Learning the Fear of the Lord, God’s Wisdom for Living from Proverbs 1

This series it’s going to be all about God’s wisdom for daily life so we’re going to get as practical as we can and as practical as Proverbs gets and So this morning the title of our message is learning the fear of the Lord learning to fear the Lord So if you’ll stand with me We’re going to read from Proverbs chapter 1 verse 7 and also a passage in Scripture in the New Testament where Jesus Reminds us that the the fear of the Lord and also wisdom is New Testament Not just Old Testament, but let’s begin by reading Proverbs 1 verse 7 and this is the NIV The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction I’m going to turn in my Bible to Matthew chapter 12 Matthew chapter 12 verse 42 The Queen of the South which we know is the Queen of Sheba This is verse 42 the Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it For she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom and now something greater Or someone greater than Solomon is here Lord Jesus. Thank you for your word and Thank you Lord that you are greater Than any wisdom you’re greater than any wise man and Lord, I pray in the upcoming weeks and this Sunday as well. That is we study the book of Proverbs The Lord we would get a new hunger and a new thirst to live wise lives Lord that we would be willing to go through the process to not make decisions based on impulse or emotion Or Just what we want to do But Lord we would desire to learn to grow and to be wise and to live godly lives that are filled with wisdom Lord Jesus you are the apex of wisdom Lord I pray that as we study Proverbs that our hearts will turn to you that we will look to you for your teachings and to see the heart that you have and That would be applied to our life Lord that we would be able to be more like you And we give you all the praise all the glory in Jesus name. Amen Amen, you may be seated There’s a story about a proud young man who came to Socrates asking for knowledge He walked up to the philosopher and said Oh great Socrates. I come to you for knowledge Socrates because Socrates recognized a pompous numbskull when he saw one He he led the young man through the streets to the sea and chest deep into the water. Then he asked what do you want? Knowledge Oh why Socrates said the young man with a smile Socrates put his strong hands on the man’s shoulders and pushed him under the water 30 seconds later Socrates let him up. What do you want? He asked again wisdom The young man sputtered Oh great and wise Socrates Socrates Pushed him under again 30 seconds passed 35 40 Socrates let him up. The man was gasping. What do you want young man? between heavy heaving Breaths the fellow wheeze knowledge and wisdom Oh wise and wonderful Socrates jammed him under the water again this time 40 seconds 50 seconds, and then he let him up. What do you want? Air the young man screeched. I need air And so this is just a fun story That I hope not only helps us laugh but helps us to realize that if we really want wisdom We have to seek it. I Mean we have to really want wisdom. I’m kind of a Dave Ramsey buff I don’t know if you are or not, but I really when we’re driving along We’ll listen to music on our road trips and then before long all the kids know That eventually I’m going to be listening to the Dave Ramsey podcast and one of the things I enjoy about those kind of podcasts is people will call in and They know what they’re supposed to do because Dave has this specific plan that you’re supposed to do in your finances And they know what they’re supposed to do, but something is hindering them from doing What they know they’re supposed to do And I really believe that in life. We often find ourself in that situation. We know what to do but a certain impulse or an experience from our past or Our emotions or just somehow the way our mind is wired and the way we’re thinking about it We just can’t seem to do what we know to do It’s kind of a Roman seven Romans eight kind of thing, right if you and I’m not preaching out of Romans this morning But if you’ve ever read Romans 7, that’s where Paul says I know what I do should do and I know what I want to do But because my flesh is not submitted to the Spirit I just can’t do what God wants me to do and then praise God for Romans 8 because you get over to Romans 8 and Paul says now if you submit your flesh to the Spirit you live by the Spirit You won’t obey the lust of the flesh and you can actually do what God wants you to do Well, I hope that helps you understand where we’re headed with the book of Proverbs Because the book of Proverbs is very practical. It deals with how you should speak It deals with work with everyday life issues like relationships and marriage and family and money and wealth And I just want you to know my heart as your pastor I I believe that when we follow Jesus people should be able to look at our lives and see the fruit That you’re following Jesus And If they look at us and they don’t see anything different about the way our marriage works About the way our relationships at home work with our kids If they look at you as a Christian and look at Christian people and go well You don’t you’ve got all the same financial problems that I’ve got Financial problems that I’ve got My heart as a pastor is if you’re following Jesus and you’re willing to want wisdom Godly wisdom as much as this young man is gasping for air Then God’s gonna give you wisdom and when God gives you wisdom your life’s gonna look different Your marriage is gonna begin to flourish and prosper and your relationships are gonna flourish and prosper Yes, we’ll still go through trials. We’ll still have troubles The Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust but Oh to have wisdom in the midst of those difficult situations, so that’s where we’re headed and Indeed, there’s a great need for wisdom today. Here’s how I define wisdom Wisdom is the insight skill or Discernment to decide what to do and when to do it in daily life and so let’s let’s begin with the first six verses in Proverbs chapter 1 and Well before we get there this this is let me Next slide is we’re gonna but let me let me share this with you real quick One of the outcomes and I’ve written out kind of five ways we can make or five steps to making godly decisions and My hope is and this is what I’m starting today but my hope is and my guess is some of this might change by the end as Even I’m learning right through as I go through the book of Proverbs, but just as we start today How can I make wise decisions? Well number one seek to honor God with all your decisions first Corinthians 1031 and You could replace the fear of the Lord there seek to fear God in all of your decisions. So, how can you make godly decisions? Honor God does it honor God if I make this decision? Will that honor God? and then Philippians 4 6 and through 7 tells us to pray about all everything and So, how can I make a godly decision? We’ll pause and pray as I’ve already started reading through the book of Proverbs. What I’m discovering is We make a lot of decisions based on impulse and how we feel We’ve got to pause we need to slow down We need to spend a lot more time praying about those decisions, especially if they’re big decisions But even daily decisions, we really just need to slow down Pause and talk with God about it a third step to making godly decisions would be gather info and options It’s okay to do that Sometimes if you’re gonna make a really big decision, maybe you need to know a little bit more about the warranty Maybe you need to know a little bit more about the the specs on the engine Maybe you need to know a little bit more about how long that engine will last Good luck with that right time but but just doing some research doing a gathering information gathering options a a Fourth step to making godly wise decision is to consider God’s Word can consult God’s Word Certainly slow enough slow down enough to pray But also make God’s Word a part of your decision-making process the more of God’s Word you can get in your heart in your mind the better decisions you’re gonna make and Then fifth ask for wise counsel from trusted advisors And we can find many scriptures to back each one of those steps up But if we could do just those five things we’d make better decisions We’d make godly decisions. I Thought I was ready to get to Proverbs 1 but I’m not I’ve still got a lot of introducing to do in my notes Solomon is known as one of the wisest right you can go back and look at a number of different places in The Bible for instance when he was asked by God when he became king I think he was the tenth son of David and Bathsheba, but he was the third king of Israel He wrote like 3,000 Proverbs 105 songs, but when he became king one night God asked him. Well, what do you want? Do you want wealth? Do you want victory over your enemies in battle and Solomon said I want wisdom to lead your people and Certainly Solomon was not perfect He went on his own human journey of of wandering and that’s why we have Ecclesiastes and and if you’ve ever read Ecclesiastes It shows how Solomon must have gone through an episode in his life a season where he began to look for For happiness and joy and everything else, but God He abandoned wisdom if you will, but even at the end of that story in Ecclesiastes at the last chapter He says here’s the conclusion. Here’s the summary of everything I’ve learned is you you should fear God and keep his commandments that’s the only thing that will bring you joy and and peace and true happiness because according to Ecclesiastes Everything else is vanity And that word vanity in Ecclesiastes is just purposeless Everything else in life and in the phrase in Ecclesiastes is under the Sun. So everything under the Sun is Meaningless, it’s purposeless When you don’t put God in it That’s what the wisest man Solomon that’s what he came up with And so Solomon was known as a very wise man and We read this morning how the Queen of Sheba even went and sat and listened to his wisdom and then of course Jesus Said one greater than Solomon is here I’m so thankful that the fear of the Lord and wisdom is not just an Old Testament idea, but it’s a New Testament idea God wants us to live godly lives filled with wisdom He doesn’t want us just coming to Jesus and Receiving forgiveness for our sins and and the promise of a new life and then going and living life However, we want God wants us to walk and to live and to talk and to relate with others with wisdom With godly wisdom with with skill there’s a difference between wisdom and knowledge Of course, you could know all kinds of things, but that’s not wisdom And even the Bible the Bible tells us I think in the book of Daniel that in the last days there’s going to be a lot of knowledge and we’re living in a day where you have a library of Information and knowledge at your fingertips anytime you need to know something you can Google it You can just go right on the internet. It’s all there and I’m not saying that’s wrong or bad. I do it all the time It’s actually very helpful, but information and knowledge is not wisdom Where does wisdom come from? From the Lord is what the Bible would tell us We might say well wisdom comes from experience. I guess that’s true You learn things and you try not to repeat the bad things But what Proverbs is going to tell us is that that wisdom skill You know the the skill the ability to make the right decision at the right time To keep your mouth closed when you should keep your mouth closed to to speak when you should speak Right to really have wisdom that comes from your relationship with the Lord That comes from walking with the Lord. I want to read one more scripture before we get into our our Proverbs chapter 1 this is Ephesians chapter 5 through verse 15 through 17 and This looks to me to be just one verse So I think the we could read more but let me just read this be very careful How you live not as unwise but as wise Making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is The context now that must be verse 17. I’m not sure please check for me But the context there is is Paul is writing to the believers in Ephesus and saying look this is a dark place But now you’ve been brought into Jesus. You’ve been brought into a kingdom of light and if you’re gonna walk in the light Walk in wisdom Walk in wisdom So now let’s dig into Proverbs chapter 1 verse 1 through 6 Proverbs chapter 1 verse 1 through 6, what is the purpose of Proverbs let me read this again for us starting in verse 1 the Proverbs of Solomon son of David king of Israel For gaining wisdom and instruction for understanding words of insight for receiving instruction in prudent behavior Doing what is right and just and fair for giving prudence to those who are simple knowledge and discretion to the young let the wise listen and add to their learning and let the discerning get guidance for understanding Proverbs and parables the sayings and Riddles of the wise so number one. What’s the purpose of? the book of Proverbs Number one it is to to know wisdom instruction and understanding Now the Hebrew word for to know is more than just to kind of have information. It’s to experience, right? So it’s the Hebrew word yada. So in the Old Testament when when you’re seeing that word to know Someone or something. It’s not that just that you know about them. It’s the difference between Actually driving a car and sitting at home and reading the manual Right, so so I can if I buy if I go out tomorrow buy a brand new car I mean, it’s a great car. But all I ever do is sit downstairs and Read the manual I may know a lot about that car but it’s actually when I get out and I begin to drive that car and I learn how all the buttons work and how the Engine works and how I can shift the the car into drive or reverse or neutral That’s what the Bible means when we see this Hebrew word this verb yada So to know God is to have an experience with God to have a relationship with God To know wisdom is to not just have facts and information but to know wisdom to know instruction is to have an experience with God that leads to practical skill So that you know how to apply knowledge So in these verses and I’ve I’ve got up on the screen the New Living Translation their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline and to help them understand the insights of the wise I love this word insight because it’s connected to discerning the idea of having insight is To be able to discern right from wrong truth from error God’s Spirit from evil spirits, right? So and we we know that in 1st Corinthians 12 10 that The discerning of spirits is one of the gifts of the Spirit that the Holy Spirit can give to the church The Holy Spirit can give that to a member of the body The Holy Spirit can give that to church leaderships to be able to discern and in fact We’re all taught as believers in the New Testament that we should be discerning. We should be testing We should be proving we should be judging all the time. Is this from the Lord? Is this not from the Lord? That’s why when I preach as your pastor, I hope you have your Bible. I Hope you have your smartphone opened up. You’re looking at the scriptures and okay. Here’s what pastors saying But is this what the Spirit of God is saying? So even when your pastor is preaching we shouldn’t just be it’s okay. Well, that’s from the Lord. We hope it is But we should be here as God’s people with our scriptures with the Word of God Saying okay Lord. What are you saying? Does the whole is the Holy Spirit confirming what’s written in the Word of God and is that what God is saying to me? To know wisdom instruction and understanding is more than just having information it’s having an experience with wisdom and Instruction another word for instruction is discipline. We’ll see that showing up here Isn’t that interesting that when we’re walking in wisdom, there’s an aspect of walking in wisdom where there must be discipline in your life there must be a discipline aspect of your life a second purpose for the book of Proverbs is To receive wisdom for righteous living again. This is the New Living Translation their purpose these Proverbs their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and Successful lives to help them do what is right just and fair and the first word in Hebrew for right Just means righteousness. It really is focusing more on your relationship with God. So if you’re gonna walk in wisdom What’s gonna happen is your life is gonna start aligning itself with God’s truth and who God is You’re gonna be in right relationship with God the second word Just or justice is more a word that deals with your relationship with others What is your relationship with others like are you acting in a just manner? When you relate with other people around you The word fair here actually is equity. Are you treating people? With equity and so we kind of translate that fair In other words, are you acting in a way that you know, if you had an objective standard? Let’s say you’re going through a real estate a real estate transaction. Are you being fair and honest? Are you functioning according to the way things are normally done so that no one’s taken advantage of? But all of this comes together To say to us that Proverbs has been written for us so that we can live righteous lives so that we can live lives that are pleasing to God so that we can live lives that are successful and Prosperous. I love that a third reason that Proverbs is given to us is to provide guidance to the simple Now now the word for simple here in the Hebrew is gullible someone who just kind of easily goes along with the crowd Maybe they’re just easy to trick. That’s the idea of simple So here in the end the new living translation these Proverbs will give insight to the simple knowledge and discernment to the young So here in the next verse in verse 5, it’s going to remind us that even the older wise people need more wisdom But in verse 4 the focus is well Solomon is saying I’m giving you these Proverbs these little catchy Sayings throughout the book of Proverbs because I want young people to have wisdom Aren’t you glad in life that you don’t have to reinvent reinvent the wheel if you will you don’t have to learn Everything the hard way we learn a lot of things the hard way, right? We do we learn it and sometimes in life as you go through, you know raising kids you realize, you know Just like I had to they’re gonna have to learn some things the hard way They just have to try and try and fail and make a mistake and eventually they learn but isn’t it wonderful we can learn from others We can learn from others that that seems to be Solomon’s heart when he writes Proverbs He’s saying I want those who are simple those who are easily fooled those who are gullible and just kind of go along with the culture I want to give them some wisdom and also the young I want the youth the young people To have some wisdom in their mind and in their heart so that as they’re going through difficult Decisions difficult steps in life. They have something they can kind of lean on That they can kind of go to that Knowledge and wisdom that’s from the Lord and say this is true every time you can bank on it you can count on it you can know that this is true and So in verse 5 we See that Solomon also is writing the book of Proverbs because he wants the wise to get even wiser To increase wisdom in the wise let the wise listen to these Proverbs and become even wiser let those with understanding receive guidance And so for all of us here today young and old Solomon is offering to us. God’s Word is offering to us wisdom So that we can be even wiser still so that that helps me understand I Need to be open my posture needs to be I’m a learner. I Want to grow I want to learn something from God I want to learn how I can walk with the Lord and then it wraps up in verse 6 Here’s again. We’re just reviewing. What’s the purpose of the book of Proverbs? And here in verse 6 It’s just very specific so that we can’t can’t actually understand these parables and we can understand these riddles and we can understand these little sayings It’s one of the reason He wrote this is so that we would be able to understand the wisdom of God and isn’t it interesting that Jesus much of his teaching was in parables and So when Jesus taught us in parables there were some who could perceive and receive there were some who could understand and Connect with God through those teachings and there were others who I don’t have any idea what he just said there And so Solomon says by exploring the meaning in these Proverbs and parables the words of the wise and their riddles Solomon wants us to grow in wisdom. Now. The message this morning is really focused on the fear of the Lord What is the foundation of godly wisdom because over the next many weeks we are going to be focused on wisdom and how to make godly decisions and we’re gonna not go verse by verse because There’s 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs. There’s like 9,000 Hebrew words and so there’s no well I shouldn’t say no way, but if you’d be willing to every Sunday be here and go through Proverbs until I’m no longer here I Mean it would take us a long time on Sundays to go through verse by verse of Proverbs So what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna do more like chapter by chapter or theme by theme But this morning I want to focus on the importance of the fear of the Lord It may be more important than any other teaching in Scripture To not only understand the fear of the Lord, but to have a healthy fear of the Lord in your life as you walk with God The fear of the Lord can be defined as reverence for God expressed in submission to his ways The Hebrew term Yaira meaning fear has has a range of meaning. So here’s just three examples. So in Deuteronomy 129 the fear of the Lord means dread or terror Andrea when we hear dread We hear something very negative, but honestly the word dreadful For them probably meant something more like a big storm like yeah, there was a little terror But it’s also kind of an awesome not necessarily really a bad thing Just God is dreadful. Like if I said God is dreadful this morning and oh, that’s horrible But that’s not necessarily what dread meant to them Dread was more like this awesome powerful The recognition that God was just like a thunderstorm rolling in So in Deuteronomy 129 The word for fear can mean dread or terror in first first Kings 328. It can mean to stand in awe of a king Leviticus 19 verse 3 it can mean to revere or to respect parents Now Some would say that well the fear of the Lord pastor is just an Old Testament idea. We’ve grown out of that Because we’re the New Testament is all about love and and and we could we could certainly share some scriptures on that, right? we know that love casts out all fear and Yet the Bible says work out your salvation in fear and trembling So the Bible is not disagreeing with itself But the the New Testament is helping us to understand what the fear of the Lord is and what it means God certainly doesn’t want us sort of living in fear of God as if he’s out to get us or But God does want us to have a healthy reverential awe and respect for the greatness of God in our lives and What Proverbs tells us is that when we don’t have that we’re like the fool who who is a simple person who’s very gullible and easily directed God wants us to live in the fear of the Lord Jesus In fact, if you turn in your Bibles and again, this is New Testament, right? Jesus was New Testament Matthew chapter 10 verse 28. It’s Jesus who taught us not to fear man, but to fear God Verse 28 Matthew 10 do not be afraid of those who killed the body But cannot kill the soul rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell Who’s he talking about? He’s talking about God And so Jesus makes clear to us that the fear of the Lord is not just an Old Testament idea, it’s a New Testament idea God wants us to live with a great regard for him Of how awesome he is how good he is how glorious and majestic he is And I’m praying for that as it for us as a church I’m praying for you as a Christian as you walk with the Lord that God would give us an even greater fear of God Because when we have a when we have a healthy fear of the Lord, we don’t have to be afraid of the weather We don’t have to be afraid of people. We don’t have to be afraid of the stock market We don’t have to be afraid of what might happen in our politics It’s very freeing When we really begin to understand that when I have put God first in my heart And I have a respect for him and him alone that no one measures up to the one true God like God measures up in my heart. No one even comes close. Nothing else comes close Not the money I have in the bank Not my friends who maybe would try to pull me in a certain direction that God doesn’t want me to go But I have the highest regard for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords in my life Friends that’ll change your life That’ll change your life young person. That’ll give you wisdom You see that’s what proverb is going to tell us again and again and again Is that when you have the fear of the Lord, that’s when you begin Proverbs 1 7 and Proverbs 9 10 That’s when you begin to understand knowledge and wisdom godly wisdom when you have a fear of the Lord That’s when you begin to make godly decisions, you know when to wait, you know when to go You know when to pause You know when to speak and not speak and we’re all still growing. Amen We’re all still growing It’s one of the things I love about the church the church is a group of people who have submitted their lives to Jesus and In doing so we admit that hey, I got rough edges. I got issues. I got problems There’s not a single person here this morning as a part of this body of Christ that is saying well I got it all together. And that’s why I’m a Christian But we come to the Lord and we say Lord. You’re God. I’m not I Need some wisdom. I need some help. I need some deliverance in my life. And where am I gonna find that? the world might offer a lot of substitutes, but only God has what you really need a young person if you will develop a Healthy fear for the Lord in your life You will begin to see Wisdom at work in your life. You will begin to see better outcomes. You’ll begin to see you’ll you will prosper. You will flourish and That flourishing starts in your own soul But it all comes from the fear of the Lord So I want to now just go down through I’ve got I think about eight ways to describe the fear of the Lord Where did I get these I read through the book of Proverbs and I tried to categorize And a few of the teachings related to the fear of the Lord and so amazingly The fear of the Lord is not mentioned just once or twice in the book of Proverbs, but it is all over the book of Proverbs it’s everywhere in the book of Proverbs and so number one The fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom Proverbs 1 7 the fear of the Lord is beginning of knowledge But fools despise wisdom and instruction Proverbs 9 10 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is Understanding secondly, how do we describe the fear of the Lord? That’s what I’m doing right now trying using the book of Proverbs to describe Well, what is the fear of the Lord and what does the fear of the Lord produce? How would we describe it? Well secondly the Lord hears those Who fear the Lord so we know that the fear of the Lord is connected to your prayers Wow When we fear the Lord when we hold God in a high regard in our lives Proverbs and other places teaches us teach us that God hears our prayers Proverbs 1 29 then they will call on me But I will not answer They will look for me but will not find me since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord a third way to Describe and understand the fear of the Lord is to say that the the fear of the Lord produces wisdom and insight Proverbs 2 verse 3 and 5 indeed if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding and if you look for it as As for silver and search for it as hidden treasure Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God Now this passage also reminds us that Receiving wisdom in our life may take a process it may take some time to again pause and pray and not be so quick to make a decision, but Allow ourselves to just marinate in the Lord and marinate in the Word of God That’s why I was always taught. I’m sure you were too before you make a big decision, you know sleep on that You know, don’t don’t don’t allow a salesman to convince you to do something To convince you that you need to buy that right now That seems biblical to me, right? Go ahead and take some time to pause and and and to to see is this the path the Lord? Really has for me and then Proverbs 2 3 through 5 also reminds us that those who gain Understanding and knowledge and wisdom are those who really run after it. They really want that wisdom they want the wisdom from the Lord a Fourth way to describe the fear of the Lord is is Proverbs 3 7 and Proverbs 15 33 the fear of the Lord is connected to humility So to fear the Lord is to be humble to to fear. The Lord is to submit yourself to God Almighty To fear the Lord is to recognize that God is my charge He is the one who is in charge of my life Do not be wise in your own eyes fear the Lord and shun evil Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord and humility comes before honor So when I fear the Lord, I’m I’m thinking less of myself and more about God Remember humility is not just thinking lower of yourself, right? Humility a truly humble person It’s not about their circumstances or a lot in life. It’s not even about their personality You know, you might think that well someone who’s more boisterous is less humble because they’re always taught that that’s not true There’s some very quiet people in life that are extremely prideful So what is humility humility is not thinking less of yourself It’s thinking less often about yourself. And what happens is when you begin to fear God, you’re thinking more about God You’re thinking what does God want? What does God think? Right? You’re thinking what does God want? What does God think right is right? How can I please God? How can I make God smile in my life? And when you’re not humble who you’re thinking about you’re thinking about yourself That’s what pride is pride is I want I need I’ve got to have and The Bible teaches us in Proverbs that the fear of the Lord is connected to humility The fear of the Lord will also separate you from evil Now, I don’t know how much you’ve been following the Epstein files, and I’m just going to mention it for a moment The truth is I’ve not been following it but I have a couple of people in my life who have kind of been following it and Apparently they are now uncovering some real evil It’s very interesting Evil loves the darkness Loves the darkness now we all from time to time may struggle With temptation or struggle with sin, but I would say this there is a real difference in our world today between someone Who’s just struggling with temptation and someone who has completely given over to evil? Completely given over to evil they are their own God. They don’t care about people. They don’t care who gets hurt They don’t care who gets harmed. They don’t care. They’ve ripped the they’ve ripped the heart out of their soul They’ve ripped the first and last page right out of the Bible. They’re not interested in the teachings of God Friend, I hope that’s not you. I’m sure that’s not you the fear of the Lord will separate you from evil There is real evil in our world Not just someone who has a bad day. Not just someone who experiences a little temptation and then gets victory over the temptation I’m talking about someone who has given their entire self over to evil Hurting people violence towards others there is real evil in our world and What the book of Proverbs is saying to us is that if you don’t see fear the Lord if you don’t hold God in a high Regard you’re gonna open up your life to deception. You’re gonna open up your life to moral evil Instead Proverbs encourages us. Let’s fear the Lord Let’s hold God in high regard Let’s respect the Lord. Let’s have let’s remember how awesome and mighty and glorious and beautiful and majestic our God is and when you let that get into your soul and into your spirit and into your mind and into your Thinking isn’t that what Paul says think on what’s pure and beautiful and holy and true right when you let the beauty of God get into who you are and You have a high regard for God Then you’re gonna be able to avoid evil You’re gonna have it’s just there’s gonna be a bad taste in your mouth. So to speak. You’re just you’re just gonna have a distaste for evil and violence and injustice The fear of the Lord separates us from evil Proverbs chapter 8 verse 13 to fear the Lord is to hate evil. I hate pride and arrogance evil behavior and perverse speech Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided Pretty simple, right? How do I avoid evil? I got it. I got to think more about God. I got to think more about God’s Word I got to think more about the things of God I’ve got to understand how good God is and how good his nature is and that he’s a promise maker and a promise keeper I want to have a high regard for my Lord and That’s gonna help me avoid evil in life Six the the fear of the Lord Brings reward. I think this shouldn’t surprise us, but it’s good to say it and it’s good to find it in the book of Proverbs We know throughout the scripture that God rewards those who diligently seek him Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 without faith It’s impossible to please God But when we diligently seek the Lord the Lord rewards that person But we also find this idea of reward in Scripture the fear of the Lord brings rewards such as wisdom and prosperity and long life here It is in Proverbs Proverbs 10 27 the fear of the Lord adds length to life of the years of the wicked are cut short Proverbs 19 verse 23 the fear of the Lord leads to life then one rests content untouched by trouble Proverbs 22 verse 4 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life I’m so thankful that our God is a rewarder of Those who diligently seek him. I want to be in that group of people. I want to be with somebody who is Seeking God like it’s my last breath Remember that little story I shared Socrates is holding that young man under the water and finally he decides I don’t need wisdom I don’t want knowledge. I want to breathe and Ode to want God in my life and his wisdom and his counsel and his ways so much that it’s like my last breath If I don’t if I don’t get God if I don’t get his wisdom if I don’t get his knowledge in my life I don’t know where I’m gonna turn or what I’m gonna do. I won’t be able to make it I need the wisdom of the Lord and then seventh The fear of the Lord is a refuge to your children Proverbs 14 verse 26 through 27. Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress and for their children. It will be a refuge The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life turning a person from the snares of death And how true it is families that are built on the fear of the Lord are not perfect families They’re not families without difficulties But families that are built on the fear of the Lord have a certain refuge about it for the children Because mom and dad don’t fear Themselves or respect themselves more than others they respect God the most and Then they care for the children and the people that God puts in their life. And then finally The fear of the Lord is better than wealth it’s better than a sinful life or rebellion Let me read these scriptures And again, these are all of the places in the book of Proverbs that we have the fear of the Lord mentioned So it is many many places Proverbs chapter 15 verse 16 better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil. Do you believe it? It’s better to fear the Lord if the stock market crashes tomorrow We haven’t lost anything if we have the fear of the Lord in our lives It’s better to fear the Lord than to have a retirement account It’s better to fear the Lord than to think well, I’ve got it taken care of I’ve got it all worked out myself. No If everything changed tomorrow if you have the fear of the Lord, you’ve got everything you need Proverbs 23 verse 17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord. This is a good one You see the fear of the Lord is better than wealth, but it’s also better than a sinful life There’s a tendency as we go through this life to envy sinners They don’t have the same restrictions. They’ve got to do whatever they want. We’re following Jesus And if we’re gonna follow Jesus, we have to follow his marching orders We have to follow what he has for us in life And we know that in the long term it’s much much better But sometimes in the short term as we go through struggles and challenges and setbacks and we battle with our flesh Sometimes in the short term. Let’s be honest. We’re not completely sure and The Bible recognizes that Proverbs recognizes that sometimes we might envy sinners Proverbs 23 verse 17 says do not let your heart envy sinners But always be zealous for the fear of the Lord in other words always have a passion For that respect and that awe that you have in your relationship with the Lord and then Proverbs 24 verse 21 Fear the Lord and the King my son and do not join with rebellious officials If we want to walk in wisdom We will need the Lord in our lives if we want to walk with wisdom and have skill for everyday decisions, we will not only have to have the Lord in our lives, but we will have to have possess a high-regard for who God is for his promises and his purposes that he’s laid out in Scripture and So really the question this morning is how badly do I want to live a life of wisdom I Say that to challenge us how badly as a young person. Do you want to live a life of wisdom? because there’s a lot of other ways to live and Just because you’ve given your heart to Jesus does not guarantee that you’re living a life of wisdom come on church Just because the Lord Jesus Christ has forgiven you of your sins and washed you clean and set your feet on the rock and given You a new hope and you have the hope of heaven does not mean you’re living a life full of wisdom In the way you talk to your spouse in the way you treat your children and how you manage your money You see if we’re gonna live in wisdom we can’t just Rest back on. Well, I’m saved and I’m on my way to heaven praise God for that But if we’re gonna live a life of wisdom if we’re gonna be a church Full of wisdom where we know when to do what and what to say when? We’re gonna have to honor God first, we’re gonna have to pause and pray we’re gonna have to gather information and consider other options There’s great need for wisdom In our lives today and I want to repeat my definition wisdom is the insight skill or discernment To decide what to do and when to do it in daily life Now I meant to mention this in my introduction to the book of Proverbs because that’s really what we’re getting this morning Proverbs are not promises Proverbs are also not prophetic material. So it’s not prophecy and it’s not a promise The book of Proverbs is a book of little catchy sayings that generally are true So it means there are exceptions the book of Proverbs is a book of little catchy sayings the book of Ecclesiastes Would probably cover some of those exceptions. The biggest one that comes to my mind is the book of Job Job tells us you see all of these are a part of the Old Testament the the writings And that genre that kind of literature would include Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes the Song of Solomon and What’s the one I just mentioned in Job And so if you’ve ever read the story of Job, you know that the story opens with Job was the most righteous man in the east So he was walking with God. He had a good thing going. He had a high regard for God He feared the Lord, but what happened to Job? Well the enemy Satan himself Came came to God and said I want to test this guy’s faith. You know the story and So God allowed Job to go through all kinds of trials and troubles and difficulties to see if he would keep his faith So the book of Proverbs we shouldn’t read and one of the probably most famous is train up a child in the way He should go and when he is old, he won’t depart from it We’ve got to be very careful that we don’t read that as a promise. It’s a proverb and A proverb is saying generally this is true and there’s actually two kind of different translations to that One is just if you train up a child to love God when he’s older, he’s gonna love God Some people read in that passage they see in that passage that no actually the goal of a parent is to discover the giftings and the personality and the tendencies of that child and if you train them up according to their giftings and their Personality and kind of how God made them and how they’re wired when they’re old They won’t depart from it. But in any case proverbs aren’t promises Proverbs are little catchy sayings that help us remember them and they’re generally true right But there are exceptions For example, and I didn’t make a list this morning So you might have to help me and I can come back next week and make a list But one example that comes to my mind is there’s some very wealthy people that are very ungodly people Well, how does that work God because you’re telling me if I fear you and love you and put you first that I’m gonna be Rewarded with long life. There’s also some very evil people that live long And so again when we read these proverbs, it’s not a promise it’s a proverb They’re generally true and They help us live godly and wise lives And I’m praying in my own heart Lord. Give me more wisdom Help me to lead the church with wisdom. Help me to live my life with wisdom Help me to lead my home with wisdom help me to be wise in the way I treat other people Lord, we need more Wisdom and so if the worship team would come I’m gonna just put the five steps to how can I make a wise decision? I’m gonna put that back up on the board here or on the slides How Can I make wise decisions number one seek to honor God or to fear the Lord in your decisions Secondly take time to pause and pray and I will dig that into this more as we get through the book of Proverbs But as I beginning to read the book of Proverbs again and look at some of the key words It’s been amazing to me how much Proverbs wants us to slow down and have a strategy and a plan before we make a decision Proverbs wants us to be prudent and in our culture today We think pausing is like taking 30 minutes to think about it Like we we’re in a hurry We’re making decisions very fast Proverbs wants us to to slow down and so we pause and we pray we gather info and options We of course consult and we consider God’s Word we ask for wise counsel from trusted advisors. I Want to pray for us this morning and I’m so looking forward to this this study and I want to encourage you to just Begin every day or every week at home begin to open up your Bible and begin to read through the book of Proverbs James in the New Testament is kind of the first one to do that James in the New Testament is kind of the Proverbs of the New Testament. It’s very into practical Living and and how to live with wisdom But I am praying that as we go through this series together that not only is it going to change our church But it’s going to change your life That as you go through this series, you’re going to get a new hunger for the fear of the Lord in your life You’re going to get a new hunger and thirst for for wisdom to be able to make wise decisions Financially relationally as a parent as a grandparent The call this morning is really simple. Do you want wisdom in your life? My hands going up. It’s like I need more wisdom. I want wisdom as a leader. I want wisdom as a husband I want wisdom as a father. I Need wisdom in my life when to speak when not to speak Lord give me wisdom. Will you stand with us this morning? We’re gonna worship the Lord, but I want to pray for us Would you just lift your hand up if your heart st. Pastor? I want wisdom in my life Let’s just begin to ask God James chapter 1 verse 5 says ask if you need wisdom ask the Lord So Lord Jesus you see us here today. We want wisdom. We want wisdom and understanding and insight We want discernment in our lives. Oh God Lord that we could live godly lives Lord help us to know how to make godly decisions as it relates to right and wrong Help us to know how we can make wise decisions in our finances and in our relationships and for our children Lord Lord we want to we want our lives to be a fortress for the young a refuge for the young Thank you Lord, thank you Jesus Let’s worship the Lord this morning and as you’re worshiping the Lord just begin to thank God that as you seek God for wisdom He’s gonna give it to you So as we worship the Lord just thank the Lord He’s gonna give you wisdom and I know many of you here this morning You’ve got situations going on in your life where you need direction. You need guidance. You need wisdom You need insight just begin to thank God that he’s gonna give that to you. I know he will Pastor Tom Ragsdale, I’m pastor Ellis Venice and we’re from Columbia First Assembly We are a church that’s on mission with Jesus. Our vision is simple We want to make Jesus famous in your heart and in our community. Absolutely. Thank you so much for connecting with us online We would also love to connect with you in person We are located at 1100 North 7th Street right in the heart of Columbia, Missouri right across the street from Hickman High School So if you’re in the central Missouri area and you’re looking for a home church come hang out with us if you’re just connecting online and you’re nowhere near us then please connect with us in the comments if you have a prayer request if you Have a question if you’re if you’re wondering anything about the Lord or Christianity Please let us know and we would be happy to engage with you in the comments We believe God’s doing something special at our church and we want you to be a part of it. We’re a multi-generational church We have people from all different backgrounds. We’re a church of the word. We’re a church of the Spirit We believe Jesus can transform your life That’s why we’re on mission with him and we want to help you know God We want to help you grow in God and we want to share hope in our community So connect with us and we want to connect with you. Awesome. Have a wonderful and a blessed day You