Sermon - Wisdom From Above: Wisdom's Last Laugh

Open your Bibles to book of Proverbs chapter 1 We'll be starting in verse 20

Proverbs chapter 1 verse 20 It's our series on the book of Proverbs verse by verse wisdom from above Just in time for the hot summer months.

We're all in here suffering together, but it'll keep you awake. That's for sure The sweating will keep you awake

It's definitely t -shirt weather in here right now for sure. I have this nice fan behind me though, which is nice You guys don't have this.

So I'm sorry you're suffering worse than me now Proverbs chapter 1 verse 20

Hear now the word of the living and the true God wisdom cries

Aloud in the street in the markets. She raises her voice At the head of the noisy streets she cries out at the entrance of the city gates she speaks

How long Oh simple ones Will you love being simple?

How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge if you turn at?

my reproof Behold, I will pour out my spirit to you I will make my words known to you because I have called and you refuse to listen

Have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded Because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof

I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when terror strikes you when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity

Comes like a whirlwind when distress and anguish come upon you then they will call upon me

But I will not answer they will seek me diligently but will not find me because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the

Lord would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof therefore

They shall eat the fruit of their way and to have their fill of their own devices

For the simple are killed by their turning away and the complacency of fools destroys them

But whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease without dread of disaster

Thus far as the reading of God's word, let's pray together God we pray that you'd bless us today with your wisdom

Or you say that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge fools despise wisdom and instruction

And so God we humble ourselves even now and we fear you the fear of the

Lord is the beginning of knowledge It's not the middle

It's not the end It's the beginning and so as your people we come before you because you have opened our eyes to the truth

You've raised us to life Lord we fear you and we ask that you'd bless us as a church as we examine

Lord your word your wisdom from above Bless us Lord make us

Lord into wise people allow this series to renew our minds and hearts

Lord to make us wiser people for your glory not for our sake But for your glory and for your kingdom let your wisdom fill this world

We ask that you get the preacher and teacher out of the way That your people will forget me and remember what they've learned from you in Jesus name

Amen, it's interesting when dr.

Bonson opened up this particular section himself. He He was talking.

I actually borrowed the title he used for it. So that way that's appropriate. It's very good wisdom's last laugh wisdom's last laugh and he was talking about those who have the very last laugh and he was telling a famous story from history about sir, what will you

Winston Churchill and how there was a woman who just despised him and oddly and with it with a crowd of people around she walked up to him in front of everybody and she said

Sir, if I was your wife, I would poison your tea To which everybody in the circle laughed because it's inappropriate to do that to Winston Churchill but you know crowd of people everyone sort of giggled at it and I guess her her audacity and Winston Churchill responded to her with the last laugh.

He said lady if you were my wife, I would drink it That's we understand what it means to have the last laugh in a situation like that and there are other circumstances

I think we can all recognize we probably all have stories where wisdom was given

Knowledge and instruction was given it wasn't heated and then there was destruction Afterwards we'll get into that and I was thinking as I was

Unpacking this and praying over this and meditating on this particular sermon verses I was thinking back to a time in my own life when

I was younger. I grew up since I was four years old doing martial arts and my dad was in the military and so we traveled around the world and ultimately landed in Japan and My life was quite literally all about the martial arts

I mean from the time I got home I would go and I trained in two different martial arts schools in Japan all week six days a week

It was two different schools. I would go to one school for like three days and the other school and these schools were

Brutal, I mean they didn't let the parents in one of the schools. They didn't let the parents observe the classes They would close the doors and make sure no one could see inside because if they saw if our parents saw what they were doing

To us in there That it would not go. Well, trust me. They were doing some pretty Pretty destructive things to us and we fought

I remember going to a martial arts class I was passionate about it because I wanted to be great at it and I wanted to be the best at it

I wanted to learn how to fight I was picked on a lot I mean, I'm not a big guy and when

I was young I was pretty scrawny And I think I was easy to be picked on to pick on in school

And so I was bullied a lot through school my elementary school years and up into middle school

I was bullied a whole lot And so I wanted to learn how to fight and as much as I was terrified Quite literally every single day to go to class in Japan in these schools

I wanted to go because I wanted to learn how to really fight and so we would start these classes off There'd be basic warm -ups and training and then they would say okay get set

And so we would sit on the edge of the floor and really there was no gear required Something that wouldn't be allowed in American schools

I mean you could wear it you needed to wear a cup that was wise There's wisdom for you wear the cup trust me

You don't want to be on the other side of that calamity believe me So you can wear a cup in a mouthpiece, but they would allow you to wear shin pads

But we learned after a while you don't really want to wear the shin pads Because it helps the person you're sparring like it softens the blow for them

So you really want to use the blade of the shin? Against your opponent in class and the way that sparring went in Japan was

Basically you either knock the guy down You knocked him out of the ring or you knocked him out to win

And so I can't tell you how many times I was knocked out in class quite literally knocked out cold

One time I was knocked out cold, and I woke up I don't know how long after I woke up They had just dragged me to the side of the dojo left me and they kept going with the class

I came to and looked around everyone's still going and I just crawled my way back to the line to do it again

I mean it was kind of terrifying I broke every finger I've broken all my toes my shinbone came out of my leg once I've broken my nose so many times

The doctors tell me that if I break it again. They probably can't really fix it because there's no cartilage left

From the surgeries. I mean I black eyes bruises cuts I used to come home with big black eyes my mom would say what happened

I would say oh just an accident just we know you don't want to mention it because I don't want to get pulled But just mind you

I was training to fight, and it was real fighting, and it was every day No, it was for hours a day

And in school, I was bullied and there was the school bully named

Cedric His name was Cedric this kid was thick and I mean thick like muscular strong He was a boxer.

I saw him in so many fights after school and even in school Everybody was terrified of Cedric and then one day

Cedric took a liking to bullying me I became his pet project And I remember that he would make fun of me in class and in the hallway and at lunch and at recess and after school

He would laugh at me. He'd mock me He'd get everyone else laughing at me, and I would just try to avoid it and my master instructors in Japan Used to throw people out of the school even black belts whoever got into fights

They were unjustified you would lose your belt They would take it off of you in front of the entire class And they would they would they would permanently ban you from the school if you use the art in that way they considered their training

They were giving to you Sacred and you need to be trusted with it, and so I knew

I can't abuse this I don't want to get into any trouble And so I used to tell Cedric when he would try to start fights with me

He would literally come up to me and smack me in the face in front of a crowd of people and I would say

Don't do that. I don't want to hurt you and he would laugh Hurt me and this was

Cedric this kid could fight. I mean it was actually I remember one fight vividly that was terrifying

He broke this kid's teeth. I mean, I don't know how many teeth he broke the kid had to go to the hospital

It was a terrible thing to watch Well he decided I'm his new project and so one day we go on a school field trip to an ice skating rink and So at the ice skating rink he sees me.

There's a crowd of people. He runs up to me pushes me I said Cedric. I don't want to fight you don't do that It's not gonna be good for you, and he did not like that I said that and so he kicked me in my shin with an ice skate

Yeah, my leg was bleeding teacher didn't do anything and so I just didn't do anything and I warned him

I said Cedric don't do this. I don't want to fight you and so came to home that day

We're riding the same bus home It get off the bus and sure enough Cedric's off the bus and tries to start a fight with me in front of my house at the bus stop and I warned him

Again, I said Cedric. I don't want to fight you. Please stop This is gonna end very badly. And so he smacked me in the face in front of everybody.

I I'm reeling from that and I'm trying to keep it together my own mind not get too upset

And this is back when Nintendo was really a thing. And so I'm playing Super Mario Brothers in my bedroom.

I remember it vividly my feet are up on the thing. I'm TV I'm trying to you know recover from that big smack in front of everybody and do do do do do do do and you know

I'm just trying to relax in my bedroom in my house And next thing, you know,

I hear a noise behind me and I turn around and look in my bedroom The door is open and who's standing in my doorway

Cedric in my house in my doorway and there I was

I Was completely confused. I was I did what is happened. Is this a dream?

Am I having like a literal nightmare? I'm hallucinating now about Cedric in my house and he walks right up to me

Game controller in my hand Tucks a really tight punch and just nails me in the face while I'm sitting in my chair with a punch right to the face all

I remember is douche and the controller flying and I jumped up out of the seat and at that very moment it was on Everything in me turned on all the focus in my body

I was fighting every day all the time. I knew what it was like to get hit in the face

It didn't bother me at all. It was like now I have permission to bring the calamity

And so I turned around to Cedric and I gave him the beating out of a

Jean -Claude Van Damme movie. I Was I had him against the wall?

He I remember his face today. He was so in shock over what was happening to him He was like dumbfounded

I was raising him up when he was trying to fall down and using elbows and headbutts and knees

I was slamming his head against my my bed. Just just just cuz You interrupted my game, right?

And I'm screaming at him Yelling at him and my sister was there.

She let him in She didn't know he came to the door with a bunch of guys and he said hi as Jeff here.

She thought it was a friend. She said yeah, he's in his room She let him in now she hears

World War three happening in my room When she came in with her friends, her name was

Wendy She sees me grabbing this boy picking him up elbow elbow knee throwing.

I'm like, I'm just playing with him at this point She tries to pull me off and this was bad kids.

Don't do this. I turned around and punched Wendy and my sister Went back to Cedric and they had to put me in a chokehold bring me into the bathtub

She threw me into the bathtub and they took they took Cedric and they dragged his body out of the house

They put it outside the door and his friends did something with him But the next day at school

Cedric's face was blown up like a balloon He walked around the hallways with his eyes almost sealed shut his lip busted his face black and blue and When he passed me his head was down and I remember one time distinctly as he passed me everyone at school knew what happens

The whole school was laughing at him This school bully after being warned over and over and over now.

He was the laughingstock Whoever has the last laugh In this moment before us in the book of Proverbs Wisdom is personified as a woman as a woman now, don't let that throw you

We know that God is the real wisdom here and Christ is the wisdom of God Don't let it throw you that wisdom is personified as a woman in Hebrew It's actually a feminine noun and so it makes sense.

She's personified as a woman Now notice here it says wisdom cries aloud in the street in the market

She raises her voice at the head of the noisy street. She cries out at the entrance of the city gates

She speaks notice, please her location her pulpit wisdom's pulpit is in public

It's in the public square. It's at the marketplace She's raising her voice her pulpit is in the public square

It's important for us to capture this today, especially when we live in a time where many

Christians treat Christianity treat the biblical faith as more of a private experience a private intimate experience

It's really for those like okay. Do you accept this now? Come on the inside. It's for the insiders the initiated wisdom is for us

This is our truth for our little crew our little click over here But notice wisdom in Scripture doesn't behave that way wisdom actually sets up a pulpit in the marketplace

In the public square, it's not just private. It's not just the home

It's not within the four walls of the church. It's not just for the initiated

Wisdom here is the original street preacher Think about that in terms of the principle wisdom here is crying out in the marketplace

Above the sea of people and all their noise to make her wisdom heard

She's the street preacher She's personified as a woman again. Don't let that throw you

It's a portrait. It's a picture But notice where she exists is in the public square and this is vitally important to get

Because we live in a time where we've privatized the Christian faith the Christian message the law of God the wisdom of God We like to say well if you don't believe that that's fine

There's this area of neutrality out there, but for us Jesus is Lord for us

This is the Word of God for the initiated. This is our inside experience. This is where the word goes

We don't want to go out there into the marketplace with the sea of people We don't want to go out there to the city gates and offend anybody

So let's keep this experience Something that is palatable for people where they'll be willing to accept it notice wisdom doesn't do that She doesn't whisper to people

She's not whispering to people. She's crying out in the public square if people often ask us

The ministries that we do you guys go to some hard places and we do as a church no glory to us

We just believe that wisdom belongs shouting in the public square People will say no, why do you go to the

Mormon Temple? Don't you think that's offensive to people aren't there better ways to reach those people or early on?

You know in our ministry at the abortion mills People used to often chastise us and challenge us and that's not really how you're gonna reach those women

Don't go there and say those things to them. They'll take those things as harsh. They'll take them as condemning

We go to the strip clubs. We go to Mill Avenue. We go to ASU We go to the places where there's hostility

But we bring the truth into the public square because in principle That's where the truth belongs in the public square.

And when Jesus talks about building his church He talks about building his church and that the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Remember what gates do Gates don't advance Gates protect great gates guard and so when

Jesus even talks about the mission of his church He says the gates of hell will not prevail against it

Because the truth is supposed to go out there The truth is supposed to overwhelm

Darkness with its light and in this case right here in Proverbs chapter 1 verse 20 you see wisdom

Crying aloud in the public square. This is what God does.

He calls out to the scoffers He calls out to the simple he calls out to the fools

Wisdom does that it does it courageously. It does it truthfully. It does it loudly

It's interesting. Um, we were talking about this this week on apology or radio It's a really well done film done recently.

Some of you guys may have heard about it by Matt Walsh It's called what is a woman? Anybody see that in here? Anybody see what is a woman?

Okay, what is a woman? Now it was done really well. I said this week when we talked about in Proverbs chapter 26

Versus four and five we sort of have a methodology of Engagement given to us in the book of Proverbs like a wise way to engage with people and in Proverbs 26 for same book

We're in now it says don't answer the fool according to their folly Lest you be like unto them or you'll be like them don't adopt their principles.

Don't adopt their presupposition Don't adopt their methodologies or you're going to be like them and then

There's a contrast or something that seems opposite it says Answer the fool according to their folly lest they be wise in their own conceit and what

I said about the film What is a woman was that it did a wonderful job of answering the fool according to their folly

Making the fool look at their position to look at their feet and examine themselves. It was really really well done

But something was missing It was it was a film a documentary meant to engage the modern problem of gender bending and confusion

I mean, it's interesting years ago people used to make the arguments if you can just simply as a

Matter of just your mind say I am a woman You've got the beard

You've got everything about your genetics and your biology that is screaming and shouting down to your bones

Maleness, but you can say with your own mind. I Identify as female we were saying years ago

What's to stop somebody from identifying as a cat or a dog or something else?

And people would mock that idea nobody's saying that nobody's doing that And one of the fantastic things about this film is that very thing is in the film somebody who says

I identify as a wolf I'm a wolf. There are people now arguing my personal pronoun is bug

So you can refer to me as bug or bug self or something like that or moth

Foolishness The gullible But one of the challenges

I had with this film is in terms of what wisdom is supposed to be

What does this book start with as the foundation of everything that comes afterwards

Proverbs 1 7 the fear of? Yahweh the fear of the

Lord is the what? the beginning of wisdom Not the middle not the end

It's the beginning of wisdom and so if we don't start our pursuit of knowing things if we don't start our pursuit of having skilled

Living with the fear of God then we have not even begun

We haven't even started and so a challenge. I have with a film like what we saw which was a really well done film

It's fantastic. I highly encourage you to watch it. Is that it completely avoided the most

Fundamental starting point and that is the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge

Matt Walsh when he was talking about the film he was criticized of course by Christians that you left out the most important part

You left out the biblical worldview you left out God you left out faith

You left out the most important foundational thing in the conversation in Matt Walsh again

Fantastic film said that he wanted to leave out the theology and leave out the faith aspect

Because he didn't want somebody to simply turn off because they said well, that's just religion, and I reject

God brothers and sisters wisdom does not pull punches Wisdom shouts in the marketplace and don't forget the foundation of all wisdom

The beginning of all wisdom is the fear of God And so if we try to correct the world around us without pointing pointed them to their need

For reconciliation and peace with God if we don't point them to their need to fear God, then they can't know

Anything and somebody might respond to that. Yes But if you have people that already reject

God and you come as a messenger of God they're immediately going to dismiss you That's precisely the problem in the world.

Isn't it is that there is no fear of God before their eyes and we do not hide wisdom or Whisper it because people may not accept it if we want people to have

Understanding if we want people to know if we want people to be wise We have to come like wisdom in the city streets at the gates in the marketplace

Shouting calling out above them telling them the truth because see here's the problem if you leave out the question of God and his truth and Christ in this conversation of Gender -bending that we're facing so much today in a film like that if you leave out

Christ Then you've left out the very grounding for knowledge and understanding and truth

What does Jesus say I am the way and the what? The truth Paul says in Colossians chapter 1 in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

It's in Christ. If you take Christ out of the question, you've lost all the treasures

It's it's like you're going to war and someone tells you why don't you leave your most effective weapons behind?

Go out there and fight with your bare hands Why would I give up the greatest weapon the very foundation of knowledge and truth?

And if we leave Christ out of this discussion if we don't start this discussion with the very fear of God Then it's just one tribe

Arguing with another tribe about what they prefer and you'll note also

When we attempt to bring the wisdom of God into the public square, but we leave Christ out of it You'll note that the people who had adopted a perverse lifestyle and loved their sin still reject the message

Why because the problem is that this text says that the fools the simple the scoffers the mockers hate knowledge

They're opposed to knowledge. They don't delight in understanding.

What does the text say our foundational verse? I encourage you all to memorize I'm going to say it to you a lot

Proverbs 1 7 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge fools despise wisdom and Correction or wisdom and instruction the problem to be solved is a problem of the heart and the mind

The problem is the desperate need of reconciliation and peace with God wisdom cries out wisdom tells the truth wisdom pleads

But wisdom does not pull punches wisdom beckons and So the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God one thing to note as you talk about this conversation of bringing wisdom into the public

Square is that there is no transformation possible in this world no genuine transformation possible in this world without regeneration without regeneration

No transformation and so you can bring all the wisdom all the logic all the reasons all the proof of the natural order

God has created into the world and if you're doing it to unregenerate people it will fall on stony

Hearts, what do people need? They need the heart of stone removed and they need to turn into a heart of flesh

There is no transformation without regeneration note verse 22 How long

Oh Simple ones will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate?

Knowledge it says they hate knowledge Not that they're neutral not that they really want understanding

It says that they hate knowledge fools hate knowledge

They despise wisdom and correction, but wisdom still beckons

Them to fear God calls to them to fear God in his commentary on Proverbs chapter 1

Bruce Waltke says that she cries aloud wisdom does she's shouting

She's scolding She's pleading. She's reasoning. She's threatening.

She's warning and She's laughing The text says this how long

Oh simple ones Let's key in on this this word here simple some of the other translations one of them says simpletons simpletons simple ones

Gullible the word can mean gullible or naive Simple there's no effort necessary to be this

Someone that is gullible who will believe anything all you have to do in this fallen world is sit back

There's no effort necessary to be a simpleton to be the gullible Notice also that they take pleasure the simple ones take pleasure

They delight the scoffer delights in their scoffing.

They hate knowledge and they love Scoffing mocking

You remember again as you move forward into the revelation of God in Romans chapter 1 the

Apostle Paul starts this Amazing explanation of the gospel itself.

He starts with the fact that everybody knows the true God That he has made himself known to them so much so that they are without a what

They're without an excuse They're without a defense that the natural order is so shouting at God's image bearers

Every single breath every single moment every single heartbeat Everything is screaming to us about the knowledge of God and God has made himself known

To every image bearer of God the problem as we've always said isn't a lack of light

It's that people love the darkness rather than the light But notice that Romans chapter 1 the

Apostle Paul says that oh, even though people know God They don't want him in their knowledge

They don't want to know him. They don't want to think about him and in this text in Proverbs There's an explanation of the fool the simple one and it says they are

Taking pleasure in their scoffing and they actually hate to know

They hate knowledge They don't want to be corrected They don't want to understand the problem is a problem of the nature the fall the heart and Paul further expands on this problem in Romans chapter 3 just take a look at how he explains this in Romans chapter 3

You know this section in Romans chapter 3 verse 11

I'll go right before it None is righteous. No, not one. No one understands.

No one seeks for God all have turned aside Together they've become worthless

No one does good not even one their throat is an open grave

They use their tongues to deceive the venom of asps is under their lips Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness their feet are swift to shed blood

That was already seen in Proverbs chapter 1 and their paths are ruined in misery and the way of peace

They have not known there is no what? No fear of God before their eyes the fundamental problem of humanity no fear of God so these

Scoffers that delight in their scoffing they take pleasure in their mocking the wisdom of God They take pleasure in mocking

God. They love their Mocking they love their scoffing and it says that they actually hate knowledge.

And again, what's the problem here? John 3 19

Light has come into the world Light has come into the world But men loved what?

the darkness Rather than the lights you see that thread runs all the way through the

Bible This is not just something that happens one moment in Proverbs where you have this scene set that God gives

Where wisdom is crying out wisdom is pleading wisdom is beckoning. Please listen Please listen,

I'll pour out my heart. I'll pour out my spirit to you. Please come it's not just this one scene It is the whole story of humanity.

We are so prideful. We don't fear God. We actually are enemies of God We hate God. We don't want to think about God We don't want him in our knowledge and when knowledge is coming from God we scoff we mock at that And yet what's amazing about it is that this is the very wisdom of God.

He made the world Everything he says is the truth. And so while wisdom is here

Personified as a woman in the marketplace pleading and beckoning come and listen.

I'll pour out this to you It's gonna bless you this is really in a sense a picture of God God giving truth

God giving wisdom and people hating to know they don't want to know because the problem is ultimately a

Fallen heart but yet here's what's important It's easy for us to look at a text like this and simply say let me look out there

At those people who are at war with God who hate his word and look out there at their problem

At a projecting truth and knowledge from God or wisdom from God I think the most important thing for us to do is

God's people is to actually look at something like this and reflect on our own experience as Christians When wisdom is given are we like the scoffers?

Are we like the gullible? Are we like the simple and the naive who just refused to listen that we don't want actually any correction

We don't want to know Even when God's wisdom is given to us with a pleading and a beckoning and a calling we say no

I don't want that You see Proverbs chapter 12 move there with me

Proverbs chapter 12 is actually a devastating verse and children love this verse You'll see why in a minute

It's the verse that children love Proverbs chapter 12 verse 1 whoever loves discipline loves knowledge but he who hates reproof is stupid

That's why kids love it You know, like you hear the pastor said stupid from the pulpit is he allowed to do that mom

It's in the Bible. So I get a pass It's not being used in the kind of pejorative sense you would typically expect meant to rail against somebody just simply call him a name

You stupid This is actually describing a person who is like a brutish beast

They have no understanding they don't want to understand they can't communicate they can't understand they're like a beast

But notice what it says ready? Here it is. Whoever loves discipline correction loves knowledge but he who hates reproof is

Stupid if you're the kind of person who doesn't want reproof You don't want to be rebuked or corrected you don't want to ever really understand or know you think you've got it all together

And when someone comes to you with godly wisdom you reject it maybe because the ego maybe because of pride the

Bible says if you Love correction. You're wise People who don't want to be corrected are stupid

You're like a beast He that hates reproof is stupid

Now, I'm sure especially parents could give it We can sit here all night and give a thousand stories about times where you tried to give to your children wisdom

Wisdom and what did you do it for? Can you think this is one of the most frustrating things about being a parent and I know you all feel this is when you see danger ahead and You call out to your children.

No No, or you know, you'll tell your child like my granddaughter a

Couple of weeks ago just running across her little beautiful redhead cute little girl Teeny tiny little

Eve running across the couch and there was the call the wise call from the city gates

Eve Stop running on the couch Because you know, she's so small

It's not a big couch, but it's enough to hurt her if she falls off and so wisdom cries out don't do that It's not good for you

You're gonna hurt yourself and what do prideful sinful people want to do when they hear wisdom coming?

They scoff and I think she maybe did she Right, and she keeps running.

What do we think is simple people when somebody gives to us godly wisdom? They try to give us instruction what we typically think is what you're trying to rob me of something good

On the other side There must be a treasure at the end of this couch That you're trying to keep me from we're so sinful.

That's what we think when someone says hey God didn't make the world that way don't live this way.

Don't sin against God in this way. Don't do that Love God love your neighbor. Don't behave that way. That's not wise.

We typically say you're trying to rob me of joy Something is at the other end of that that you're trying to keep from me.

That's not true There's calamity on the other side like when we kept beckoning and calling to Eve don't do that.

Don't run on the couch We don't want you to get hurt and her little two -year -old redheaded mind

She runs Joyfully, there's something here and then falls Face first off the couch on top of her head onto the tile and it's it's it's the sound that crawls up the spine of every parents where you've tried to give wisdom and then there's that Shrieking cry and it finds its way up your back

Into your head and you'd go I tried To tell you

I tried to warn you and I'm gonna love you and try to console you But I tried to give you wisdom.

That's not how you live in this world The same thing happened once with my son sage

I Warned him they went out to a youth camp. We do better now. We have more volunteers

They went up to a youth camp for apologia out into the woods somewhere and my son sage

I was like make sure you stay with everybody. You're gonna be out in the middle of nowhere, you know Don't wander off sort of a thing, you know, he's old enough to hear his dad and know that I have good counsel

I give him wisdom. He should listen and so I don't wander off stay with everybody because you know, you're in the middle of nowhere

And it's like the next day. He's been gone for a day and I'm driving with candy in the car here in town

They're way up north and I get this weird number on my cell phone and I typically don't answer

Numbers that I don't recognize but something told me I need to answer the phone

And so I answered it and it's my son sage and he's like dad like yeah, he goes

I'm lost and I pulled the car over. What do you mean?

You're lost? Where are you calling me from? He said a guy picked me up in his truck.

I was like, oh no. Oh No like every every nightmare

That a parent has right and my son is lost in the wilderness and some guy in the wilderness

Get on in right like everything is wrong right now first You're lost second.

You're in some strange guy's car and I'm like sage. Where are you? I don't know and I'm like desperate because his phone is cutting out because he's in the mountains and like panicking as a father but what happened was is he did what

I said don't do and that is that he decided to Wander away from the group and he went down a mountain

He ended up getting lost and he just wandered around I guess for a couple of hours His story is is that he at one point.

He just decided he was gonna die Apparently just before the truck showed up.

He had just consigned himself I guess I'll die right here. Like he I was like, did you notice any cabins anywhere?

He's like, yeah, there were cabins So you didn't think to go knock on a door before you decided to die

He was like 18 he had some growing I'm just joking no, he was Yeah, but you get the point like we can all tell stories like that even this weekend in the last two months at apologia

We've had two small children Swallow quarters and have to get surgery to take him out.

Can I get an amen Zach? It's one of those things where you like as a parent you're like you tell them from the smallest stage

Don't put that in your mouth It's not that it it's not I'm not trying to rob you of flavor.

I Promise there's no joy in this like if you put it in your mouth

You could choke and you could die and so, you know as a small child, you're always watching and with me

I'm like hyper about I'm always watching always watching if something gets near them. I feel like don't do that You can hurt yourself.

Don't put that in your mouth And then you find those times where the small children just decide

I'm probably missing something here This must be delicious Because these people keep trying to keep it from me and then the child puts the quarter in the mouth

Swallows the quarter and spends the night in the hospital having to have it surgically removed now praise God These children are safe and they're alive today, but wisdom cries out in the living room.

Don't do that Don't do that. I have peace and safety for you.

Don't do that And then the little children walk by scoffing. What do you know wisdom? We understand this is how it works in a fallen world people behave in this way.

But what is wisdom say? next There is the call from the marketplace over the sea of people over the noise.

The call is If you turn verse 23 at my reproof

Behold I will pour out my spirit to you. I will make my words known to you

Verse 23 is beautiful. Think about it. Wisdom is coming into a context

That is hostile People don't want to hear it. They don't want to listen.

It's a matter of fact They mock it when it comes because they hate knowledge and they're simple

They're gullible the Bible calls them fools But what is God's wisdom doing?

It's pleading Right an amazing Like it's still concerned for the fool the scoffer the one who delights in their scoffing

Wisdom is still coming and still pleading in the marketplace out There it's going to them and it's actually saying if you turn at my reproof

Behold I'll pour out my spirit to you The word turn there is essentially repent same basis turn around You're going one way stop going that way turn around go the other way wisdom's pleading like arm out

I mean the text says that if you turn in my reproof behold I'll pour out my spirit to you

I will make my words known to you because I have called and you've refused to listen have stretched out my hand and No one has heeded.

That's what's happening here And it says here reproof if you turn at my reproof the word reproof

Probably more familiar to say rebuke The word is rebuke 16 out of the 24 occurrences in the book of Proverbs And when it's connected to things like this like called a turn

It means to reprimand or call to account

So here watch this Delighting in their scoffing they're fools. They're gullible.

They're simple They hate knowledge and wisdom is crying out beckoning. Please listen, please listen, and it says they don't want it

So I think we can ask the question here as you come to this. Do we love correction?

Or do we hate knowledge? Do we love correction or do we hate knowledge?

Why do we why do we all hate it so much when someone comes to us? And tries to offer us wisdom or correction.

Why are we so prideful? Fools despise wisdom and correction out now don't get me wrong

We can't be the kind of people That are constantly trying to look at the other brother or sister next to us to find their faults

To try to constantly correct the person next to us we need to be a community of love and grace and forgiveness, but let's be honest, we're all being sanctified and God heals people within the local church he uses the one another's to bless and encourage and to strengthen one another and even when we have a brother or sister come to us with love and Compassion and grace and point something out that is clearly biblical and that we need for our healing we are still so often resistant

So, what are we are we the wise person that actually? joyfully receives correction or are we the fool who hates knowledge hates correction and is stupid

Because that's how the book of Proverbs puts it Are we the kind of people that love correction or do we hate knowledge think about this in terms of just the regular world

There's a million examples that can be given to this I know all of us understand this in your own backgrounds and how you've been trained

Some of you guys are experts in your field. You're good at what you do. You know what it was like to learn

You know what it was like to receive correction It's interesting in certain contexts we understand

I need to listen to the one who knows I need to be willing to be corrected.

I was um, I Traveled all my high school years my teenage years.

I traveled every weekend to a different state I was I was competing constantly professionally as you've heard me say before.

I don't know how I graduated high school. I missed so much school Traveling and competing on the national circuit and international circuit

But I actually Was flying the flying because I've been flying my whole life and then we had some some bad experiences

I had two really bad experiences flying Where I thought we were gonna die and so I went from having zero fear of flying to being petrified

Terrified of flying and I lived here in Arizona at a certain point and a friend of mine

Knew that I had this new fear of flying. I don't anymore. And so he said hey Saturday I want you to meet me at this location.

And so I didn't understand why he just said I want you to meet me there I said, okay, and so I go to this place and it's an airstrip here

I think it was in Chandler and I was like, what are we doing here? He said I purchased you a discovery flight

I said what's that? He said you're gonna go up in an airplane and you're gonna fly it and I'm terrified of Flying in planes at this point.

I was like, I don't know if that's a good idea It's a very good idea because then you understand there's nothing to be afraid of and so I had two friends with me

And actually one of them visiting was my master instructor And so they were sort of scared themselves because they just got tossed into this and they were like, is it safe?

And they're like, yeah, it'll be safe You got an instructor and they're flying But believe me when we took off for that airstrip and we were up in the air and he said take over the controls when

I put my hands on the controls, I Was captive to every word he said

If I did anything wrong, and he said don't do that or do this it was immediate.

Yes, sir I will obey anything you say tell me what to do my master

I was you know Anything and we understand in situations like that if you have the professional the one who knows and they're giving you correction

You just yield to it. You do what they say because they know they're the wise one

They're the one with the knowledge. They know this skill and they know how to apply it and it isn't amazing in all of our lives

When it comes to understanding how to do something a skill art Science medicine we understand that you need to listen and take correction and we're willing to do it

But we're not willing to do in the church We're not willing to do it at times in our homes

Because there's this resistance that comes from a place I believe purely of pride

What kind of people are we are we people who love correction? We joyfully receive correction or do we hate knowledge?

Now Proverbs chapter 3 verses 11 through 12

It says this this is a familiar one to all of us It says my son do not despise the

Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, what is that rebuke?

reprimand calling to account Don't be weary of his reproof for the

Lord reproves Him whom he loves as a father the son in whom he delights

What does God do? With children that he loves. What's he do? He corrects them.

What's about tell us if you're without correction, you're illegitimate Right. So people who say

I know God God is my father. I know Jesus and yet there is no

Sanctification there is no transformation. Nothing is happening that draws them more and more to godliness and holiness

Nothing has happened the question can be asked Well, if you're without correction if you still love your sin

If you still love the way you're going then it doesn't look like God is your father Because what is

God as a father due to all his kids? What's he do? He corrects them What is any loving father due to their son or to their daughter when they're falling into error?

When they're perishing he tries to pursue he tries to correct. That's the duty in the role of a father

Wisdom corrects and God corrects those that he loves but you'll notice also

Proverbs chapter 1 The text says Verse 24 because I've called and you refuse to listen.

I stretched out my hand and no one is heeded big It says because you have ignored all my counsel

It would have none of my reproof. I will also laugh at your calamity You'll notice that this comes after The promise

I will pour out my spirit to you Some translations say heart

Pour on my heart. I'll pour out my spirits this word poor Essentially is an uncontrollable gushing forth like that's the offer of wisdom.

It's crying out It's beckoning the hand is out and there's the promise of this

Uncontrollable gushing forth of God's Spirit his heart

To the gullible to the one who scoffs to the fool

But wisdom has the last laugh because there is a switch now in the text it goes from wisdom crying out

Wisdom is pleading wisdom is calling Wisdom is offering knowledge wisdom is offering correction and the fool hates the knowledge the full delights in the scoffing and then wisdom has the last laugh

It says because I have called and you refuse to listen Have stretched out my hand and no one is heeded because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof

I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you

Essentially what's happening here is wisdom is having the last laugh Wisdom is saying you mocked me all last all laugh last

This is really important because while wisdom here is being personified as a woman

We know ultimately that Christ is the very wisdom of God God is the one who is wise offering this wisdom and this call to everyone who hates him

So ultimately God does this but notice Something very important wisdom is not laughing at the pain and disaster wisdom isn't doing that Wisdom is laughing at the triumph of what is wise good right and true over foolishness this wisdom laughing is a triumphant joyful laughing of wisdom conquering foolishness the right over the wrong this is essentially a moment where you know the

Common way to put it you made your bed and now what?

You're laying in it You made your bed and now you're laying in it This is really important because it's lacking today in our a pursuit of calling the world to Christ It's lacking today this promise of judgment

The promise of calamity wisdom does it wisdom cries out says I'll pour it out. Please come please receive it

Stop hating knowledge and then wisdom says when your terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity

Comes like a whirlwind when distress and anguish come upon you then they will call upon me

But I will not answer they will seek me diligently But they will not find me because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the

Lord What is Galatians 6 7 say God is not mocked?

God is not mocked You can't live in God's world that he made as his image bearer in a way

That is contrary to his truth and his order Ultimately, there will be a day of reckoning.

There will be a day of calamity and when that day comes God will laugh

God will laugh. It's interesting Because in verse 24 look at it

Because I have called and you refuse to listen have stretched out my hands and no one has heeded

So what's that? I call and you don't listen I call and you won't heed it and in verse 28

It says then they will call upon me But I will not answer they will seek me diligently but will not find me so in 24

It's I called you wouldn't listen in verse 28 when they call out to me.

I won't listen Those are terrifying words

That we should think long and hard about in God's world. He calls out his truth.

He calls out wisdom He's he's beckoning. Come come receive this wisdom and then there's gonna be a moment.

There's gonna be a trip there's gonna be a turn where God says When you cry out to me,

I'm not listening I won't you didn't listen to me. I'm not listening to you When that calamity strikes when that hurricane comes and you're sitting in this mess

Now just observing the destruction when you cry out. I will not listen

Now brothers and sisters, that's a terrifying thing That is a terrifying thing to face

That the word comes out wisdom will beckon and call and when that day of judgment comes and you're crying out

There's no answer as a matter of fact, there's laughter That's what the text says.

It's a terrifying thing to think about in terms of our own personal lives Maybe our family

Maybe our churches but also our nation if our nation is under the hearing of God's Word and God's wisdom and the crying out in the city square in the marketplace and they won't turn

There will be a day of disaster There will be a day of calamity now.

None of us want that to happen. Amen Yes, like we're not we're not masochists just hoping for it

But you can't live in God's world perverting his ways and not receive judgments

You can't disrupt the family You can't lie to children about God and human origins and ethics you can't disrupt

God's truth about economics and Not reap the whirlwinds ultimately you reap what you sow

We live in a time where we're all feeling it right now, aren't we do you feel it?

Do you feel it when you go to the grocery store? Do you feel it when you go to the gas pump? Do you feel it when you watch our leaders the leaders of this nation?

spouting off some of the most ridiculous insane foolish things imaginable

Do you feel it when you see the tyranny creeping in? It's a lack of wisdom and there will be

Calamity and judgment if you keep going down that road and it is a terrifying thing

To hear from the revelation of God that when that calamity comes and you cry out the fool

Cries out. Okay. Now I'll listen God says I'll laugh and When you cry out to me,

I won't answer That's a terrifying thing to think about Praise God.

We have a mighty Savior. Amen The only hope and peace that we'll find is in Christ and it's interesting because I Was thinking about the wording here in terms of calamity and terror striking you like a storm the whirlwind

We have a we have two church plant missions at Apologia We have

Apologia, Utah, which God is blessing tremendously and Apologia, Kauai We've been working and laboring in both places and in in Kauai We've had to take a little bit of a pause to regroup to figure out how we're gonna do it

To be successful in our mission our mission there, but when you go to Kauai, it's one of the most beautiful places on planet

Earth It's also one of the hardest places Imaginable to plan a church because there is so much hostility towards truth the exclusive claims of Christ There is so much spiritual oppression and darkness.

There is there are so many cults there's so much of The typical sort of evangelical

You have your truth. I have my truth. We're fine sort of a thing Jesus is a friend of mine kind of stuff going on there.

But though it's one of the most beautiful places in the world Sometimes you remember where you're at And what

I mean by this is that you're driving on the road and you see the reminder signs that it's like a tsunami

Safety zone like if there's a tsunami Drive down this road to the safe spots.

And so sometimes you're like, this is the most gorgeous This is much this must be with the Garden of Eden looked like and then you get this little

Reminders of the fallen world that you live in. Hey, by the way if the water starts overwhelming the island go that way to get safe And it's interesting in a place where you can get hit with a whirlwind or with hurricanes

You recognize everybody recognizes they had him really bad this past year in kentucky that when it's upon you the only thing that you can really do is just sit back

And watch the destruction There's nothing you can do You have to stay put to watch the destruction

And what wisdom is saying here in this text Is that that day when it comes when you're just going to be a spectator to the destruction that is all around you when you cry out

I'm, not returning an answer and that is

I think the way that as a church we need to go into the world with the wisdom of god. There's my summary

Wisdom doesn't pull punches wisdom tells the truth About god about us about the world

It goes into the world. It tells the truth recognizing the fool hates knowledge

The scoffer delights in their scoffing and then you're talking to people who will resist

But you still need to bring the wisdom of god and it needs to come with a warning a warning about judgments a warning about the truth surrounding judgment

Wisdom will have the last laugh She pleads she offers but she'll have the last laugh in verse 32 to 33

This scene ends with this for the simple are killed by their turning away And the complacency of fools destroys them but whoever listens to me

Will dwell secure and will be at ease without dread of disaster.

There's a promise here about godly wisdom ease no dread of disaster

I tried to think of because there's a million applications to this, right? Like you could talk about the problem of fatherlessness in our world today we act like There's no real meaning and beauty

In a father There's no real meaning and beauty in a mother And those distinct beautiful roles that god has made we act like It's not really special It's not really necessary so We reap what we sow

We have a generation in our world today around us of fatherless children in many ways

You could talk about the issue of abortion fatherless children abandoned killed You could talk about fatherlessness in the city gangs people who are out for innocent blood

People who want to destroy others and plunder them You could talk about what fatherlessness does

And the wisdom of god coming from the people of god coming from the church calling into the world

No, you need to be a godly man a godly father You need to be a godly woman and a godly mother.

You need to stay together You need to you need to you need to grow that little Sphere in that garden that god has given to you to bring glory to god.

You need to stick with it You need to live according to god's law and his wisdom to bless the world and you see the destruction the erosion of the world

Around us because we say I hate your knowledge. I delight in my scoffing.

I don't want your ways god We can do it our way and look what it gives to us The destruction of the family

Young men growing up with no dads young women growing up. No fathers

No real mothers and the destruction that is all around us because of that I try to think of ways to describe how god's wisdom blesses

It brings peace It keeps you safe. It's like the granddaughter trying to run across the couch.

Don't do that I'm trying to keep you safe I'm trying to keep you protected.

I'm trying to keep you in one piece And they just go running off the sofa. Anyway, god's wisdom keeps you safe Blessed protected it brings beauty to the world joy to the world

I try to think of ways to express this by way of application and I Was thinking

The month we're in right now People call it pride month. It's easy to respond to say pride comes before the fall

And a haughty spirit before destruction, that's true It's easy simply to point to god's word and say god calls it an abomination

There's no way out of that God calls it an abomination Romans chapter 1

God says it's it's it flipping the order of creation on its head. It's rebellion. It's idolatry. That's what it is.

It's idolatry You could do that It's true. You can go that route and we should Call people to repentance

Let them know there's freedom in christ But there's another way I think you can make application to this in terms of when you listen to god's wisdom you dwell

With ease you are safe. You are protected We don't often talk about the destructive nature

Of the lifestyle being promoted this month the nature of the lifestyle

I was reading an article And i'll try to be careful here because I want to make application

I was reading an article about a man from a man who lived in that lifestyle for decades and he gave a

Very honest Brutal at times description of that lifestyle that he lived promiscuous as a man

Going into places where men are with men And he did it for a long time and he talked about What people don't generally talk about in terms of the destructive nature of that lifestyle

When you try to live in god's world apart from his ways How it destroys you

It takes away your ease. It takes away your safety. It actually destroys you He was talking about the fact that many of these men

As they get older have to wear diapers they have to wear diapers

Incontinence is an issue Men who are in their 40s. They have to wear a diaper to the gym

Because if they exert any pressure while they're lifting weights and exercising they might use the bathroom on themselves

He talked about the fact that he had to go constantly to the doctor to get surgery and to get help

Because of bleeding hemorrhoids and other problems like that He's talking about the fact that no one ever talks about this in this community in this prideful

Community this community with so much pride the destructive nature of this lifestyle

And wisdom from the christian church goes into the world and it says no god has made the world in this beautiful way

Where there is actual harmony male and female relationship

Where it's not destructive To be intimate together as a matter of fact far from destructive when you do this god's way it's not only not

Destructive it is mutually fulfilling In the only way possible in god's world just consider that That it is only through male and female intimate relationships

Where there is a mutual? fulfillment for both people involved in the intimacy only through male and female and there are only

Consequences that are life giving When you listen to god's wisdom

Apply it across the spectrum answer the category You'll see that when you listen to god's wisdom and his truth when you yield to that truth and you accept correction

There is ease there is safety there is comfort there is joy But when you reject the call of wisdom in the marketplace and in the public square

What will what will you will finally land on is destruction? the hurricane

All that will that you should expect to have when you live in god's world apart from his way

You will be sitting there in ruins and the fearful thing That all of us should think hard about is that when wisdom is calling in the marketplace in the public square

And we refuse to listen when that calamity comes scripture says that wisdom will have the last laugh wisdom

Laughs and wisdom says and when you call out to me I will do what you did to me.

I won't answer either I pray that god makes us into the kind of people that love knowledge

We love correction We pause We pause when a brother or sister brings something to us and says hey god's word says this about being a better father or about being a mother

Or you should do this in this way because god calls us to we're the kind of people that actually pause for a minute to say

Is this wisdom? Because if it is wisdom I want to love it

I want to love knowledge I don't want to be the fool that hates knowledge I don't want to be somebody that god says

Is stupid Let's pray Father I pray that you'd bless the words that went out today for your glory and kingdom

Make us into people who love wisdom and correction Thank you for your word in jesus name.