- Well, I would like to invite you to take your Bibles out and we're gonna dive into Proverbs 3 again. Last week we started chapter three, today we're gonna continue, so locate Proverbs 3:13. And again, if you need the notes, it's pretty simple this morning, simple outline that you can follow along. If you wanna pull that up, it's at rockpoint.church/today or the QR codes are inside of the tent. And we're gonna have a chance to go through a really wonderful passage today, and it's a continuation of where we were last week, Proverbs 3, as we continue in our series wisdom for life. You know how it is when you find the secret to something and the difference it can make, I mean it to make all the difference in the world. So when you get the right tool, okay? For the right job, it makes all the difference in the world and it cuts down so much time and energy. When you finally learn and for some of you you're still learning how to actually drive on ice, okay? When you kinda figure that out, it makes all the difference in the world. When someone mentors you in a professional work environment and they guide you through some of the stuff that's coming your way, maybe some of the problems you're experiencing, their advice sometimes makes all the difference in the world. You're navigating a relationship and you're not sure what to do, and you're running into some obstacles, somebody comes along into your life and gives you some advice and it makes all the difference in the world. Now I am not a conversationist, okay? My wife is a conversationist. She talks, she communicates, she asks questions. If you sit down at the dinner table with her, she's got just, and it just comes to her mind, she just starts peppering you with questions and starts pulling things out of you and I've seen it in the various places we've traveled in other countries. I can take lovely Lynette, I can place her in any country of the world, it does not matter where we are, it doesn't even matter whether or not she speaks the language, okay? And I've observed it taking place. All of a sudden she engages with somebody and they can't even understand English. And she's communicating with them, once she gets past a certain level, she finds somebody else that can actually be the go-between, you know, the interpreter, and she will go take them, bring them into the conversation and start this three-way conversation so that she can pull information out. So I have learned how to be a conversationist with questions when I go and get together with people. So oftentimes what I'll do, or I have done this in the past, well, I start thinking of questions ahead of time knowing when I get there, I've gotta have the right questions, and it makes all the difference in the world. When you look at your spiritual life, what you believe about Jesus Christ, that He is the way, the truth, and the life, He's the only way to have eternal life, when you look at spiritual issues like grace and forgiveness in someone's life, it makes all the difference in the world. And when we pursue wisdom, Proverbs says that wisdom makes all the difference in the world. And that as we walk down this way, the way life was created to be, and that's why wisdom makes such a big difference because God created this world and He says, this is the way life was meant to be lived for you and He unpacks it for us in this book as we walk down this journey because it's the way our life was designed to work. And so now as we embark on chapter three, starting in verse 13, we are reminded again of two central paths and this is important because starting next week we're gonna build on the foundation that we've laid, and we're gonna start talking about specific topics, but the context is found in everything we've set up to this point. It's found in the fact that you can take the Book of Proverbs and you can summarize it down to two paths, all 31 chapters, there's a path to destruction, that's not wisdom, and there's consequences, and there's sorrow if you go down that path, but there's also the path of wisdom and if you walk down this journey of allowing God to live His life through you, it's the life of Christ, then there's this transformation that takes place. In chapter two, we learned of that transformation, this path of growth, last week when we jumped into chapter three, verses one through 12, we understood what it means to walk in wisdom, to keep His commandments, and then two of the most famous verses that are found, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, "don't lean on your own understanding, "in all your ways acknowledge Him, "and He'll make your path straight." Well, today we're gonna begin to uncover the blessings of walking down that path. So if you look at verse 13, we're gonna begin by looking that wisdom enriches anyone who finds it. Notice what he does here, he says, "Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, "and the one who gets understanding, "for the gain from her is better than gain from silver "and her profit better than gold. "She is more precious than jewels "and nothing you desire can compare with her. "Long life is in her right hand, "and her left hand are riches and honor. "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, "and all her paths are peace. "She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her, "and those who hold her fast are called blessed." Notice there's a blessing that starts in verse 13 and then right at the end of verse 18. God wants us to see here through Solomon to us the benefits of true wisdom and they are beyond what people normally prize in this life. Money and jewels and the rich stuff of life is kinda the idea here, but wisdom offers so much more. True wealth comes from true wisdom that will last. One person said, "It's good to have the things money can buy "provided you don't lose the things money can't provide." And then perhaps you've heard this one, "It's okay to own things just don't let them own you." And the idea here is, what good are material possessions if you don't have the kind of peace and the kind of pleasantness that he talks about in Proverbs 3? And when you find that, you begin to understand that God is offering you so much more than what the stuff of this life offers you. Why would we go after something that only God can provide to us by His grace? You don't aim for money is the idea, aim for wisdom or skillful godly living, and when you find that, then you will make the money and here's the key phrase, that you need, that you need, and you'll be able to keep it and be able to have other things because you'll gain more that address the very needs of your soul and who you are as an individual that honors God. Wisdom is the skill of living life well. Money is not. Money can buy a house, it can put food on a table, but it cannot develop the character of the lives of those sitting around the table. It is wisdom that allows us to live in right relationship with God and with one another. And he says, in verse 17, notice there it says that, "All her ways are pleasantness." You can't say that about money. People have just wrecked their lives going after material possessions of wealth and power and fame, and you know, one of the perfect examples of this is quite frankly those that have won the genetic lottery are now pro athletes almost exclusively, I mean it's extremely rare for those individuals to finish off their career and still have any money left, they blow it all And the reason they blow it all is because they were going after the American dream and not true wisdom. That's the path of destruction and God is warning us, don't go down that road. Wisdom is contrasted here, look at verse 18, I love that phrase, "She is a tree of life." A life giving tree, and I think there's a reference there to the tree of life that's found in Genesis 2:9, and when we pursue this wisdom, it gives us life, it gives us character, it gives us joy and satisfaction and meaning and purpose. That's the idea, the path of growth, the path of walking in wisdom, there's a blessing that's found there, we find the true riches that God is after and ultimately it's found in a relationship with Him. Now verses 19 and 20, here's the blessing that is given to us there, wisdom is used by God in creation and then notice this, also in you. That's the idea. Look at verse 19, "The Lord by wisdom founded the earth, "by understanding He established the heavens, "by His knowledge, the deeps broke open, "and the clouds dropped down their dew." Now think about that illustration in the context of wisdom. Many are taught in school today that life simply emerged out of primordial goo. Okay, that's evolution. One author described it this way, "From Goo to You by Way of the Zoo". Okay? Well, the truth is God created all things, He is the Creator of the universe. And notice verse 19, and then leading into verse 20, how he talks about how he established the heavens. I mean, this is foundational. And then you get into verse 20 and I love that phrase, "And the clouds drop down their dew." Now, several years ago, John Piper wrote a meditation on Thanksgiving Day, and it's a bit lengthy, but I'm gonna read it word for word because it is so powerful. So listen to these words 'cause it really unpacks the meaning of what he said in verse 20. "Picture yourself as a farmer in the Near East, "far from any lake or stream. "A few wells keep the family "and animals supplied with water. "But if the crops are to grow "and the family is to be fed from month to month, "water has to come on the fields from another source. "From where? "Well, the sky. The sky? "Water will come out of the clear blue sky? "Well, not exactly. "Water will have to be carried in the sky "from the Mediterranean Sea over several hundred miles, "and then be poured out from the sky onto the fields. "Carried? "How much does it weigh? "Well, if one inch of rain falls "on one square mile of farmland during the night, "that would be 27,878,400 cubic feet of water, "which is 206,300,160 gallons, "which is 1,650,501,280 pounds of water. "Well, that's heavy. "So how does it get up in the sky "and stay up there if it's so heavy? "Well, it gets up there by evaporation. "Really? "That's a nice word. "What does it mean? "Well, it means that the water sorta stops being water "for a while so it can go up and not down. "I see. "Then how does it get down? "Well, condensation happens. "Well, what's that? "Well, the water starts becoming water again "by gathering around little dust particles between," Get this. "0.00001, "and 0.0001 centimeters wide. "Well that's small. "Well what about the salt? "Salt? "Yes, the Mediterranean Sea is salt water "and that would kill the crops. "What about the salt? "Well, the salt has to be taken out. "Oh, so the sky picks up a billion pounds of water "from the sea, takes out the salt "and then carries it for 300 miles "and then dumps it on the farm? "Well, it doesn't dump it. "If it dump a billion pounds of water on the farm, "the wheat would be crushed. "So the sky dribbles the billion pounds of water "down in little drops." Isn't that God's wisdom? You know, here's the application question I want you to think about, if God by His wisdom can work that kind of wonder in creation, what will He accomplish by His wisdom in you? Ponder that. He will create you into something new from the inside out. He will change you, He's the life giving Creator. He always creates life, not death. He's here to breathe that into you the way life was meant to be lived. And you know what? Creation whets our appetite for something more, for the truest reality that we can't always find here on this planet. We are surrounded and sustained by God's wisdom though we barely understand it. C.S. Lewis said it this way, "At present, we are on the outside of the world, "the wrong side of the door. "We discern the freshness and purity of morning, "but they do not make us fresh and pure. "We cannot mingle with the splendors we see, "but someday, someday God willing we shall get in." Creation should drive us to the Creator. Colossians tells us that Jesus Christ is the Creator, that He gave us this Book of Proverbs. He lived it out, but He created this planet for us to live in. And if you seek Him and you seek His wisdom, the same wisdom that is far more precious and powerful than anything else we see here, that creates and blows our minds that that is available to us because it transforms us, and when we encounter Him, we begin to display the very presence of Christ in and through us, and that is absolutely positively a miracle. And there should be a longing for Jesus and a longing for home because it makes all the difference in the world. I don't know how many of you have traveled into another country. I know many of you here and many of you have and I have, and when I travel into another country especially those countries that you don't know their language, perhaps you can relate to this, it's just hard to communicate, isn't it? You look at a sign and you can't figure out where you're going, and you try and figure out what to eat on a menu and you have no clue what you're just ordered, right? And then you go buy something in a store and you pull out money that looks like monopoly play money, you hand it to the person, they give you something back and you hope that they gave you the right amount of change, right? You can't find a pillow that you like 'cause the MyPillow guy hasn't sent pillows over there yet or whatever. You know, and you get back and I've had this, you get into the custom line coming back into the United States and the custom officer on the other side of the glass, what do they oftentimes say to you? I've had it happen. They look at you and they say, "Welcome home." And if it's your first experience, you wanna break into the office and give them a hug, but they'd probably arrest you and set off all kinds of lies , you know, you're just so delighted to be home because you can finally get the burger and pizza that you couldn't get in the other country. And why is that home? Or why is that? Well, because this is our home. And you know, this earth is not our home, our home is in heaven, that's our true home. We're not citizens of this world, we are citizens of another world. And what we see here whets our appetite for something more. And what we see now in our world that's going on should cause a restlessness in your heart and soul. Weren't meant to be comfortable here, weren't meant to receive all the stuff that oftentimes we receive here. No, the trials, the suffering, the pain, the heartache, the win and the loss of all of the stuff that we have should cause us to long for the truest reality. People worship something and wisdom says worship God. He created you to worship something, put your gaze upon Him, it's the only thing that will satisfy you. And the amazing thing about all of this and you'll find this in the weeks to come, if you walked down this other path whereby it leads to destruction and devastation, it's not the way life was created for you to live and that's why there's pain, and that's why there's heartache because of sin. God has arranged things for you to live the way life was meant to be lived and that's through wisdom, and if you don't walk down that path, there are serious consequences, morally, physically, spiritually, and in so many other ways. That's why He says, look, I'm offering you a path of life. Well, if you look at verse 21, wisdom protects us, he says, "My son, do not lose sight of these, "keep sound wisdom and discretion "and they will be life for your soul, "and adornment for your neck. "Then you will walk on your way securely "and your foot will not stumble. "If you lie down, you'll not be afraid, "when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. "Do not be afraid of sudden terror "or of the ruin of the wicked, "when it comes, the Lord will be your confidence "and will keep your foot from being caught." Now, I realized that the MyPillow guy tells you, you need his pillow to get a good night's sleep, you know that if you've seen enough of those commercials, the little diddly just continues to run in your head ad nauseum, okay? But Proverbs says, you know, you want a good night's rest? Seek wisdom, go after it. I love this because it really begins to unpack what he's talking about here throughout chapter three, because he says here, "If you trust in the Lord," In verse five. "And acknowledge Him, "and don't lean on your own understanding, "He'll make your paths straight." You'll grow in wisdom. And this is practically seen all over the book. Verse 26 is really a summary of that section verses 21 through 26, and it ties back up into verse 21, where he says, look, if you find wisdom, wisdom will be discretion for you. Don't lose sight of those things, pay attention to them. Don't lose sight of the principles that are found here. And when you do notice what he says in verse 26, "The Lord will be your confidence." Now the Hebrew language oftentimes has some nuances that are really colorful as they unpack them for us and this is one of them. Actually when it says that the Lord will be your confidence, you could actually translate it, the Lord will be at your side, He'll be right there with you walking down that road. And last week when it said in verse six, "In all your ways acknowledge Him." Know Him, you'll know Him, and you'll know His promises are true, He'll walk with you, He'll be right there by your side. When Paul the apostle was suffering in his last Roman imprisonment and all others left him, he says in 2 Timothy 4:16, but he says, "But the Lord stood by me and He strengthened me." He walked with me. And the longer we live, the more we hear of God's incredible story of how somebody was walking down this road of suffering, trial, difficulty, issues at work, issues at home, a variety of different things in life. Maybe it was failure in their past but needing forgiveness and hope and restoration. And the longer we live, we hear of these incredible stories of those that know Him, went back to Him and trusted Him and He sustained them and walked with them through life. He doesn't always take them out of the situation, He lives His cross, He lives His resurrection in and through them because in the midst of the trial, in the midst of the suffering, it is about dying to self, that's the cross being lived out and being raised to new resurrected life, life that is growing, life that is changing, life that is being transformed. Now you say to yourself, but I wanna be delivered from this. Folks, that's heaven, that's not earth, and while you're here, the mission and the purpose is for Him to display the cross and the resurrection in and through you, so no matter how you live, you're living life with redemptive value so others will join you when you finally get to your heavenly home. That's the idea, that's what He's about. Well, in verse 27 to 35, he wraps this up that, wisdom also brings life into relationships. He says in verse 27, "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due "when it is your power to do it. "Do not say to your neighbor, "'Go and come again, tomorrow I'll give it.' "When you have it with you. "Do not plan evil against your neighbor "who dwells," Notice this word. "Trustingly beside you. "Do not contend with a man for no reason "when he has done you no harm. "Do not envy a man of violence "and do not choose any of his ways, "for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, "but the upright are in His confidence. "The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked, "but He blesses," There it is again, "the dwelling of the righteous." "Toward the scorners, He is scornful, "but to the humble He gives favor. "And the wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace." This last few verses or section, I think really unpacks what we discovered in chapter three, verses three and four, where steadfast love and faithfulness are to be around our neck, written on the tablet of our hearts. It's supposed to be part of our character, and when we do, we find favor and good success in God and man. In other words, we're loving God and loving one another. It's what we reviewed last week, and he begins to wrap this up because as we live in these relationships, it's powerful because we're loving God and we're loving one another. We're able to give to people what they need. It is a powerful, powerful thing to be generous, to give to someone, to offer them things that they need. And the neighbor that he refers to here is anyone who has need. Now verse 27, it's interesting he says, "Do not withhold good from those whom it is due." And again, the Hebrew offers us another translation that gives us just a little more color, but it coincides with that, but lemme give it to you. And it is found actually, this one is found in your ESV if you do the English Standard Version, it's in the margin in some of your Bibles, and it says this, "Do not withhold good from its owners." Isn't that interesting? Somebody in need is an owner of what you already have to give to them. Now, when you look at the biblical understanding of giving, God owns everything, He's given it to you, you are a manager to use those resources for His honor and glory. But the idea here is this, oftentimes He hasn't just given it to you, He's actually given it morally to somebody else, but He's handed it to you because He wants to give it to them through you. That's the idea, that's what he's after here. Jesus didn't withhold from us, He gave us His love, He gave us His grace. He went to a cross, He died, He rose from the grave so that we might have eternal life. And therefore we must do the same for others. Why? Because this is the God through His wisdom that breathes life into our world as we've seen, and He is also the God of wisdom who now is transforming you and changing you to breathe life in and through you so that he can display that life to those who need Him. That's the idea. And so he says, we need to be generous, we need to give of our time and talents and treasures, we need to look for opportunities to breathe hope in life into people. Notice he says in verse 29, "Do not play an evil against your neighbor "who dwells trustingly beside you." Now isn't that interesting rather convicting because your neighbor is trusting that you'll help them and provide needs for them. Obviously within wisdom these are general applications here, but isn't it interesting? They're trusting you, then how can you not trust God? You see in the midst of trusting God to provide everything that I need, He satisfies my soul, He's given me eternal life, He provides the very basic needs that I have in this life, and when I have that level of joy and satisfaction from Him, you know what that does in my life? It releases my grip on the stuff of this life. It releases the grip that I have on my pride. It releases this demand that I have for you to forgive me because you wronged me. Folks, I've already been forgiven by the Lord Jesus Christ, and when I have my total satisfaction in Him, when I receive all forgiveness, everything that I have flows from Him into my life, then I'm not looking at it from you. I don't want that from you, I don't need that from you. And because I know He's given me the riches of heaven, an abundant God, then I open up my life, and I'm telling you that is the secret to a generous life because everything I have is in Him. And all of a sudden I realize my home is in heaven, not here on this planet, and I have a freedom to offer myself to serve you. I have a freedom to offer forgiveness. I have a freedom to offer you my wealth and my time and my talents and my treasures 'cause I'm not looking at me anymore, I found my satisfaction and my joy of living in Him. Well, it's interesting because starting in verse 31, then he begins to talk about this man of violence or those that seek to do wrong. It's actually a person that's just full of pride, they haven't humbled themselves. It's interesting because in verse 34, where he says, "Toward the scorners, He is scornful, "but to the humble He gives favor." That's actually quoted in 1 Peter 5:5, James four and six, but they're actually quoting, there's the Hebrew Bible, and then when the culture started changing to a Greek influence or a Hellenistic Culture, they translated the Hebrew Old Testament into a Greek Old Testament and it's called the Septuagint. And oftentimes the New Testament writers 'cause they were writing in Greek, they would refer to the Greek Old Testament. So the Greek Old Testament is the Septuagint and it actually says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." That's the idea of what he's after here. And oftentimes even as followers of Christ, we're envious that's why he says that there, don't envy the man of violence 'cause we see people who walk down the evil path and they're successful and I'm not, I'm not doing really well, and so we're tempted to do what? Cut corners, we're all human. We're tempted to do things that we shouldn't do. And he warns us there, he says, no, no, no, if you do that you're going down the wrong path again, stay with integrity, stay with honesty, humble your heart, walk down this road. Why? Because he says it again at the end of verse 32, "The upright in His God's confidence." He's listening to you. You know, when you say, well, I had the confidence of a national leader, of a president of a country, what does that mean? He gave you his hearing, he listened to you, you were able to walk into his presence. You as a follower of Jesus Christ, have the Creator of the universe who's working as wisdom in you, He's calling you into a deeper relationship with Him, you have His confidence. Don't worry, He'll take care of you. Don't go after the wrong things, have this heart of humility whereby you will receive, he says, honor, the honor of eternal life obviously with Christ as our inheritance, but also the honor of His grace and His power to live this kind of life before others. And then as we do, we actually have the grace in honor of others because it says that we will, in verse four, have favor and good success in the sight of God and man. And then I think he wraps it up really with a major point here, and that is that, it sometimes takes wisdom to live in a sinful world, to not give into the temptations, but to live in such a way in the face of trials and persecution so that you can maintain your testimony for Jesus Christ. Now, Jesus picks up on this because as I've said, He inspired the book, He lived the book, and Matthew 5:6-7 are so powerful to describe for us the kingdom life. And when he starts in chapter five, he says, this is how you have the blessed life, it actually coincides perfectly with chapter three. This is how you live the kingdom life, and when you do, you will experience persecution, and when that persecution comes, trust your heavenly Father, rejoice, he says, your reward is in heaven, they persecuted others before you that followed me. And then he says right down towards the end of that section, it's the first 16 verses, he says, just keep in mind, you're salt and light in this world. So in the midst of the persecution, in the midst of the suffering, there's this blessed life of others that have lived faithfully before you, gain encouragement, walk that path because when you do, you will be salt and light in your neighborhood, in your workplace, wherever you may go, you will breathe life into a very dark world so that people can see what it means to be transformed by the power of Jesus Christ as you walk this road surrendered in humility to Him. I'll tell you, our world is searching for answers today, it's everywhere. They want hope, they're not finding it. They're walking down the wrong path. They're worshiping something, they're worshiping trying to find identity, they're worshiping all the stuff that we see with the cultural wars that are going on today. They're worshiping so many other things and they're not worshiping the Creator. They're worshiping politics, they're worshiping division, they're worshiping skin color, they're worshiping everything that God says you should not worship. He says, I want to be at the core of your life, and when we finally humble ourselves and submit to Him, it's remarkable what begins to happen because that's the way life was meant to be lived. So I would encourage you, I would encourage you today, if you don't know Christ as Savior and Lord, boy, this would be the day where you finally bow your will to Christ and you confess your sin. You know it's true, just agree with God what He already knows to be true about you and confess your sin and then believe that Jesus, the perfect Son of God died on that cross for your sin in payment to the Father, He arose from the grave and completely trust Christ alone as Savior and Lord. You can say it however you want, but God I'm a sinner, I want forgiveness. Jesus I believe you died for me and rose from the grave, and so now I accept you as my Savior and my Lord. And then my question to the rest of us is, are you living this kind of life? Are you pursuing this path? Because only He will provide life for your soul, and then as you apply the Proverbs that we're gonna be unpacking over the next several weeks, living life with redemptive value, you will be this salt and light, you will be an example of what it means to live for Jesus Christ because He's changing you, you're not perfect, but He continues to change you so that others may find hope in you. Lemme pray for us. Lord, thank you for the power of your word, I thank you for the hope that is found through Christ, I thank you that we can come before you and ask for your wisdom and you will grant it. So Lord, it is my prayer for us as your people, your church, those of us that are called by your name, that we would not forsake wisdom, that we would walk this path trusting in you alone, watching you move and change us so that others may find hope in you. And Father you know how much hope is needed in this world and you have also placed us in this time for this reason to stand, to stand with you and allow you to move in and through us so that you may draw others to yourself. So Lord, we commit our way to you this week. It is in Christ's name we pray. Amen.