mental and spiritual energy.

Integration and Warning Against Imbalance

51:33 If I'm to learn the words of God it means that I must know what Paul meant when he said in Timothy think on these things and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. The Holy Spirit given in answer to prayer is the spirit of illumination is never given as the spirit of approval to mental laziness. The work of the spirit is one in which he quickens our mental faculties and enables us to employ them profitably in our lives. The word of God is the understanding of the word of God. And what a tragedy it is that in the history of the church again and again men and whole movements have either stopped with verses one and two or have forgotten the story of people who in their quest after spiritual reality forsook the words of God the objective revelation and they got so they were like the children of Israel with manna.

53:01 We don't want that thing. Our soul loatheth this manna and so when a man would stand up and open the scriptures and not with the word of God they got sick of that. They want something more glamorous something more scintillating something more attractive. What a tragedy.

53:32 They forsook the words of God and yet had the nerve to pray that God would give them wisdom. Didn't want to think didn't want to apply their minds didn't want to apply their minds to the word and so they armed themselves with all the disciplines of true biblical scholarship and they pick over the word and they pry over the word but they know nothing absolutely nothing of a heart prostrate in humility and brokenness before God saying Lord I'm a dolt I'm a simp I'm a pietism pietism that's true Christianity my dear friend men who are strangers to that are strangers to God and to their own hearts all that we might see fused in this body of God's people that we might see fused in the ministry of the church in our day all of the ingredients of the path of true wisdom no extra revelations beyond Scripture, looking for nothing beyond the pages of this book. All Scripture is God-breathed and is sufficient to make us complete as men of God.

54:59 Coupled with that, a right attitude in our exposure, cultivating readiness of mind, retentiveness, rooted in that desire to know with a view to experiencing God, to know with a view of walking well, pleasing to Him, joined to that exposure, fervent prayer, and from the place of fervent prayer, coming to the place of arduous, unflagging diligence in the application of our minds to the truth of Scripture. Is it too much to pray and to cry to God that He would return to the church in this hour? Such a balanced perspective of the path into true wisdom. My friend, there's a sense in which, when I'm done preaching, if I've preached the Word, both of us ought to be both exhilarated and exhausted at the same time.

56:00 If you can leave a true exposition of the Word without feeling mentally drained, you haven't listened to right. And if a preacher can be done without feeling the drain of having employed all of his faculties in seeking accurately to convey the mind of God, he isn't worth his name as a preacher. But wonder of wonders, it's the principle of losing life in that expenditure of mental and spiritual energy. Bless God we find life. The spirit of illumination opens up the Word and we thank God for a fresh sight of the Savior and are humbled by the fresh sight of our own hearts, encouraged by fresh revelations of His purpose and His provisions for us in Christ Jesus. Well, it's obvious that most of what this passage contains is directed to the child of God and I have directed my applications to the same but I do want to close with this word to those of you who are strangers to God's grace. For the principles are not qualitatively different. If you are to come to that best of all knowledge, the knowledge of sins forgiven, the knowledge

Application to Unbelievers: The Path to Salvation

57:17 that you're right with God, it's going to come in this pathway you better start taking seriously the words of God. For the scripture says it's by this word that you're made wise unto salvation. Not by sitting around cogitating about your own thoughts about God. Not by going out and exposing yourself to the minds of the so-called great men and their opinions. You come with the mind of a child and start searching the scriptures. These are they which testify of Christ. Put yourself in the way of that divine testimony then cry to God that you'd have an ear inclined to wisdom. God says incline your ear unto me here and your soul shall live.

58:01 That's the gospel invitation. Incline your ear here and your soul shall live then cry to God. Be like that blind beggar who says Lord Jesus I can't see the light of the world is passing by but I can't see him. Son of David, have mercy. You cry to God to open your blind eyes then you apply yourself with diligence to the word of God. Apply yourself with diligence to turn from your sin and cast yourself upon the mercy of God in Christ Jesus and then you too shall know that greatest of all gifts of wisdom even that one who is made unto guilty sinners both wisdom and righteousness sanctification and redemption. Oh may God burn into our hearts this path to true wisdom. If you want it any other way you'll have to coerce God to change the directions. These are

59:06 his directions. May we by his grace follow them and ever and increasingly attain unto that true wisdom which is found in Christ himself and which will be expressed in practical godliness and in that discernment that enables us to distinguish truth from error, right from wrong and to stand in our generation in the totality of our life context there to live to God's praise under the direction of his word and be instruments of blessing to this poor sin sick world in which we're called to live to God's praise. But