Wisdom is Success

Turn with me in your Bible, if you would, to Ecclesiastes chapter 9, we're going to finish the 9th chapter, go into the first 10 verses of chapter 10, and look at what the Bible says concerning wisdom, and how wisdom is success Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse number 13, reads this way, Also this I came to see as wisdom under the sun, and it impressed me There was a small city with few men in it, and a great king came to it, surrounded it, and constructed large siege works against it

But there was found in it a poor wise man, and he delivered the city by his wisdom, yet no one remembered that poor man So I said, Wisdom is better than strength But the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded The words of the wise, heard in quietness, are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools Wisdom is better than weapons of war But one sinner destroys much good

Dead flies make a perfumer's oil stink, so a little foolishness is weightier than wisdom and honor. A wise man's heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man's heart directs him toward the left Even when the fool walks along the road, his sense is lacking, and he demonstrates to everyone that he is a fool If the ruler's temper rises against you, do not abandon your position, because composure allays great offenses There is an evil I have seen under the sun, like an error which goes forth from the ruler

Folly is set in many exalted places, while rich men sit in humble places. I have seen slaves riding on horses, and princes walking like slaves in the land He who digs a pit will fall into it, and a serpent may bite him who breaks through a wall He who quarries stones may be hurt by them, and he who splits logs may be endangered by them If the axe is dull, and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength Wisdom has the advantage of giving success Solomon says that wisdom has this advantage It gives success

Now, I don't know about you, but when someone talks about success, it conjures up all kinds of images in our minds And I don't know what it does for you, when someone asks you what does it mean to be successful But when we think about success, we think about it in terms of achievements, or accomplishments, or awards, or applause, or accolades We think about it in terms of recognition When we think of success, we think of scholastic achievements So if my son or daughter makes the honor roll in school, they're successful Or if I graduate as a valedictorian, I am successful

If I get a degree in this, or a doctorate in this, or multiple doctorates, then scholastically I am successful Or if I win the MVP of my league, or win championships, or gain trophies, or medals, or awards, then the more I gather together, the more successful I am And there is some truth to that In the world's perspective, those are symbols of success If I achieve my certain goals, if I am able to achieve my financial goals in life, I want to make my million by the time I'm 35, my billion by the time I'm 55, well then that makes me probably successful in the eyes of the world

If I accomplish an Oscar, or multiple Oscars, or Emmys, then I am successful in the entertainment world We think of all these ideas that will somehow make me a success in the eyes of other people If I have a lot of followers on my Instagram, or my Twitter account, or some kind of social media, then I am successful If I have a million followers, then I have a semblance of success But if I have a half a million followers, then I probably am successful If you have less than 100,000, you probably should get off of social media because no one is interested in you

But if you have, as this one man had not too long ago, 700 million followers, after five days, five days, think about it, and you know what he did? You're probably asking, no, what did he do? What he did is he went viral with his morning routine He put his morning routine, from the time he got up at 3.45 in the morning, and videotaped it till 9.15 in the morning And in five days, he had 700 million views It was the fastest viral video ever

And all he did was videotape his morning routine. I wonder if you videotaped your morning routine, how many people would follow you? You know, my morning routine lasts about six minutes Get up, shower, shave, get dressed, and go to work That's it. I'm not sure anybody's going to want to watch that But think about that People would say, well, this man's successful But who's unsuccessful? The 700 million people who view it So we only have 340 million people in the country That's it

So when you think about that, and you realize, wow, why are all these people watching it? What are they thinking? Are they really that lifeless that they have to watch a man's morning routine? Think about it But in the social media realm, he is successful Because all these people are watching

How do you deem success? How would you measure success in your life? Would you consider your life a success? One thing that you will notice that is conspicuously absent in any book you read about success is linking success with wisdom. I'm not sure you'll find anywhere in any book about success where wisdom is success But think about it The man writing Ecclesiastes is the man who had all the accolades He had all the achievements He had all the accomplishments If there was an award, he had it He's the king He literally had worldwide fame And yet he said all that is futile All of it's empty

It means nothing But he says there's one thing that does mean something And that's wisdom The ability to observe life beyond the sun in all of its beauty and dignity in order to operate in life under the sun with stability and tranquility That's how Solomon sees wisdom, godly wisdom

And I wonder how many people with all the awards and all the accomplishments and all the achievements, when they close their eyes at night and they go to bed, what goes through their mind? If I just get one more degree or I get one more Emmy or I get one more MVP trophy, if I gain one more million, then I will have reached success Solomon says all that's meaningless In fact, he would say this about wisdom in the book of Proverbs Listen to Proverbs chapter four, verses one to nine Now, just pause right there for a second Here's a father talking to his son

Here's a father talking to his son about wisdom and instruction and understanding If as a father you don't do that, you're just blown in the wind You're saying a lot of things that don't matter So Solomon's studying the tone for how it is you're to instruct your children He said, Then he taught me and said to me, let your heart hold fast my words, keep my commandments and live Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth Do not forsake her and she will guard you Love her, she will watch over you

The beginning of wisdom is acquire wisdom and with all your acquiring, get understanding Prize her, she will exalt you She will honor you if you embrace her She will place on your head a garland of grace She will present you with a crown of beauty. I wonder how many who have won the Miss America pageant or Miss Universe pageant would read this and say, the garland of grace that wisdom gives is the most beautiful crown there is

He says earlier in Proverbs chapter three, verse number 13, How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding for her profit is better than the profit of silver and her gain better than fine gold She is more precious than jewels and nothing you desire compares with her Long life is in her right hand, in her left hand are riches and honor Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace She's a tree of life to those who take hold of her and happy are all who hold her fast

Then over in Proverbs chapter eight, verse number 18, riches and honor are with wisdom enduring wealth and righteousness Wisdom's fruit is better than gold, even pure gold and my yield better than choice of silver. I walk in the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of justice to endow those who love me with wealth that I may fill their treasuries This is wisdom, because wisdom is success Verse 35, Proverbs eight, he who finds me, that is wisdom, finds life and obtains favor from the Lord One more verse, Proverbs 24, verse number 14, know that wisdom is thus for your soul

If you find it, then there will be a future and your hope will not be cut off Wisdom gives you a future Wisdom guarantees you a future There is nothing in life that will guarantee your future except wisdom None of your abilities, none of your achievements, your education, your intellect will not guarantee you a future, but wisdom does It gives you hope It gives you the blessed hope for the future Wisdom is success Let me show you how Solomon says that We're gonna do four things First, an introduction to present to you a problem Then an illustration that presents to you a parable

And then we're gonna give you the instruction which presents to you a series of Proverbs And then we're gonna give you the implications that present to you the principles Four simple points And to begin with, we're gonna take you back to where we were last week So if you got your Bible, if you're still in Ecclesiastes chapter nine, turn there with me if you would We're gonna go back to verse 11 by way of introduction to a problem Remember last week what Solomon said

He said, I again saw under the sun that race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability for time and chance overtake them all Moreover man does not know his time like fish caught up in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them By way of introduction, Solomon presents to us a problem

From the very early times in our lives, we grow up and we have coaches and we have teachers, we have parents, we have peers, we have friends, we have bosses who motivate us to pursue success, to be faster, quicker, more powerful, stronger, be a visionary, set your goals and granted we should set goals and granted we should be visionaries and sure we should try to be faster and stronger and better, all those things but they are set before us at a very early age and we engage in this relentless pursuit of being faster, stronger, smarter, more clever and better

And Solomon says, I just want to let you know very simply that not to the swift is the race, not to the strong is the winning of the battle, not to the clever is getting the bread and not to the sharp is true wealth and not to the skillful is favor of power Doesn't work that way But you see, we think it does because that's how we're educated, that's how we're trained The more degrees you get, the more educated you are, the better job you receive The faster and stronger you are, the more opportunities that are before you

And so we begin to develop this mentality from the world that sets us on a course to somehow that we will find success in life and all of a sudden, something happens Solomon calls it time and chance Chance is really God's providence because in verse 1 of chapter 9 he says that everything is held in the hand of God anyway But Solomon makes it very clear that we forget about one thing, that God's still in charge of all that's happening and none of us are

And so in our relentless pursuit of success to be faster and stronger and smarter than the next guy, it escapes our notice that man does not know his time Solomon said it this way in Psalm 31 verse number 15, my times are in your hands He says, like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare So the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them They don't know All of a sudden, suddenly things change Why is it the most disciplined? Why is it the most intelligent? Why is it the most powerful not succeed? Because it's all in the hand of God

Think about this way. I heard this this past week If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans That's just great You want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans James said it this way in James chapter four He said, come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away Instead, you want to say if the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that

But as it is, you boast in your arrogance and all such boasting is evil We make all kinds of plans We have all kinds of ambitions We have all kinds of drives and desire and we have our lives mapped out before us and all God does is just sit up in heaven and laugh Solomon said this way in Proverbs chapter 16 verse number one The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord Solomon says you can plan all you want, but God always gets the last word, not you

And then it says in verse nine of chapter 16, the mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps And then he says over in verse number 33, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord You can do and make any plan you want, but most of us make plans without consulting God We make marital plans We make financial plans We make educational plans We kind of have our lives mapped out before us And this is our problem, see? We think that we're in charge and we're out that you're not

And so God just sits in heaven and laughs at your plans because he's gonna do whatever he wants to do with your life He's in charge of your steps Over in Proverbs 19, verse number 21 says this, many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand. I love that We got plans, but God's got a counsel He's got a sovereign providential plan and that stands no matter what your plans are And then this went over in Proverbs 20, verse number 24 Answer, you can't You just can't Now, am I saying that you shouldn't make plans? No

Am I saying you shouldn't have goals? No, I'm not saying that What I'm saying is that everything's under the hand of God And Solomon says, look, I want to present to you a problem by way of introduction so that you don't make this mistake Just because you're faster doesn't make you better Just because you're stronger doesn't make you the one who's gonna get the job Just in case you're more educated and more finely tuned than someone else doesn't guarantee you anything Why? Because there's time and chance that take place You see, death is unavoidable and life is unpredictable

But we think that our life is predictable if we can map it out properly We think we can avoid death if we eat right, exercise, take the right vitamins But you can't Because you're not in charge of anything, even though you think you are And that's our problem We think that we can govern our own lives, that we are masters of our own fate, and you are not You are subject to the sovereign will of the living God So Solomon says, I just want to set the tone, let you know by way of introduction, there's a problem that every one of us faces and we all have faced it

We raise our kids to be strong, to be smart, to make good decisions We raise them to be the best they can possibly be And there's nothing wrong with that, but you must understand that all that is subject to the sovereign will of the living God who holds everything in His hand, that He's in absolute control of everything And that introduction then leads the way to point number two, an illustration The illustration by way of a parable And Solomon gives us this story because he wants you to understand that wisdom is success

So he says this, also this I came to see as wisdom under the sun and it impressed me And that's something we have not heard Solomon say That something impressed him, why? It's because Solomon is so impressed with himself, it's hard to find anything outside of himself that's going to impress him But he did find one thing that very much impressed him, that influenced him, that impacted him So you need to take note of that Solomon says there's something here that impressed me

There was a small city with few men in it and a great king came to it, surrounded it, and constructed large siege works against it Note the picture Very small little village, very few people in it, and here comes this great and mighty king who makes this siege work, who makes his way up the wall, this mound of dirt that will allow him to scale the wall and destroy the people in the city And of course they lived in fear What would happen to them, their families? And so they lived in fear So Solomon says, but there was found in it a poor, wise man and he delivered the city by his wisdom

In the city was a poor, insignificant, not a very powerful man, he's a poor man Not the most popular man in the city, a poor man Not the most preeminent man in the city, he was a poor man But by his wisdom, he delivered the city from the strong and mighty king He doesn't tell us how he did it, doesn't tell us what he said, doesn't tell us what he did He just said by his wisdom, he was able to deliver the city Now every one of us wants to be influential Every one of us wants to make some kind of impact Every one of us wants to make some kind of difference

Maybe it's in our family, maybe it's in our church, maybe it's in the office at work, or maybe it's at school We want to be an influencer We want to make a difference in people's lives Every one of us wants to be there The question is, how does that happen? Solomon says, wisdom Wisdom is success And so he says, there is this poor, wise man who delivered an entire city against a very strong and mighty king We didn't even know what he said. I think of Joseph when he was a young teenage boy, and he found his brothers and said to him, man, I had this dream that everybody's going to bow down to me

And they didn't like what he said, so they threw him in a pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites And as Joseph is in this wagon being carted to and fro from where he was to where he was going, he was thinking, wait a minute, I had these plans. I had a vision from the Lord And the plan is that everybody's going to bow down to me And who's going to bow down when I'm in the back of a wagon in a cage? Time and chance came upon him He's sold into slavery Who bows down to a slave? And then he becomes a servant in the house of Potiphar

He becomes a favored servant until Potiphar's wife lies about him, and now he's thrown into prison Well, who's going to bow down to me in prison? Again, suddenly, as Solomon says, everything is gone, bang, boom, just gone And then he thinks there's a way out when he tells the butler about his dream and how he says to the butler, don't forget about me, but the butler forgot about him Again, suddenly, boom, bang, everything's gone But one day, one day, God uses him, one man's wisdom in a mighty way to deliver an entire nation because what God did was true

And I think about that in your life and mine and how many disappointments we go through week after week or year after year We wonder, is my life ever going to be, make a difference? Am I going to have any kind of impact, any kind of influence? Am I going to make any difference in the world, in my own little arena? And God says, the only way that happens is by wisdom That's it For wisdom is success And so the text goes on and says, and so the people in the city built the great statue to the man of wisdom No, not at all It says, yet no one remembered that poor man

There was no statue built to the poor wise man There was no party for the poor wise man There were no accolades for the poor wise man There were no applause for the poor wise man Nobody remembered the poor wise man Nobody cared about the poor wise man See, that's where the rub is, isn't it? Down deep, we want to be recognized We want to be held in high esteem We want the applause of the nation We want people to recognize that I'm here, I exist, and I matter Solomon says, nobody remembered the poor wise man Wow, I got good news for you Hebrews 6, verse number 10

For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward his name and having ministered and is still ministering to the saints The world might forget, but there's one who doesn't forget, and that's our Lord You see, who do you do what you do for? Do you do it for the Lord? Or you do it for applause and recognition and achievements and accolades? Really comes into question what our motives are, isn't it? No one remembered the poor wise man So Solomon says, I said, wisdom is better than strength Here was the king, he was strong Here was his army, it was huge

But it could not defeat the poor wise man because wisdom is better than strength. I mean, that's just a powerful statement And so he says, verse 16, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words are not heeded Think about it, the superiority of wisdom In all of your abilities and all of your ingenuity and all of your cleverness and all the things that you think that make you strong, Solomon says, wisdom is better than strength But we have a hard time buying into that That's because nobody remembers the poor wise man Everybody remembers the strong man

Everybody builds statues to the MVP Everybody makes movies about the most popular And so because strength gets you the public vote, because strength gets you the popular vote, because strength is intimidating, because strength is impressive, the poor wise man had none of that Just had wisdom Solomon says, this is what impressed me And it takes a lot to impress me because I'm the wisest man on the planet. I'm the wealthiest man on the planet. I'm the most popular man on the planet And there's something that impressed me, this poor wise man Wisdom is better than strength

But the wisdom of the poor man is despised His words are not heeded That's true Nobody wants to listen to the message of the cross because the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing But those of us who are being saved, it's the power of everything But the world doesn't want to listen to the poor wise man who speaks about the way of salvation and the way to eternal glory because it's not filled with achievements and prestige and popularity and applause and accolades But it's the message of the cross that brings salvation and it's wisdom in God's eyes

He goes on to say that the words of the wise heard in quietness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools Even though the words of the wise are quietly spoken, they are so much better than the ruler, the king, the president whose voice is loud and everybody hears it, but it's spoken to fools So he says in verse 18, Wisdom is better than weapons of war Wow Solomon knows this He's got weapons of war He's got an army He's got soldiers He's got horses He's powerful He knows about weapons of war But wisdom is better than weapons of war

Ask the king who lost the battle to a small village and a poor wise man Ask him He'll let you know But one sinner destroys much good That's a powerful statement right there Ask Achan in Joshua chapter 7 who because of his sin led to the defeat of the nation of Israel when they went against the little village of Ai Ask David, King David in 2 Samuel 24 when he decided just to number his army and God said don't do that and 70,000 Israelites were killed by a pestilence because of one man's sin Or about the rebellion of a son Absalom which led to a civil war in Israel

One man's rebellion, one sinner destroys much good One sinner in your family can destroy a family One sinner in your church can destroy a church One sinner destroys much good That's why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5 one little leaven leavens the whole lump One person who's not confronted in a sin who's left to live in a sin will infect the entire church at Corinth So deal with it One sinner destroys much good which leads us into chapter 10

So you go from this instruction that presents to us this problem that every one of us faces to an illustration that gives us a parable about what wisdom is all about how wisdom is successful how it's better than weapons of war how wisdom is better than strength to give us some instruction And he gives us this instruction through several parables which are quite insightful because he speaks a lot about folly and foolishness This is very important

If you go back and you trace it through the book of proverbs or I'm sorry, the book of Ecclesiastes he begins by talking in chapter 2 about fool, how he examined how he engaged in all kinds of foolish behavior And then you get to chapter 10 nine times in the first 15 verses he uses the word fool, folly, or foolishness Next week we're going to talk to you about the destruction of a fool because that will conclude chapter 10 But we don't understand what a fool is but you need to understand it from a biblical perspective It's from a Hebrew word that means thick-headed

That's pretty much self-explanatory Somebody who's thick-headed Someone who truly is one who deviates his mind from what is true what is right, what is good that goes the way of evil and wickedness Foolishness in the Bible is not a funny term Oh, he was just foolish Oh, no, no Foolish in the Bible is about wickedness Foolish in the Bible is about treacherousness Foolish in the Bible is about unrighteousness The fool has said in his heart there is no God The fool is the one who says no to God That's the fool

And so what he does in this way of instruction by giving us these parables he tells us specifically what folly does, what foolishness does And the very first thing he says is that it ruins your reputation Don't be a fool because it ruins your reputation He says this, dead flies make a perfumer's oil stink so a little foolishness is weightier than wisdom and honor If you want wisdom, don't be a fool It's going to ruin your reputation Not a lot of folly Just a little bit of folly One harsh word, one rash word one foolish moment of pleasure

Just one little bit of folly destroys a priceless treasure Solomon knows because he examined and engaged all there was about folly and foolishness We read about it already in the first nine chapters about his pursuit of a foolish lifestyle and how it affected him as an individual But now life is being turned around He says it ruins your reputation Just one little fly in the perfumer's oil makes the whole thing stink One little ounce of folly in your life is going to cause your life to give off an odor that is detestable That's important

So many times we forget that. I guess the question would come who left the perfumer's oil open? Why didn't you put a lid on it? Why didn't you guard it? Why didn't you protect it from the insect that would fly around and land in it die and smell it up? In other words, why don't you guard your heart? Why don't you protect your heart? Why don't you watch over your heart? Protect it so the folly doesn't penetrate it and cause you to make decisions that will ruin your reputation

He goes on and says this A wise man's heart directs him toward the right but the foolish man's heart directs him toward the left Quite a statement The wise man moves toward the right but the foolish man moves toward the left because foolishness is in his heart Right? Remember Proverbs 22, 15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of the child but the rod of correction will drive it far from him You have a foolish child? Of course you do It's bound up in their heart The only thing that's going to drive the foolishness from their heart is the rod of correction Nothing else That's what Solomon says

That's what God says through the pen of Solomon through the inspiration of Scripture You don't want to raise a fool You want to raise someone filled with folly You want to raise a wise son, a wise daughter It's interesting that a wise man's heart direction toward the right and a foolish man's heart direction toward the left You have to realize that in the Bible things on the right are right and righteous things on the left are wrong and unrighteous It doesn't mean if you're left-handed you're unrighteous

Okay? But remember when Christ comes back in Matthew 25 He puts a sheep on His right He puts a goat on His left Solomon says in Psalm 16 verse number 8 The Lord is on my right hand I shall not be shaken Solomon says in Psalm 121 verse number 5 The Lord is your share on your right hand It talks about the right hand of God being the strong hand of God that moves nations, moves people's minds And so it's all about going the right direction Well, the fool goes the wrong way simply because it's in his heart

Interesting that the English word sinister comes from a Latin word which means on the left hand Since fools don't have wisdom they always gravitate toward the left They always gravitate to the wrong side Because foolishness is in their heart Even when, verse number 3 When the fool walks along the road his sense is lacking and he demonstrates to everyone that he is a fool

You see, when you engage in folly as little as it may be because we think that well, I'll just do a little bit of this or a little bit of that it's not really a big deal just a little bit you don't recognize that everybody sees it It's observable So that when you walk down the street everybody knows you're a fool Because your reputation has been ruined by your folly by your desire to say no to God Because the fool in his heart does say no to God Not only does it ruin your reputation but folly calls for composure

Look what he says in verse 4 If the ruler's temper rises against you and you can put your boss's name in there if you want to Joe, Billy, whatever his name is if your ruler's temper rises against you do not abandon your position because composure allays great offenses In other words, because folly is present it calls for the man of wisdom to be of great composure to be patient to be long-suffering because of the attitude of the ruler and because of the actions of the ruler He goes on to say, There is an evil I have seen under the sun like an error which goes forth from the ruler

Folly is set in many exalted places while rich men sit in humble places. I have seen slaves riding on horses and princes walking the slaves of the land. I have seen foolish rulers make foolish decisions where slaves ride horses and princes walk How do you handle that? What do you do? It calls for great composure on the heart and mind of the believer who walks in wisdom Let me show you what it says over in the book of Proverbs Proverbs chapter 12 verse number 16 says, A fool's anger is known at once but a prudent man conceals dishonor. A fool's anger is known at once

Solomon has so much to say about foolishness in the book of Proverbs That's why as a parent you need to master the book of Proverbs because you need to drive foolishness from the heart of your child And the only way to do that is through the rod of correction But Solomon has so much to say about foolishness that unless you read it and understand it your child is going to go the way of the fool Very important Chapter 13 verse number 16 says, Every prudent man acts with knowledge but a fool displays his folly. A wise man goes by what God's word says but a fool will always display his folly

Proverbs chapter 29 verse number 11 says this Proverbs 29 verse number 11 A fool always loses his temper but a wise man holds it back He's composed He knows how to restrain himself But the foolish man, he will lose his temper Proverbs 26 verse number 1 Like snow in summer and like rain in harvest Not appropriate So honor is not fitting for a fool Don't praise a fool Don't honor a fool It's not appropriate Why? Why? Verse 8 Like one who binds a stone in a sling so is he who gives honor to a fool Wow You don't want to misuse a weapon of war or put a weapon of war in the hand of a fool

It will only cause major problems And so Solomon says it's imperative that folly calls for great composure on the man of wisdom But be careful Folly will ruin your reputation And then he says, watch this That folly deserves God's discipline Verse 8 He who digs a pit may fall into it and a serpent may bite him who breaks through a wall He who quarries stones may be hurt by them and he who splits logs may be endangered by them What does all that mean? Well, the whole purpose behind this is that there's going to be consequences for what you do

If you dig a pit, you're going to find yourself in the pit If you begin to break down someone's property and go into their property by destroying the wall, you're going to be bit by a snake But maybe, maybe if you chop wood, you might get hurt If you quarry stones, you might get hurt But if you do that which is wrong, and what is the pit? Solomon tells us Book of Proverbs, 28th chapter, 10th verse That's the way it says Proverbs 28 He who leads the upright astray in an evil way will himself fall into his own pit The pit is designed to hurt others

And the foolish man digs a pit, but he's going to fall into it himself The foolish man is the one who breaks down the barriers, but will be bitten by a snake Why? Because folly deserves God's discipline And folly impairs one's impact Back to Ecclesiastes chapter 10, verse number 10 If the axe is dull, it does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength In other words, you're the axe And folly dulls the edge of the axe And the more the axe is dulled, the harder it is to chop, the more energy you must exert But wisdom sharpens the axe

In fact, if you go over to Proverbs chapter 12, verse number 15, it says this The way of a fool is right in his own eyes It dulls the axe But a wise man is he who listens to counsel That sharpens the axe So he says, be careful, because folly is going to ruin your reputation So it calls for great composure on the man of wisdom, but folly deserves God's discipline and impairs one's impact So he says this Wisdom has the advantage of giving success Wisdom is that which breeds success

So what's the implications? The implications are back in Proverbs chapter 2, where Solomon would say these words to his son He gives a prerequisite to wisdom, and then he gives a promise for wisdom, and then he gives the product of wisdom Here's the prerequisite My son, if, prerequisite, you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding, for if, prerequisite, you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding, if, prerequisite, you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures

You want to be a man of wisdom? You want to be a woman of wisdom? You seek wisdom Search for wisdom Cry for discernment God does not yield up his wisdom to those who are not diligent and those who do not pursue it relentlessly It comes because you want to listen You want your ears to be attentive Put it this way You're here tonight simply because there is some semblance of cry for discernment You are here tonight because there is some semblance of wanting to seek wisdom as you would seek silver You would search for wisdom as you search for hidden treasure That's why you're here

And all those poor souls who decided to do something else other than search for wisdom? We'll find a hard time finding it because they've chosen to do something else instead of find and search and seek wisdom with all that they have, that relentless pursuit to know God in all that he has That's prerequisite Here's the promise Then you will discern the fear of the Lord Then you will discover the knowledge of God For the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding It comes from the mouth of God It comes from the word of God

Do you actually think that you can gain wisdom by just reading a verse of Scripture a day? Do you actually think you can gain wisdom by not opening your Bible except on Wednesdays and Sundays? Do you actually think you can gain wisdom by just putting your Bible on the shelf and never opening it, never studying it, never seeking for wisdom, never searching for wisdom? No, you can't God doesn't give you wisdom simply because you're a Christian Yes, the wisdom of God is the knowledge of salvation That's true Yes, the wisdom of the cross brings salvation Yes, that's true But it doesn't end there

That's just the beginning of wisdom, the finding the heart of God and knowing the mind of God It's a relentless pursuit of getting to know the true and living God That's wisdom And God says, you'll discern the fear of the Lord You'll discover the knowledge of God But you've got to seek her as silver You've got to search for her as if she's a hidden treasure And then He gives the product He stores a thousand wisdom for the upright He's a shield to those who walk in integrity He'll be your shield He'll be your protector Guarding the path of justice, He preserves the way of His godly ones

Oh, you'll be protected You'll be preserved Why? Because wisdom is success Let's pray Father, we thank you for our time together this evening Our prayer, Lord, is that our hearts would be stirred and motivated to search for the truth, to live the truth, to apply the truth of the Word of God Help us to be men and women of supreme wisdom Help us to be the poor, wise man Help us to be that guy No statues built in his name We don't even know his name There was no applause There was no recognition There was no scholarship put in his name for those who would follow behind

There was no newspaper clippings that would help us read about him There was no photo shoot to put him on social media He was just a poor, wise man And nobody even remembered who he was But you did That's all that matters You remember Because wisdom is better than strength Wisdom is better than weapons of war And wisdom, wisdom is the advantage Because wisdom is success Thank you, Lord In your name, amen.