Proverbs 8: A Litmus Test For Wisdom

So today's title is Litmus Test for Wisdom. Just a little review. Remember, Proverbs is wisdom literature. Just a little observation, if I might. I don't know if you've noticed, those who are coming Wednesday evening, the similarities between what's being taught Wednesday and what we're learning in Proverbs.

Because Proverbs has so much to do with apologetics. The whole methodology of apologetics really comes from the book of Proverbs. So it's not unusual to see that. Remember, the purpose of the book is to make one wise, how to handle life with skill.

The morning we're looking at a litmus test for wisdom. And we're identifying a particular characteristic of the wise man. That's why it's called a litmus test. This is our text for this morning, Proverbs nine, starting in verse seven.

He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself. And he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself. Do not reprove a scoffer lest he hate you. Reprove a wise man and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be wiser still.

Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One, understanding. For by me your days will be multiplied and years of life will be added to you.

If you are wise, you are wise for yourself. If you scoff, you alone will bear it. So now so far in our study, we've looked at several aspects of wisdom. Firstly, we saw that wisdom is active. It calls to the foolish and to the naive.

And the call for wisdom is universal. It is designed for all men everywhere. Biblical wisdom is eternal. It is never ending. Biblical wisdom addresses all areas of life. There's not an area of life and godliness that is not addressed by the scriptures.

And biblical wisdom is personified in the person of Jesus Christ. How many of you know what a litmus test is? Anybody know? You guys ever hear of a litmus test? Years ago, they don't use the test that much anymore because things have gotten so much more sophisticated.

But I can remember high school chemistry, and you have two colors of litmus paper, one blue, one red. And if you take the blue paper and put it into an acidic liquid, it turns red. And the red one, it turns blue if you put it into a basic or an alkali test.

And it was very, very simple. I remember seeing it for the first time right in front of you. You're gonna take your paper and it turns colors. So that's where, I guess, you don't hear it that much anymore.

But in my era growing up, somebody said, oh, this is a litmus test. It just became the standard for, you know if something is one thing or another. So that's where the phrase comes from. So the text for this morning is a litmus test for wisdom.

In other words, are you wise? Are you a wise person in a biblical sense? And one way to find out is demonstrated in answering these following questions. Are you teachable? Put another way, do you have a teachable spirit?

And by the way, while all Proverbs lessons are especially good for the young, you young guys, this is a crucial lesson for you guys to learn. So I'm gonna keep glancing over and making sure you're paying attention.

And if not, I'll throw something at you.

Okay.

So be wise.

All right.

So put another way, do you have a teachable spirit? How do you respond when somebody corrects you? Do you accept criticism well? This is, these first three verses of our text, verses seven, eight, and nine, indicate two different responses towards correction or being rebuked.

And I want you to notice something. There's a poetic construction here and it goes A, B, C, C, B, A. And you'll see it as I go. He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself. That would be the A premise.

All right.

Now look at B. He who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself. Notice it's taking it one more, one step higher. It gets a little bit more specific. And then you get to C, which is the first half of verse A.

Do not reprove a scoffer unless he hates you. That's the most poignant or the strongest of the wording. Then when it comes to the wise man, it goes back just the other way. It starts with C. Reprove a wise man and he will love you.

Notice the correlation between hate and love. Give instruction to a wise man. He will be wiser, still wiser. There you're coming back down out of B. And the last one, teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.

Yes, John. Scoffer is one who basically rejects reproof, rejects being rebuked. And he, one who scoffs is one who makes fun of derides. Like if you give a piece of advice, he'll go, yeah, right. That type of response would be somebody who is a scoffer.

Somebody who just really rejects any type of instruction or rebuking whatsoever. You must have come across that as being the rebuker that you are.

All right.

Now, this is classical, just classic wisdom literature and it shows the antithesis, the difference. There's no neutrality here in when it comes to biblical wisdom. You either follow it or you don't. So you're either wise or you're foolish.

The wise man, the wise man is the wise man.

The wise man responds to correction in one way and the fool in another way. For example, Proverbs 30, 13, 1. A wise man accepts his father's discipline but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke. There's a perfect example of the definition of a scoffer right there.

Proverbs 13, 18. Poverty and shame will come to him who neglects discipline but he who regards reproof will be honored.

Okay.

There you can see very clearly the antithesis one way or the other. So there's two responses towards correction. The response of the scoffer, he actually turns on the one who tries to help him.

All right.

He lashes out with insults and hatred. The response of the wise is the exact opposite. He listens and he learns and he loves the one who corrects him.

All right.

That's just a little synopsis. Remember, when we're talking about wisdom and folly in the book of Proverbs, the wise man is equated with being righteous and the scoffer with being a fool. Remember, it's a moral judgment, not an intellectual one.

Sounding familiar from Wednesday evenings? The two are just tied in together very nicely. I've listed just four ways the scoffer can resist.

All right.

Because it's not always the same. First one would just to be avoidance. And here's what I mean by that. Proverbs 15, 12. A scoffer does not love the one who reproves him. He will not go to the wise. If somebody who's a scoffer, you don't get too many people like this coming and knocking on the pastor's door.

Pastor, I need some help. Can you help me out?

Yeah, yeah.

They just, they would rather not have any advice than to go in, because they know what's going to be said. I can't tell you how many times where somebody's been called into the office and they say, look, I know what you're going to say.

Well, then why aren't you doing it? You know? He will not go to the wise. So, and this shows itself in refusal to submit to authority. Won't join an organization if he has to submit to another person.

All right?

If there is a problem, he quits and goes elsewhere. I mean, how many times do you see that? Something happens, something goes wrong. That's it, you know. Well, let's sit down and talk. No, that's, you know, I don't want to talk.

Or he just stays away from any place that represents authority at all. All right, don't tell me what to do. I know, I know, I can handle this myself. And this is where I always quote Dr. Phil. How's that working out for you?

Second way is rationalization. Proverbs 12, 15, the way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel. Like my father used to say, you can always tell a Norwegian, you just can't tell him much.

We're known as being hardheads or squareheads. Rationalization can be holding to a double standard. Like, I know what I'm doing, you can't do it. You know, and they are quick to point out, you know, this is where Jesus says, take the log out of your own eye before you remove this back from your brother.

Making arbitrary exceptions. Yeah, I know what's wrong, but no, I was justified. Offering flimsy excuses. All right, just, you know, well, you know, I had to because whatever, just, I'm a sinner. Yeah, to err is human.

Or appealing to the emotions. Criminals are masters at this. You know, you get them in, and if you don't know them, they can, and if you're not keenly aware of how they operate, especially like a new police officer, a new recruit, if he's not streetwise, boy, they can get snowed very, very easily.

Third way is recrimination. All right, and I'll explain what that is. Through presumption comes nothing but strife. But with those who receive counselor's wisdom. Recrimination is attacking the motive of the person correcting.

You're only saying this because you don't like me, you know? Or you don't like this because I'm friends with Joe Smoe, and you don't like him. Or attacking the integrity of the person correcting. Yeah, well, you may say this to me, but I know secrets about you.

Holding a grudge. You know, you correct them, and they'll remember it, you know, 37 years later, they'll bring it up. Taking up an offense against the person. That's recrimination. Last one is incorrigibility.

Basically, this person is just unteachable. A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding, look at that, than 100 blows into a fool. In other words, the wise person, you sit him down, you explain it to him, he understands.

You could, what Proverbs is saying is, you could beat this guy silly, and he's still not gonna get it. Interesting. Proverbs 19 .25, like a scoffer, and the naive may, strike a scoffer, and the naive may become shrewd, but reprove one who has understanding, and he will gain knowledge.

When the scoffer is punished, the naive becomes wise, but when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge. See the antithesis consistently. So what you have here is a refusal to admit error or wrongdoing.

Nope, not me. But I got you on videotape. Nope, I never said that. That's not me. May look like me, sound like me, you know, he's even wearing my clothes, but it's not me. Or hypocritically admitting error or wrongdoing.

Yeah, I'm sorry, you know, and why are they saying I'm sorry? Just to get you off their back. You know, if they think that'll do it, but there's no true repentance. Admit the error or wrongdoing, but ignore correction.

How many times have we seen that? We call somebody in, rebuke them, and then what happens? They say, oh yes, yes, I'm sorry, but no change. So there's no, not true repentance. There's no change in either behavior or character.

Then we move to the next section, the ways of the wise. That's the second half of these first three verses. We prove a wise man, he will love you. Give instruction to wise men, he will be wiser still.

Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. The wise man loves his critics. You know, you rebuke, thank you so much for pointing that out to me. That'll be of immense help to me. You know, that type of thing.

That's what we mean by responding out of love and gratitude. He will even overlook flaws in the presentation. You know, you'll see a little bit later that we are called to not only to be true, but to be kind.

But the wise man, even if you're not kind, you know, like there's two ways to tell somebody that they got bad breath. One, would you like a mint? You know, or hey, Charlie, chewing your old socks again?

You know? And so, it doesn't matter to the wise man how that is presented when he recognizes that it's true. He accepts the criticism and will make the appropriate change. Proverbs 27, nine, oil and perfume make the heart glad.

So a man's counsel, whoops. So a man's counsel is sweet to his friend. The wise man increases in wisdom with correction. Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid. I said that, I read that once from the pulpit and this one family in the church had taught their children never to say the word stupid.

And they said that that was naughty. It was sinful to say that. I read that verse and the little kid goes, ah, pastor sinned. Proverbs 19, 27, cease listening my son to discipline and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

Listen to counsel and accept discipline that you may be wise the rest of your days. Notice how many verses in Proverbs is allocated to this very topic of heeding instruction as opposed to ignoring instruction.

I mean, just the sheer number of verses. We know that one of the Hebrew methods of emphasizing a point is repetition. And just look, how many verses have we gone through just this morning now? Why does a wise man respond in this way?

Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is the theme of the whole book, is it not? And knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. There's the summary, how many times, I haven't counted them, but how many times do you think that concept is in the book of Proverbs?

It's numerous and it's riddled throughout. It starts right in chapter one. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Wisdom only comes through the fear of God. So your response to criticism is one of the true tests for true wisdom.

And that's why I titled this a litmus test. I mean, it's not the only test. This is just one of the many tests in scripture. If you're criticized and the person is right, your attitude should be, well, there's no surprise there, you know, instead of responding and kind of saying, well, who are you to tell me, you know?

And if they're wrong, so what? I've done a lot of things you don't know about. If you really knew me, you'd know I was a lot worse than you really think I am. So even if somebody's wrong, if somebody's correcting you and they're wrong, learn something from it.

Take it in the right way. Then the question comes, what about rebuking others? Yeah, we do have those with this as a spiritual gift, we know that. We are told to correct others. Second Timothy four, verses one and two, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge, the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction.

I know you might say, well, yeah, but that's specifically towards pastors because this is one of the pastoral epistles, right? Well, Matthew 18 kind of says it's for everybody. And if your brother sins, go and reprove him in private.

If he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every fact may be confirmed. And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.

And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax gatherer. So we are commanded to rebuke. If we see a brother in sin, we don't have the opportunity or the right to just say, well, it's not my business.

The Cain asked the question, am I my brother's keeper? Yeah, kind of. Colossians 3, 16, let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

We're also told in scripture that we are able, in other words, we have the ability to rebuke others and to know how to do it. Romans 15, 14, and concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another.

There's one of our bases for biblical counseling. The word that's used there to admonish in the Greek is adnutheteo, which means to confront or admonish one another. When you see somebody in sin, what do you do?

You need to go to them and tell them. You have to convince them that what they are doing is wrong and to bring them to repentance. And we have all the necessary tools. We know that because all scripture is inspired by God, profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be, and I like this translation, perfectly equipped for every good work.

That's really, I think, a more accurate translation. Because the word adequate, unfortunately, in English, the word adequate has developed a totally different meaning. It means like, yeah, it's okay. No, huh?

It's not adequate for the task, yeah. We'll go, what's that?

He perfectly put that.

Oh, why me, God? But it must be done cautiously, with style, and in love. Proverbs 3 .3, do not let kindness and truth leave you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Notice the two concepts, kindness and truth.

To be kind, you have to tell the truth, but when you're telling the truth, you have to do it in kindness. And then we see the same thing in Ephesians 4, both 15 and 25, speaking the truth in love. All right, we are to grow up in all aspects of, into him who is head of the church, even Christ.

Therefore, laying aside falsehoods, speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. However, all of this being said, there does come a time when rebuking is not profitable.

All right, and this is something, this again takes wisdom. This is why we need to do a full study of the book of Proverbs. Verses seven and eight, we've read these already. He who corrects the scoffer gets dishonor for himself, and he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself.

And then the last part, which was the C, do not reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Understand that when you go about, you know, to correct someone, they may not receive it in the right way if they're not a wise person.

That's why Jesus said, and again, remember, these are the words of Jesus, do not give what is holy to dogs, do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.

The whole context of that, what Jesus is talking about is there comes a time, even in giving the gospel, we actually just turn away and say, you know, I've spoken to you, I've given you the truth, I've tried to correct you.

You're not listening, I'm done. There does come that time. How do you know it takes wisdom? There's no black and white formula for it. This is why whenever we're either in our apologetics, evangelism, that we need to pray for wisdom from God, that we would know what would be the right thing to do.

But there does come a time where you say, you know what? I'm done, unless God does the work in the heart, which we know that anyway. Matthew 10, verse 14, when Jesus sent the apostles out into the cities, and whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.

And in other words, it takes wisdom to know when enough is enough. But we first try. It's our job. Remember, our job is to be faithful, not to be successful. Success only comes from the Lord. And here's those verses we've been looking at, the whole basis for presuppositional apologetics, Proverbs 26, four and five, do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him.

Answer a fool as his folly deserves, that he not be wise in his own eyes. Now we come to verse 11 of our text. What's the result of wisdom? If you're applying biblical wisdom to your life, for by me, your days will be multiplied and years of life will be added to you.

Now, of course, we understand that in the new covenant, that promise is extended to eternal life. That's the promise. And then verse 12, if you are wise, you are wise for yourself. And if you scoff, you alone will bear it.

How many people think that's a puzzling saying? This is not one of those verses that the meaning just jumps out at you, does it? You kind of look at it and you go, wait a minute, what does that mean? Well, there's a reason for that because this is a Hebrew idiom.

All right?

What it means, what the Hebrew idiom that this is putting forth means, it means if you're wise, you'll receive the benefit of your wisdom. If you're a scoffer, you will receive the consequences of your foolishness.

So the message of these Proverbs is simple. Heed instruction and live. Neglect instruction and die. Not my words. Don't stone the messenger. Proverbs 15, 31 to 32. He who is here listens to the life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.

He who neglects discipline despises himself, but he who listens to reproof acquires understanding. Heed instructions and live. Neglect instruction and die. A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.

Stern discipline is for him who forsakes the way. He who hates reproof will die. Again, notice the antithesis, life and death. Yeah, one of the things that you'll notice if you read through the gospels specifically, the how Jesus dealt with people is some of the most instructive ways on how to deal with people.

Look what he did with the woman by the well. Here she was a serial adulteress, all right? And how does he introduce himself? He doesn't say, come here, you harlot. He comes to her and says, I'd like a drink of water.

You know, and that simple act was somewhat surprising to her because of the antagonism between the Jews and the Samaritans. And, but that led into him talking again, basically giving her the gospels. And she receives the gospel and goes back and many men from her village come to speak with Jesus.

So it's his style. Now on the other side, what did Jesus do when he came into the temple and found it being profaned? Overturned the tables, whipped, you know, what did he say to the Pharisees in Matthew 23?

Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, whitewashed tombs. There's a time to rebuke and there's a time to be gentle in your rebuke. And nobody, of course, nobody has done it better than Jesus. And that's why when we read the gospels, we should be looking not just for the gospel message itself, but how did Jesus bring that gospel message?

Final thoughts. Okay, let's pray.