Introduction to Proverbs

The Purpose of Studying Proverbs

Alright, so as I said, we will begin to take some time and look at the Book of Proverbs, and probably the best thing I could do right in the beginning is to state pretty much what my purpose is, because I think that will be helpful as we go through it, but as we begin to consider the book, I want you to know my intention is not to do a commentary.

I'm not going to look at every verse and try to tear apart every verse and put it back together again. Not my intent, I'm not sure I have the ability to do that great a work, nor do mine, but what I really want to do is to take the Book of Proverbs over the course of whatever it takes and begin to look at some of the practical applications that we can find from the book, things that you and I can put into effect in our life.

And again, my intent would be that end, rather than just trying to exegete the Scriptures verse by verse and word by word, but that we would come away with an ability not only to understand the Book of Proverbs, but also to be able to take it in in such a way that it flows out of us.

So that's what I plan on doing, and because of that, there's going to be times, and you'll see it as we begin to look at the Book of Proverbs, sometimes I'm going to look at a group of verses, and sometimes I'm going to focus in on one verse.

And really this is how it, I think it's worth me saying, this is how I came to do a study on Proverbs, is I realized that I had some void time in my thinking, and again, I prepare for Sunday school, I prepare for set free, I prepare for this, that, and the other thing, and I do my own reading, and then I read books to help my understanding for church history.

But I also found that there was a time in my life, and it really was, there's a certain block of time in which I only had a few minutes here and a few minutes there, and I realized that I was wasting that few minutes here and a few minutes there.

So then I thought, well you know what, let me look at the Book of Proverbs, because in a sense you can look at the Proverbs for a short period of time and come away with a whole lot. So that began me in the study of Proverbs, and also at set free, where I go on Thursday nights, I began to consider it for them over at set free, and it's amazing, when I went over there and I asked them if they ever studied the Book of Proverbs, they all started laughing because they study it every day.

But again, the Book of Proverbs has that way about it that you don't have to always read it in long portions, where perhaps if you're reading the Gospel accounts or the Epistles, you have to read before and after and try to understand, but Proverbs you can in part look at it in short sections, and so that's how I came about beginning to look at it.

The Cohesive Themes of Wisdom and Foolishness

I also want to say this, that the Book of Proverbs is not, although you can read it that way, maybe just read two or three Proverbs and meditate on them and consider them, the Book of Proverbs it's not a book of just scattered thoughts, which some people might think, some people might think, well you know all it is is a bunch of Proverbs and it goes from this subject to that subject, and there is a little bit more choppiness, if you would, in the Book of Proverbs, but, and I think this is important, the Book of Proverbs is very cohesive.

What I mean by that is there are themes that run through the whole book, and those themes are important because those themes are of great value to us, not only to understand, but to consider in our lives.

So there's a cohesiveness, and I've been thinking about it, and I really think in some ways it comes down to two central messages. In my way of thinking, there's two themes that run through the Book of Proverbs, and if you will, connect them, or interweave them together, and one is this, that the blessing of God is given to those who have practical wisdom.

In other words, as you read through the Book of Proverbs, you will see that the blessing of God is attached to those who have wisdom, and the Book of Proverbs is written to give us wisdom. So one of the themes is the blessing of God on the ones who will apply themselves to wisdom, wisdom as God gives it, not as, of course, man gives it.

So that's one of the themes, and we'll see it as we go through the book, this continual rehearsing of the blessing of God and the graciousness of God on those, and only those, who have wisdom as God defines wisdom, and again, not necessarily as the world would define wisdom.

And the other one is the complete opposite. So as this theme runs through the Book of Proverbs, of the blessing of God on the wise, there's also this second theme, which is the judgment, or the cursing of God, on the ones who do not apply the wisdom of God, and God calls them fools.

Right, so there's this great contrast in the Book of Proverbs of the wise and the fool, and God defines those terms, and we will look at those terms as we go through it. So if we will keep that in mind as we go through the Book of Proverbs, I think it will help us to see that that theme kind of glues the book together.

And then there's another thought to always keep in our minds as we go through this, in that although the Proverbs will give us wisdom, and I'm going to spend a little time with Solomon tonight just as an introductory, but ultimately the real wisdom of God is the Lord Jesus Christ, right, because He is the wisdom of God.

And that the true wise person is the person who has Christ, not merely wisdom. I was reading the other day of Colin Powell, who has passed away, right, and one of the articles that I read had to do with the wisdom of Colin Powell, and some of the sayings that he had made down through his time in political positions, and no doubt he was a wise man as far as that goes, but the wisdom that we're going to apply ourselves to is above that, is beyond that.

And that really only comes because of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so as we go through the book and pick up on these themes of wisdom, that we would always send our minds to Christ, because again, in Him is hidden all the wisdom of God.

Wisdom, Diligence, and the Contrast Between the Wise and the Fool

So thinking of that, and I wanted to kind of support what I just said, so I went through the book of Proverbs, and I looked at how many times the word wise is applied, how many times those who will apply God's wisdom are counted as wise, and there are 63 times in the book of Proverbs where you will find a description along with a blessing, an accommodation if you will, to the wise.

So the word wise will appear in the book 63 times, and it's implied in many others, but nevertheless that word we will find 63 times as we go through the book. And then as I said, the other one, the other theme that runs through it, the other character that runs through it is the fool, and so I looked up how many times the fool is listed in the book of Proverbs, and I found it 19 times, and I found it implied in many more, but specifically, the book of Proverbs will identify the wise and identify the fools, and again, each of those Proverbs have a reflection of either the wise or the fools, and many times it's in the positive and the negative, right?

The wise will do, the fool will not. The wise will pay attention, the fool will despise, and so this continual theme runs through the book. Wise, fool, those that apply themselves, those that do not apply themselves.

I also found this, and I thought that this was interesting, that there's another set of words that run through the book of Proverbs, and it's the word diligent and lazy. I thought that was interesting.

In other words, it will liken the wise to those that are diligent, and it will liken the fool to those that are lazy, and so again, I went and looked up how many times those words or those descriptions are directly applied in the book of Proverbs, and I thought it was interesting that at least 16 times in the book, the writer of Proverbs will describe those that are fools that refuse God's wisdom, that refuse even the wisdom of Solomon, that they are those that are lazy, or as the Proverbs, sluggish, right?

And that the diligent, those on the other side of it, are mentioned also at least 10 times throughout the book. It'll say things like, the hand of the diligent makes rich, and verses, one of the Proverbs says that the sluggard is so lazy he's hungry, but he won't even raise his arm to feed himself.

Or he's so lazy he sees a lion in the way, but he doesn't do anything to get out of the way. So there's this continual contrast, and again, as a theme, I think it's important for us because, you know, people always say, and so none of, I might, no I'm not the youngest here, but people always say as you get older you get wiser, and I think there's a certain amount of truth in that, wouldn't you say?

The hoary head and the gray head, but there's another reality. The hoary head is not always wise, as a matter of fact, the hoary head sometimes is the biggest fool, right? So again, if you think of it in that sense, if we want to grow in grace, and listen, it's not something to think of in the sense, well I've arrived.

I'm such and such an age, I've lived my life, I've gone out, I've raised children, I've got grandchildren, great-grandchildren, I'm set up pretty well and everything is fine and I can just lay back and kind of coast the rest of the way.

That really is a, that's a characteristic of a sluggard, and you and I, and it's interesting because in the Psalms it speaks about that and it says even the old, in their old age will bear fruit, and that you and I should never ever think of ourselves having arrived, and that the book of Proverbs is not just written for the young people, right?

And I think there's a tendency to think that the book of Proverbs is written to the young man to keep him from the adulterous woman, right? Well guess what? There's a lot of older men that fall prey to an adulterous woman too, and man, woman either way, but I guess my whole point is, as you consider the book of Proverbs, or as we consider the book of Proverbs, those themes will continually come up and we need to continually ask ourselves, okay, which camp am I in?

Am I in the camp of the wise? Which would then mean that I'm in the camp of those that are being blessed by God. Again, I'm not talking about just physical blessings, although interestingly enough there are in that sense physical blessings that are attached to the wise, right?

And that's glorious truth. But am I in the camp of the wise? Am I in the camp of those that are being blessed? Am I in the camp of those that are diligent? Or am I in the other camp? And I don't know if you remember, there's only two camps, because there's only two kinds of people.

In God's mind, and as God reveals it to us, there's only two kinds of people, wise and fools, saved and lost, his and not his, sheep and goats. I mean we can go, we can make, we could put the sheep and goats on a board and list all the things that are characterized and you will find us.

So again, it's important for us to think about it as we go through this because Solomon will address both. He will address the wise and he will address the fool. And blessing of God, judgment of God, diligent, lazy.

Solomon’s Prayer for an Understanding Heart

The first eight chapters, and I wanted to say this and then again I'm going to look at something about Solomon and then maybe we'll look at a couple of verses in the first chapter. The first eight chapters, if you read the first eight, even into chapter nine in the book of Proverbs, you're going to find Solomon is continually talking about the need of wisdom and how we ought to, in a sense, sell out to get it.

How we ought to pursue it, how we ought to desire it, and he continually goes over it and over it and over it. As a matter of fact, the Proverbs themselves, though the individual ones that many people think are the book of Proverbs, they really don't start until the middle of chapter nine.

And so the first eight chapters, and again into the first half of chapter nine, all Solomon is doing is saying, in a sense, he's pleading with us, with those that he writes with, he's pleading with them to make wisdom, the wisdom of God, their utmost desire.

Even that famous proverb in the beginning of the book in chapter four, Proverbs 4 .23, keep your heart with all diligence for out of it flows the issues of life. So it's important for us to think about it, but I do want to have you know that as we go through the first eight chapters, this theme will continually repeat itself.

And when God repeats himself, we ought to listen over and over again. God doesn't waste words, but every time God speaks, it's of the utmost importance. Like Jesus, assuredly, assuredly, I say unto you, truly, truly.

Jesus didn't have to say it twice, he said it to emphasize that what he was saying was of great value. And so in the first opening chapters of Proverbs, that's what we're going to find that Solomon, as a father, as a king, he pleads with his children, his people, his nation, and in a larger sense with all that he's addressing, and that being inspired by God, that we would make the gaining of wisdom a very central part of our life, and he'll give us the reasons why we should, and he'll also tell us what's going to happen if we don't.

Interesting. Okay, that's about all I wanted to do as an introduction, with the exception of, of course, as we would know, that the book of Proverbs was written by Solomon, and Solomon was a king. This is a result of what Solomon, in a sense, had pleaded with God for, and I want to just read those, that section, so that we have an understanding.

So I want you, if you can, or if you want, turn to 1 Kings for a minute, 1 Kings chapter 3, and I just want to read this as a background, so we'll understand where Solomon is coming from. In 1 Kings chapter 3, now remember who Solomon is, right?

He's the son of David. David has gone to be with the Lord, and Solomon is raised up, and I'm not absolutely sure of Solomon's exact age when he becomes king of Israel. I don't believe he's a, he's a little boy, but he's certainly not a full-grown man of great age or stature.

He's somewhere in between. Maybe he's in his early, I'm not even going to venture to guess, I'd have to do more research on it, but nevertheless, my point is, these are the words of Solomon, and I think it's important for us to read.

Solomon’s Request for Wisdom and God’s Response

So Solomon now is all of a sudden king of Israel. He's all of a sudden the man. Interesting, I was thinking about my son-in-law, not because of Solomon, but my son-in-law who's the Master Chief in the Navy.

He's always wanted to be the man, and if you get to be Master Chief in the Navy, that's the highest rank you can go as an enlisted person. I mean, that's a lot, right, because you can't go no further as an enlisted person, but he always wanted to get into that position so he could be the man, so he could, in his mind, he could direct younger sailors on how to work through their careers and their lives.

And it's interesting because my son-in-law now tells me, he's only got three years left, he's actually got less than three years, and he'll always say, Dad, you know what, I don't want to be the man no more, been there, done it, don't want to be it no more, and yet he's still forced to be the man.

Well, Solomon is the man, and so Solomon, in 1 Kings chapter 3, this is what he says, and I'm going to pick it up, just read with me from verse 6, because this is Solomon, and he's speaking to the Lord, and he says, in verse 6,.

And Solomon said, You have shown great mercy to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with you. You have continued this great kindness for him, and you have given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day.

Now O LORD my God, you have made your servant king instead of my father David, but I'm a little child, I don't know how to come in, I don't know how to go out or come in, and your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted.

Therefore give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people of yours? And the speech pleased the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing.

And God said to him, Because you have asked this thing, have not asked long life for yourself, nor have you asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I have done according to your words.

See, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there is none, so that there has not been anyone like before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. And then God adds this blessing,.

And I also will give you what you have not asked, riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings in all your days. It's interesting, if you remember, Solomon was blessed beyond measure in gold and silver and treasures, but the thing that Solomon desired most, and this is, again, going back to my opening point, friends, we could have a lot of things in this world.

We could live comfortable lives, and many of us do live comfortable lives. The thing we should desire most is to be able to have the wisdom of God, and to grow in that, to never be content. Listen, if we are content where we are in grace, then we are in the wrong place.

I think of it like a fire, it's always going to be a fire churning and burning, and again, it works out in everyone's life differently, everybody's unique, but what I'm saying, there should be this hunger and thirst to move forward and not backwards, or to move forward so you're not stagnant, and you're not sitting in the same place spiritually, that we would grow in wisdom.

And so Solomon, as he looks out, and as he's the author of Proverbs, he looks out, and in a sense I can imagine he's overwhelmed. He's got responsibility, he has a whole lot under his care. If you and I think about it, we have a whole lot under our care.

We have the gospel of Christ. And I thought about it, I was thinking about it today, I was thinking about it in my own prayer time. Not only am I going to give an account for what I've done, what I have, what I've been entrusted with, I'm going to give an account, and again, not for judgment, but for understanding.

I'm going to give an account, not only for what I did, but for what I didn't do. I'm going to give an account for where I should have been more diligent, where I should have done this, or I should have not done that.

So it's not only in the sense of what I've done, but even in the sense of what I haven't done that I should have done. And again, one of the great ways to progress is to have this wisdom that's a fountain of life, that's flowing out of us, like Jesus said, out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water.

And again, I think, and maybe you disagree, I think there's a lot of God's people that are, I'm going to say it the way I believe, foolishly content to be where they are. Spiritually treading water. Right, you're absolutely right.

We're going backwards. Yeah, because if you're not going forward, you're going backwards, right? And the danger of a sitting target, to me, and I'm not a hunter, so I really can't tell, but if I had to shoot at a deer, I'd rather he hold still, because I'm better shot at killing him, right?

But yeah, I don't know if you can, I know that you can't force people to want to grow. No more can you force an apple tree to bear apples, but we ought to be wise enough to try to help fertilize the ground and make every possible thing available to nurture.

And it's tough work. I'm going to use this as an example. I mean, again, a thousand different reasons why people don't do what they do or do do what they do, but I do think there is a certain amount in which, and as I think of Solomon, and Solomon, praise the Lord, he knows he's up against it.

Every day he gets up. One of the greatest examples right in the beginning, right? So after he does this and God blesses him, remember what happens? The two women, one lays on top, one smothers the baby, and they get up in the morning, it's my baby, it's my baby, back and forth, and bring him to Solomon.

And I'm going to tell you what, that was some wisdom from Solomon. Remember what he said? Well, I can't tell which one, you saying it's your baby, you say, bring me a sword. Cut the baby in half. And remember, the true mother says, no, no, no, give him away.

Rather you give him away than kill him. And then Solomon takes him. And again, a demonstration of the wisdom of Solomon. So, he's the one that authors the book. But there's another thought, and something we need to keep in mind as we go through the book of Proverbs.

For all of that, Solomon falls into many of the very traps that he warns of in the book of Proverbs. And that ought to just explode in our mind. Here's a man who the Queen of Sheba came to hear. Here's a man who the kings of the earth wondered at his wisdom.

And for all the wisdom of Solomon, and for all he knew, he became a victim of the very things he warns against. And that ought to be another incentive, if you will, spiritual incentive for us to keep pressing on.

Because the evil one is right behind us. And Solomon, again, certainly in the area of women. Solomon, who much of, many of the Proverbs deal with the attractions of a woman, a harlot, and he describes it in some places in vivid detail.

And yet, what did Solomon do? He fell into a place where he was swallowed up by women. Yeah, I never heard it put that way, but that's probably pretty much what it was, yeah. And again, and they stole his heart.

And if you and I don't think that the devil can steal our heart, we can't steal our heart because we have new hearts, praise God. But that doesn't mean he can't trip us up. It doesn't mean that we can't find ourselves in the valley of despair, like in Pilgrim's Progress.

So, important for us to understand, as we go through the book of Proverbs, and again, look sometimes at sections, sometimes at verses, and pretty much as I look at it, I want to focus in on sometimes that way, this way or that way.

But it ought to serve for us that we need to get more out of Proverbs than just knowledge. We need to get wisdom. So, when you think about it, and this I think many people have an issue with, and how to define knowledge and how to define wisdom.

Would you agree with me that there's a difference between knowledge and wisdom? Okay. What would be the difference? What's the difference between knowledge and wisdom?

You can know, you can have knowledge of what you should do, but unless God is directing you to do that, then it's just wasted. It's words that fall to the ground. The wise man will follow after the things of the Lord.

He'll apply them.

There will be the application. Right. And I think that's the best way to distinguish knowledge from wisdom is that wisdom is knowledge applied, versus just knowledge could be just intellectual facts. In other words, you can memorize the book of Proverbs.

I remember I told you this years and years and years ago on Broadway in New York, there was a guy, and his show was he'd walk on stage, and from memory he would speak the whole Gospel of Mark, from verse 1 through the end of chapter 16.

That was the whole show. From memory he would speak of the Gospel of Mark. And I remember they had an interview with him after one of his shows, and basically the reporter said, well, you must be a very devout Christian since you've memorized the Gospel of Mark.

And he looked at the reporter, and he said, no, I just make money this way. And again, intellectual fact, intellectual knowledge, or wisdom. So there is a great distinction, I think, in that sense, that we sometimes are stuck in a trap of thinking, as long as I know it, then that's all I need to do.

It's not the case, right? We know that from Solomon. Solomon knew exactly where the traps were, and yet Solomon fell into the traps because he didn't apply in wisdom the very things that he knew, as you brought up, that he knew was right and that he knew was wrong.

So wisdom is to take that knowledge that we have and to use it in the right way, versus either using it in the wrong way, or, just as dangerous, not using it at all. And again, that's why they say as you get older you get wiser, because we've been there, done that kind of thing.

We fell into some of the traps. A lot of young people get into financial traps when they first get married or they first get out on their own, and they make a little bit of money, and next thing you know they're buying cars.

It boggles my mind, young people, that maybe they make $300 a week, and they spend $300 a week on their phone. And then they want to know why they don't have no money. Again, no wisdom. So as we get older we want to be, and I'm talking about spiritual maturity, not just physical, but we want to be wise, and so there is a distinction between knowledge and wisdom.

Remember what Jesus said, and I think that's where it kind of comes right down to the point. Remember what Jesus said? He said, If you know my commandments, happy are you, what? If you do them. And there's the big disconnect.

And I will confess it to you, and I'm sure you will confess it to me, and if we were all honest we would confess it all to each other, that in so many ways I know what's right, or I know what's wrong.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that I will do what's right, or not do what's wrong. And as you go through the book of Proverbs, and as God continually lays out, if you will, in every possible way, which is the better path, which is the narrow path, which is more difficult to take, but again, those two themes, wise, diligent, blessed.

Fooled, lazy, judged. We need to seek to go to that side where we will find God blessing, and God considering us as those that are diligent. So again, joy comes in knowing the truth, but joy comes in an even greater way.

And blessing God, in that sense, comes in a greater way, and not just to know it, but to be diligent to do it.

Worldly Wisdom Versus the Wisdom From Above

There's a caution to it. I mean, James, there's a worldly wisdom, and there's a wisdom that's from above. We have to be cautious that we don't follow, like referring back to Pilgrim Progress, after worldly wise men.

Yep, and I think there's such an allurement to that, too, because if we gather the wisdom of the world, and I think this would drive many people that are in politics, it's my own thinking, that they do that, and they gain all that wisdom because they're looking for recognition, they're looking for reward, they're looking for honor and prestige, and remember what Jesus said?

You can do those things for that reason. You got your reward. So I do think that we have to be very careful, and again, brothers and sisters, whether we're six or 60 or older or anywhere we find ourselves, the Book of Proverbs is written to every age, every people, every culture, every custom, man, woman, child, and that no matter where we, if you will, jump in, we ought to be those who seek after it.

So I'm glad I got a little bit more time. We got a couple more minutes. So maybe what we can do, unless you have some comments, I wanted to kind of lay that up to try to give us some direction as we go through the Book of Proverbs on Wednesday nights as we continue to split with Brother Keith, and he'll do 2 John, 3 John, Jude, and Philemon.

But as we go through, we'll take little sections and look at it with those thoughts in mind. Where am I? Am I on this side? Am I on that side? If I'm on that side, how do I get to this side? And if I'm on the right side, how do I stay on the right side?

So we'll look at it that way. So maybe what we'll just do is just read the first 6 verses of the opening chapter, and again, with the reminder, the first 8 chapters through half the 9th chapter is basically a repetition of Solomon's pleading.

And remember, Solomon is inspired by God, right? And so God is pleading with us to take it in, to absorb it, to use it in our lives. So read the first couple of verses, couple of comments, and then that should be sufficient for tonight.

The Opening of Proverbs and the Loss of Wisdom in the Fall

So, the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, equity, to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion, a wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel.

Let me just read verse 6. To understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles. So that's how he opens the book. He opens the book with this, if you will, to me, glorious opening statement of the worth, the dignity, the value, if you will, of paying attention to it.

And if you just look, just in a cursory way, look what's in those first five verses to which blessing is attached. So, to know wisdom and instruction, and to be able to perceive, or if you would, to understand.

So as we go through the Proverbs, we can be assured if we are diligent and God is pleased to bless us, that we will understand more at the end. And if you look at it in verse 3, we will receive the instruction of wisdom.

And the other things that come from it, justice, judgment, equity. And then it says to give prudence, to give wisdom to the simple, and the young man discretion. These are great things, right? These are good characteristics.

I mean, a wise man will hear and increase. There's increase that comes from the wisdom of God. There's attaining wise counsel. The man of understanding will attain to wise counsel. So we will receive, we will perceive, we will gain, we will grow, we will prosper.

And again, who in their right mind doesn't want these things? And yet there are so many that have no desire for any of it. If we were to put it in a newspaper that we're doing a study on the book of Proverbs, okay, whatever, pal.

Because they don't see the dignity and the worth of it. And yet as the book opens up, that's exactly what it's talking about. The pearl of great price that we could get by not only hearing, listening, and attaining to the Proverbs as God gives them.

And here's another thought I had. The very things that it talks about, wisdom, understanding, instruction, justice, judgment, equity, prudence, discretion, increase, attaining wise counsel. Think about it.

These are the very things that were lost in the fall. Think about that. Because I think sometimes when we think about, remember what it said. The day you eat of the tree I told you not to eat of, what?

You shall die and you shall die. Okay, we understand that. We understand the implications from the standpoint of being now guilty before God. But do we really understand the implications of what that meant in the curse?

In other words, apart from the grace of God, no one has any wisdom. Man forfeited his wisdom. He forfeited his wisdom of being in fellowship with God. He forfeited his wisdom in attaining wise counsel because now sin has corrupted his mind, right?

So when you think about what he's saying in the very opening verses, what he's trying to say is that in order for us to gain these things, there has to be, there has to be the blessing of, there has to be the grace of God.

There has to be this change from what we were. And again, many times we think of the fall in a sense of heaven and hell, but the fall also rendered us fools. And I don't know about you, but nobody likes to be called a fool.

Don't you call my mama a fool. You talk anything about my mama, that's fighting words. I don't know, not fighting words if you say anything bad about your father, but I guess if your mama, so whatever.

Mamas are special, so I'm not going to mess with that. But you get my point? The point is that when he talks about these things, there's much more to it than, again, just understanding a riddle or an enigma.

And it only comes by the grace of God. So as we go through the book of Proverbs, if you think that you can just say, listen to it and say, okay, I got it. And then try to apply it. Apart from the grace of God, you'll never be able to do it.

That's why many people in this world, let me just try to give an example. Maybe it'll fit. I think it does somewhat. So let's say a man is a drunkard. He goes out and he drinks. He's a drunkard. I mean, he's just flat-out drunkard.

And for a whole bunch of reasons, he comes to his senses and he says, I'm not going to be a drunkard no more. And he goes through the steps, and he follows the program, and he goes through the 12 steps, and he conquers that.

And let's just say now he never drinks again. And people will come and say, well, that's very wise. You were able to overcome it, and it is, and God's blessing to you for overcoming it. But that's not going to make you right with God.

Right? You need greater wisdom than that. You need to understand things that are above the things of this world. And so in that sense, worldly counsel, worldly wisdom, it has a place. It takes diligence, no doubt, but it's not enough.