The Desperate Need For Wisdom | Pastor Shane Idleman

Shane Idleman: He said, "Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in it he doth meditate day and night." It goes on to say he'll be like a tree planted by living waters, bears its fruit in season and all that. But he says listen, do not, "Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly." So it begs the question: where are you getting your counsel from? What direction are you walking? Who are you going with? In other words, who are you hanging out with? Who's pulling you? Are people either pulling you down or they're pulling you up?
Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, one hour north of Los Angeles. Today on Regaining Lost Ground, we hear part one of a profound study into the beginning of Proverbs titled, "The Desperate Need for Wisdom." Puritan preacher Thomas Watson once exclaimed, "The fear of God promotes spiritual joy. It is the morning star that ushers in the sunlight of comfort." Please join us for this reverent, sober-minded sermon from Pastor Shane as he opens up the truth of God's word, reminding us today that knowledge only begins once we fear Almighty God. For more information, visit us online at westsidechristianfellowship.org. We also encourage you to hear more truth from Pastor Shane with the Idleman Unplugged weekly podcast. And please be sure to follow us on most social media platforms. And now, from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here is Pastor Shane Idleman.
Shane Idleman: As many of you know, we're starting a pretty in-depth series on Proverbs. And what I want to do tonight is I want to try to unpack chapters one, two, and maybe three, which is difficult because there's a lot there. So to be honest with you, I don't know if I'll get through chapter one or chapter two, let alone chapter three. I'm not really in a hurry. What I want to do is dissect this book and look at this book. And it's a little difficult because unlike other books where it's systematically going through something to arrive at a conclusion, Proverbs will say something and then it'll shift gears in the next verse to something completely different. Talking about money and then adultery. Talking about a fool and then about wisdom. So it switches because it's a bunch of sayings by Solomon, primarily Solomon, to give us wisdom and discernment and understanding. And let me make you this promise up front: if you begin to apply what we're studying and what we're reading, you will see your life radically change because you're beginning to apply wisdom to your life. And you know the difference between knowledge and wisdom. I talked about this before. Knowledge is knowing what to do. Wisdom is actually doing it. The problem in the church today is a lot of people know a lot of stuff. They can quote this all day long, but very few apply this to their lives. And the power, let me remind you that the power lies in the application, not the knowledge. The devil knows the word of God. Cults around this nation know the word of God. But it's in the application, applying the truth. That was one of the problems with the Pharisees of Jesus' day. They knew what to do. They knew the truth, but they didn't apply it to their own lives. So I want to submit this to you: if you can begin to look through chapter one, chapter two, chapter three—hopefully you did last week—if not, we're moving on to chapter four next week. So start at chapter four when you get home and you'll be caught up. And then Monday, what we're going to do is try to get into more of this. So the men and women will be in here Monday night. Chelsea will be doing worship. We'll be in here Monday night. We're going to teach. I'll probably do part two on Monday night. I know it's difficult because it's Monday, but I promise you if you get here, I think when we start to unpack this book, you'll see that a lot of wisdom is there. And it's a good refresher for many of us who have read this book so many times over—dozens of times—but it's always good to go back and remind ourselves what we're doing. So with that said, I want to talk about briefly the introduction. The focus is going to be expositional and topical. What I mean by that is there's going to be certain topics that I can springboard off of, but also we're going to go through it systematically. Verse by verse by verse for those who love that. We're going to just go through every single verse. We're going to try to pull that apart. What does it mean for us today and then move on to the next one. How long that takes, I don't know. We've got until Christmas. And then we've got a New Year coming, so I'm going to try to get through this. And I want you to get through this as well. And one thing we have to understand is the necessity of wisdom. He spends the first nine chapters of Proverbs talking about wisdom, how important wisdom is. So I really want to get that through because a lot of people—and I see this all the time—we know what to do, we just don't do it. So let me challenge you to begin applying what you know. Don't just know it, don't just quote it, don't just talk about it, but actually apply it to your life. That's what wisdom is. And you will not see God move until you apply it to your life. Many people want to know the will of God. Is it God's will that I get married? Is it God's will that I move here? Is it God's will that I quit a job? Is it God's will that I take this job? Is it God's will that I pray for restoration in my marriage or not? Or what is God's will? God's will is always backed up with wisdom. You can run into it knowing that you're making wise decisions according to His word. Because a lot of times, it's not Genesis 14 who I should marry, and Second Chronicles on where I should work, and Psalms 38 on this decision. There's not a lot of exact answers to our questions. That's why we have to apply wisdom. Lord, should I take this job? Well, is it wise financially? Yes. Well, don't make a decision on finances alone. Is it going to pull you away from your family? Is it going to pull you away from God? Yes, it is. Well, then do not pursue riches, because Proverbs says those who pursue riches will end up in poverty. All who are greedy for gain, it ends up robbing them of life. So see how we have to balance this with God's word. Should I marry this person? "Should I marry this person, Shane?" I get that asked a lot. Well, are they a Christian? "No, not yet. I'm hoping I can win them." Well, the Bible says don't be equally yoked. Apply wisdom. It's very simple what God's will is for that situation. And a lot of other couples that are maybe living together and sleeping together and not yet married. Gosh, I don't know if this is God's will if we should get married. Well, start with what you do know and apply this wisdom to this area of life and see what God leads. See, a lot of times we don't want to apply wisdom; we just want answers from God. God says begin applying wisdom, begin seeking Me, and I will open those doors for you. So we have to understand that—I should have called this the power of wisdom versus the desperate need for wisdom because there's power in the wisdom to know God's will. Does anyone in here want to know God's will? Do you have questions right now? "I don't know if I should do this. I don't know if I should do that. Lord, what are You doing here? What are You doing there?" Wisdom. What does wisdom say? "Well, I don't know what it says." Well, then you better bury your face in this for a while and see what God's word says about certain things. It's got answers to everything. "But I don't know yet." Well, then wait. Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Do you know that there's wisdom in that? "I don't know what to do." Well, if you don't know what to do, guess what? Don't do anything. Wait upon the Lord, and He will direct you. He will guide you because it's in that waiting time that motives are shifted through. We begin to see our agenda come down. Okay, Lord, what do You want? I don't know what to do, so I'm just going to wait on You. It's in that waiting time that we begin to develop that relationship. So with that said, open your Bibles to Proverbs 1. Proverbs 1, chapter one, verse one, one of everything. Proverbs 1: the beginning of knowledge. "The proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel." So obviously, we know who's writing most of these proverbs, and when it switches to different authors, it'll say. But the interesting thing about Solomon, many of you know, was one of David's sons, and he prayed. God said, "Listen, what do you want? And I'll give it to you. Riches, whatever it is." Solomon said, "I want wisdom that I may be able to discern between good and evil so I can lead your people." And boy, what a prayer that was. And God poured into this man so much wisdom that the world has not seen somebody with this much wisdom. However, the Bible also records that many wives, many other false religions that he brought into his home actually led him away from God. We don't know where he ended up exactly after that. We can see in Ecclesiastes there's some mourning there, there's some regret there, there's some "all is vanity, grasping for the wind," so hopefully there was a recovery that happened. But the Bible says that these women, these false religions, led his heart away from God. So that there is a sermon in itself. We can be led away from God. So these Proverbs are from Solomon. And he says: "To know wisdom and instruction"—this is the purpose of the proverbs, verse 2—"to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity. Verse 4: to give prudence to the simple." Now what does that mean? Well, "prudence to the simple." The Bible often will talk about simple-minded. Basically, they are—what's the right word here? Well, it reminds me of D.L. Moody. No education, couldn't speak very well, he was simple. He was a very simple man with the world would look down upon. God can use mightily because they look to God and God alone. So they're saying to give prudence to the simple, to those who don't have a lot of understanding. And to the young man, knowledge and discretion. So the best thing young adults can do is look to Proverbs, look to God's word, because this is where you'll get wisdom and discretion and you'll be able to make certain choices. Now what I glean from this first off is a simple man. I've said this before. I can take a 15-year-old, have them study the Bible, and they'll be wiser than any secular PhD on the planet. You say, "What?" Yeah, absolutely, because the fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." So if they say there is no God, they are a fool by God's standard. They might know a lot of terminology, but they don't know the one true and living God. You take a 15-year-old, a young adult, you have them study the word of God. They will have more wisdom than the secular PhD according to God's word. That's how powerful wisdom is because you're looking to absolute truth to guide you. Wisdom is also a gift that must be received. As we read this, you might say, "Oh, this sounds good, yeah, I understand." But wisdom has to be received. It's one thing to hear it, but we have to receive it and to begin to apply it. And that's what he's saying here. It gives wisdom, it gives prudence, it gives instruction, it gives justice. And then he goes on to verse 5: "A wise man will hear and increase learning." Let me read that again. "A wise man will hear and increase learning." That's very important because a lot of people hear and they don't want to hear. "Don't tell me that. I don't care." And they have an excuse for everything, so they never grow, they never learn. They stay in this "You're not going to tell me anything. Why? Because I'm the master of my own ship. I know everything. You're not going to speak into my life." But the Proverbs say just the other opposite: "A wise man will hear." Okay, I need to work on this. Okay, I understand. And they'll increase in learning. And a man of understanding, he will attain wise counsel. And to understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles. Verse 7: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." So what we can glean from that is a wise man is open to counsel. And I want to ask that question tonight: how do you handle counsel? Are you open to counsel? Because a lot of people aren't. They're not open to counsel. And it's funny, I just told my mom this recently. I said one of the most frustrating things for me when I counsel people is to listen and listen and listen, and then I offer biblical counsel and they don't want to apply it. So what happens? Let me go to somebody else to tell me what I want to hear. Well, the guy down the street tells me this. Well, go to him. See, we go around telling, "Tell me what I want to hear." And you'll see a lot of people: "What do you think?" They'll call their neighbor. "What do you think?" They'll call their sister. "What do you think?" They'll call their aunt. "What do you think? What do you think?" What does God think? And so people go to counselor to counselor to counselor. "Tell me what I want to hear." That's not counseling; that's looking for somebody who will tell you what you want to hear. We used to see this all the time throughout talking to pastors in church counseling, pre-marital counseling before people got married. You know, if they weren't living right a certain way, they would go from counselor to counselor to counselor until they found somebody to confirm my lifestyle. Confirm that this sin is okay, and then you can be my counselor. See how we have it the opposite? Go to somebody who's going to speak truth in your life, tell you, "Listen, this is what the Bible says." This is why counsel is so important, because they don't have biased opinions. Their opinion is unbiased many times. Because I don't care if you guys get married. I could care less. But let me tell you what the Bible says. See, they've got their lust in there, and they're not in love; they're in lust many times. Oh, all these butterflies and this. Let me tell you what the Bible says. "Oh no, we don't want to believe that because we're so in love." See, a counselor can step back, look at the situation from God's perspective, and then offer biblical counsel. You get two spouses constantly going back at each other. The counselor can look at God's word and offer counsel. They're not influenced; they're not real concerned if they break up or if they don't. If they get together, I'm still going to go to bed tonight. I'm not going to worry much about it. But I can—now granted, I do, that sounds a little harsh. But my point is, when you offer counsel, you're doing it to help, not to hurt. You're just saying, "Here's what God's word says. Here's what I would encourage you to do." "Well, I don't want to do that. Let me go talk to somebody else." And they go around—I've done it before, so I know it happens. Somebody says, "No, no, no." Well, Chris at work down the street, he told me this is okay. So we go to people and we don't really want biblical counsel because if we did, we would increase in learning. We would become wiser. We would make better decisions. Because a godly counselor, all they're doing is saying, "Listen, from my perspective based on what the Bible says," and it's biblical because in the multitude of counsel there is safety, the Bible tells us, that's before people wage war contextually. But the principle still applies that when you go to godly counselors, you say, "Listen, I need help in this area. What do you suggest?" And they offer counsel. Don't let that be the full proof absolute plan. You seek God and you go to Him and you see what He says. And then the counsel should confirm a lot of that or help sort through a lot of those things. So that's one of the points here. The next thing: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And I've preached entire sermons on this one verse. I love this verse. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. You see, we don't have knowledge in our nation anymore because we don't have the fear of the Lord. The churches aren't growing according to the word of God and doing things right in many cases because they have no fear of the Lord. They're telling people what they want to hear so they can build a big audience, but nobody has the fear of the Lord. The nation doesn't have the fear of the Lord. The politicians sure don't have the fear of the Lord. And may I take a sidetrack here? Okay, I'll beat up the Republican party at a later date. But right now when the Democratic party takes our God from their platform, God help us. God help us. Now the Republicans will say God but then they don't obey Him. But then also you've got this other group who takes Him out of the platform. "We don't want to mention Him." But we better put Him in because we're getting this uproar of people upset. "Let's pull Him out because we think it's politically correct. Let's put Him back in now that it's not." There's no fear of the Lord. So what foundation are you building? That's not called a platform. That's called sinking sand. And I can—again, I'm not bashing one party or the other. I can go after Republicans just as hard because I'm an American. We seek God. But when you begin to remove Him from certain things as if He doesn't exist, you have no fear of the Lord. So what happens is you're going to see laws in our nation that do not resemble the fear of the Lord. Infanticide. They can make decisions of taking medical care away from people who deserve it. And all these things. There's no fear of the Lord in the land. So when you have no fear of the Lord, a nation is adrift. And when you have no fear of the Lord in your heart, you're adrift. Your family's adrift. I want my kids—and this statement upset some people and it's okay—I want my kids to have a healthy fear of the Lord in their heart, absolutely without a shadow of a doubt. Because then they're going to think twice. Then they're going to reverence God and respect God because fear is a healthy thing. If you fear divorce, you're going to treat your spouse better. If you fear financial collapse, you're going to manage your money better. If you fear the Lord, your life is going to resemble a life that, "Lord, I fear You, I respect You, I reverence You. You're going to make decisions based on that." And that's one problem, that's one of my beefs with the church in America today. The pulpits are called, yea, mandated by Paul to Timothy to preach the totality of God's word. And that includes the fear of the Lord. Yes, that will upset. Yes, that will ruffle feathers. Yes, that will convict. But let the chips fall where they may, because that's where the power is. The power's in the fear of the Lord, not in tickling the ears and not challenging the heart. And this confirms it right here. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It's the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning of understanding. Fathers, raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Husbands, respect your wives, love your wives in the fear of the Lord. Paul said the fear of the Lord spread throughout the churches in the New Testament. The children of Israel turned from God because they no longer feared the Lord. Everything is anchored to that one point. When you fear the Lord, your choices resemble that reflection. It's a good thing, not a bad thing. It's a very good thing to fear the Lord. I wish the whole sermon was on that. Now I've got to move to verse 8. Don't worry, it keeps getting good. "My son," he says, "hear the instruction of your father and do not forsake the law of your mother. For they will be graceful ornaments on your head and chains about your neck. My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, 'Come with us. Let us lie in wait to shed blood. Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. Let us swallow them alive like Sheol'—which is Hell in the Old Testament—'and whole, like those who go down to the pit. We shall find all kinds of precious possessions. We shall fill our house with spoil. Cast in your lot with us and let us all have one purse.'" And what we have to teach here is sin appears beneficial. It appears enticing. That's what he's teaching young men: don't go in with sinners when they want to entice you because sin often looks enticing. If it didn't, we wouldn't take the bait. Sin looks, "Come, let us do this business decision. Let us make this business deal. I know it's a little off the chart. I know that there's a lack of integrity, but you'll return a hundredfold. Come and join in with us." The Bible says don't do that. Don't do that foolish thing. Don't go with someone, don't hang out with those who are going to pull you in the wrong direction. Don't let sin entice you. And that's how they do it. They say, "Look at what this will bring us." Bypassing integrity, bypassing morality. So don't let that happen. Verse 15: "My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path. For their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed blood." And I thought of this right when I was reading this: "My son, do not walk in the way with them." And I want to cross-reference Psalms 1. Psalms 1, verse 1 through 3. If you have your Bibles, you can note that in your notes. But go back and look at that because this is where the Psalmist warns the person. He said, "Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in it he doth meditate day and night." It goes on to say he'll be like a tree planted by living waters, bears its fruit in season and all that. But he says listen, "Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly." So it begs the question: where are you getting your counsel from? What direction are you walking? Who are you going with? In other words, who are you hanging out with? Who's pulling you? Are people either pulling you down or they're pulling you up? The counsel, "nor stand in the path of sinners." Do you sit right, do you ever get, you're just right in the path—somehow sin just finds you. It just finds you. They know where to find you. You just stand in sin's path. Or "sit in the seat of the scornful." Many don't realize that, but when you sit, it gives that idea of sitting next to somebody who's scornful. So you're going back and forth, gossiping and backbiting and being scornful against others. Do not sit in the seat of the scornful. Do not stand in the path of sin. Blessed is the man who walketh not according to the counsel of the ungodly because the ungodly can pull us away, especially young adults. When you see young adults walk away from the faith, nine out of ten times it's because of destructive influence got into their life and pulled them away. Absolutely. Because they're searching for that identity. They want this, they want that, and that person pulls them away. We've seen it nine times out of ten. Verse 17: "Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird." Now let me clarify this really quick. He's saying "in vain." When they would catch birds, you'd have to hide the net and hide the traps and all this. But he's just saying surely in vain you put the net out when the birds can see. You're not going to catch anything. You're doing that in vain. "But they lie in wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It ends up taking the life of its owner." Another translation says, "So are the fate of everyone who is greedy for gain. It ends up robbing you of life." Let me tell you right now, when you pursue riches, it will rob you of life. You'll live your whole life laying on your deathbed and say, "What in the world was that all about?"
Guest (Male): You've been listening to Regaining Lost Ground with Pastor Shane Idleman. You can find more information at westsidechristianfellowship.org. That's westsidechristianfellowship.org. And for all the latest on what God is doing with His ministry here, please be sure to follow us on most social media platforms. Westside Christian Fellowship is located 60 miles north of Los Angeles in Leona Valley, California. Thank you again for listening to today's message of Regaining Lost Ground, where we are reminded daily: "Times change, truth does not."