Sunday
Morning Bible Study
August
20, 2017
Introduction
Israel Trip meeting next Sunday after second service for all those signed
up for the November trip. We will have lunch together.
Jamie – last week we lost a good friend. Some of you knew Jamie Roppa Greene
when she was married to one of our assistant pastors Greg Senecal. They left
our church in 2007, later were divorced, and she was remarried a few years ago.
Jamie has been back to our church a few times in the last year. Jamie had a son
Brandon Sanchez from her first marriage. Brandon grew up in our church along
with our kids. Brandon has struggled with mental health and drug issues over
the last few years. Jamie has worked very hard over the years trying to help
Brandon straighten his life out. Last Monday Brandon was in an argument with
his mother, and strangled her.
Please be praying for Jamie’s family and friends.
Please be praying for Brandon. He’s in jail charged with murder.
There will be a service at Vineyard at the River in Santa Ana next Saturday
11am – 12pm.
Pray.
Solomon was considered the wisest man that ever lived.
He became king over Israel when he was a young man. God appeared to Solomon
in a dream and promised to give Solomon whatever he asked. Solomon replied,
(1 Kings 3:7–9
NKJV) —7 Now, O Lord my God,
You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a
little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And Your
servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great
people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. 9 Therefore give to Your servant an
understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and
evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”
God gave Solomon wisdom. The book of Proverbs contains just some of the
3,000 proverbs that Solomon was known to have written (1Ki. 4:32).
(1 Kings 4:32 NKJV)
He
spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five.
Proverbs are sayings, typically short, that give wisdom and insight into
everyday things.
They are intended to lead to a prosperous life.
They are not absolute promises – that if you do these things that you will
always be healthy, wealthy, and things will always go your way.
They are general principles – that if you do them your life will be
generally better than if you didn’t do them.
The big word that summarizes the book is “wisdom”.
Wisdom is not a mere collection of facts.
Wisdom is about practical living. It’s how to live.
Proverbs 2 – Two Paths
Wisdom is about the choices we face in life.
Illustration
There once was a man named Fred, who inherited 10 million dollars, but
there were some catches, he had to make some choices, and he made the wrong
ones. The Will provided that he had to accept the 10 million either in Brazil
or in Chile. Well, he chose Brazil, unfortunately it turned out that in Chile
he would have received his inheritance in land on which uranium, gold and
silver had just been discovered. Once in Brazil he had to choose between
receiving his inheritance in coffee or nuts. Well, he chose the nuts. And that
was too bad, because the bottom fell out of the nut market, but coffee went up
5.34 a pound wholesale. And poor Fred lost everything he had to his name, he
went out and sold his gold watch for money, and he did that so that he could
get enough money to fly home. It seems that he had enough money to buy a ticket
to either New York or Boston. But he chose Boston. When the plane for New York
taxied up, he noticed that it was a brand new Boeing 777 jet with red carpet
and chic people and wine popping hostesses. The plane for Boston arrived and it
was a 1928 Ford tri motor that took a full day to get off the ground. And it
was filled with crying children and tethered goats. Well, over the Andes, one
of the engines fell off. Our man Fred made his way up to the cockpit and said
to the captain, “Look I’m a jinx on this plane, let me out if you want to save
your lives, give me a parachute.” And the pilot agreed and looking at him said,
“Okay, but on this plane, anybody who bales out must wear two chutes.” And so
Fred jumped out of the plane whirling through the air, trying to make up his
mind, which ripcord to pull. Finally he chose the one on the left, it was rusty
and the wire pulled loose. So he pulled the other cord, the parachute opened
but the shroud lines snapped. In desperation, the poor fellow cried out, “St.
Francis, save me!!” A large hand reached out from Heaven and held the poor
fellow for a moment. And a gentle but inquisitive voice asked, “St. Francis
Xavier or St. Francis of Assisi?”
Which path are you going to take?
We face constant choices in life.
Some choices aren’t all that consequential. It probably doesn’t really
matter all that much whether you buy one brand of bread or another.
Some choices do matter.
Living a successful life isn’t always about making what seems to be the “good”
choice, but the right choice.
We aren’t going to be perfect in all the choices we make, but if we learn
to apply God’s wisdom, we will make better choices.
2:1-9 God’s Path
:1 My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you,
:2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to
understanding;
:3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for
understanding,
:4 If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures;
:5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God.
:4 If you seek her as silver … hidden treasures
Lesson
How bad do you want it?
God’s wisdom is something you have to search out and look for.
You don’t accidentally get struck with “wisdom”. It’s something you have to intentionally seek
out.
seek – baqash – (Piel,
“intensive”) to seek to find; to seek to secure
search – chaphas – to
search, search for, to search out
Illustration
In
1891, George Carmack traveled from California to Alaska because he heard
that there was gold there. He spent five years looking for gold. After running
into one dead end after another, he traveled further north into the isolated
Yukon Territory, just across the Canadian border. On August 16, 1896, George
was salmon fishing at Rabbit Creek with a couple of friends near the Klondike
River when they reportedly spotted a nugget of gold jutting out of the creek
bank. They soon found rock thick with gold deposits along the creek bed. They
staked their claim. Over the next two years, as many as 50,000 would be miners
would arrive to make their fortunes. George himself would eventually leave the
Yukon with $1 million of gold.
People will go to great lengths to acquire a treasure.
What will you do to acquire wisdom?
Does the call of wisdom sound as enticing to you as the call of gold? It
ought to.
What lengths will you go to in order to acquire wisdom?
Job lived about 1,000 years before Solomon. Job was a good man who went
through terrible suffering. While he was
suffering Job debated with his “friends” about the difficulties he was going
through.
Neither Job nor his friends seemed to have the wisdom to have the right
answer as to why he was suffering so much.
In the middle of the book, Job stops to think about wisdom.
Job wrote that people go to great lengths to mine for silver and gold …
(Job
28:12 NLT) “But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find
understanding?
Job is smart enough to recognize,
(Job
28:23 NLT) “God alone understands the way to wisdom; he knows where it can be
found,
Job himself knew he didn’t understand, and that he lacked wisdom.
Yet at the end of the book, everything changes when God
shows up.
Job finds wisdom in a closer relationship with God than he
could have ever imagined.
Job declared,
(Job
42:5 NKJV) “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my
eye sees You.
How did Job get to this wise place of being closer to God?
He got there by enduring his suffering and working at trusting God despite his
pain.
Jesus told a parable:
(Matthew 13:44
NKJV) “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which
a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and
buys that field.
The treasure Jesus was talking about wasn’t gold or
wisdom, but the kingdom of God.
How important is it to you that you know God?
Would you be willing to sell everything you have to know
God?
What if you had to face the choice of great riches, or great wisdom? Which
would you choose? What if the choice was to have good health or wisdom? Which
would you choose?
Illustration
A man was out walking in the desert at night when a voice said to him,
“Pick up some pebbles and put them in your pocket, and tomorrow you will be
both sorry and glad.”
The man obeyed. He stooped down and picked up a handful of pebbles and put
them in his pocket. The next morning he reached into his pocket and found
diamonds and rubies and emeralds. And he was both glad and sorry. Glad that he
had taken some—sorry that he hadn’t taken more.
:5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord
Last week we talked about the fear of the LORD and equated it with having
respect for someone like Chuck Norris.
You remember Chuck Norris, don’t you?
Chuck Norris beat the sun in a staring contest.
By the way, in case you’re worried about damaging your
eyes by watching tomorrow’s eclipse, when the moon passes in front of the sun, I’ll
show you the eclipse before it even happens…
Video: Eclipse
Spoiler Alert
Back to Mr. Norris…
Chuck Norris doesn’t cheat death. He wins fair and square.
There once was a street called Chuck Norris, but the name was changed for
public safety because nobody crosses Chuck Norris and lives.
We mentioned last week that if you have a proper respect for someone like
Chuck, you aren’t going to challenge him to a fight.
If we have the right kind of fear and respect for God, why would we want to
challenge Him?
If you find real wisdom, you will find God because wisdom starts with a
proper respect for God.
:6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
knowledge – da’ath –
knowledge, perception, skill; discernment, understanding, wisdom
understanding – tabuwn –
understanding, intelligence
:7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to
those who walk uprightly;
sound wisdom – tuwshiyah –
wisdom, sound knowledge, success, sound or efficient wisdom, abiding success
:8 He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints.
:8 He guards the paths of justice
The English word “path” is used seven times in chapter (there are multiple
synonymous Hebrew words used).
He’s talking about the choices we make when we meet a fork in the road.
When you have God’s wisdom, you will understand good choices, right paths.
paths – ‘orach – way, path
justice – mishpat –
judgment, justice, ordinance
way – derek – way, road,
distance, journey, manner
saints – chaciyd –
faithful, kind, godly, holy one, saint, pious
:9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and
every good path.
Seeking wisdom gives us understanding of righteousness, justice, etc.
righteousness – tsedeq –
justice, rightness, righteousness
justice – mishpat –
judgment, justice, ordinance
Equity – meyshar –
evenness, uprightness, straightness, equity
good – towb – good,
pleasant, agreeable
path – ma’gal –
entrenchment, track
:9 Then you will understand
Lesson
Right Choices
Solomon’s own wisdom was displayed by the choices he made, by the decisions
he made, by the judgments he made.
You’ve probably heard of the story in 1Kings 3, where two women bring a
baby to King Solomon, both claiming that they were the child’s mother.
(1 Kings 3:16–28
NKJV) —16 Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood
before him. 17 And one
woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave
birth while she was in the house. 18 Then it happened, the third day after I had given birth, that this
woman also gave birth. And we were together; no one was with us
in the house, except the two of us in the house. 19 And this woman’s son died in the
night, because she lay on him. 20 So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my
side, while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead
child in my bosom. 21 And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, there he was, dead.
But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not my son whom I
had borne.” 22 Then the
other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is
your son.” And the
first woman said, “No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is
my son.” Thus they
spoke before the king. 23 And the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son, who
lives, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! But your
son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’ ” 24 Then the
king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king
said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.” 26 Then the
woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for she yearned with
compassion for her son; and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child,
and by no means kill him!” But the other said, “Let him be neither mine nor yours, but
divide him.” 27 So the king answered and said, “Give the first woman the living
child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.” 28 And all
Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the
king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer
justice.
I have found another story about Solomon you might not have heard:
Illustration
Two women came before wise King Solomon, dragging between
them a young man in a three-piece suit. “This young CPA agreed to marry my daughter,”
said one. “No! He agreed to marry MY daughter,” said the other. And so they
haggled before the King, until he called for silence. “Bring me my biggest
sword,” said Solomon,” and I shall hew the young accountant in half. Each of
you shall receive a half.” “Sounds good to me,” said the first lady. But the
other woman said, “Oh Sire, do not spill innocent blood. Let the other woman’s
daughter marry him.” The wise king did not hesitate a moment. “The accountant
must marry the first lady’s daughter,” he proclaimed. “But she was willing to
hew him in two!” exclaimed the king’s court. “Indeed,” said wise King Solomon. “That
shows she is the TRUE mother-in-law.”
How do we get this wisdom? Can we
get to the point where we make the kinds of wise decisions like Solomon did?
I’d like to make a couple of simple suggestions.
1. Pray
We need to ask God for wisdom. He’s the one that has it, and He tells us to
ask for it.
Solomon asked God for wisdom.
James wrote,
(James
1:5 NKJV) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all
liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
You may be thinking, but how is that going to help?
Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.
I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve been stumped
with a problem and then finally realized I needed to ask God for wisdom. Then after I asked, God showed me an answer.
2. Read
Sometimes God doesn’t give you an answer because He’s
already given it to us. In His Word.
David wrote,
(Psalm
19:7 NKJV) The law of the Lord is
perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord
is sure, making wise the simple;
Paul wrote,
(2
Timothy 3:16–17 NKJV) —16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every
good work.
3. Counsel
It’s okay to ask godly people for advice.
Solomon wrote,
(Proverbs
11:14 NKJV) Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the
multitude of counselors there is safety.
I’d like to suggest that you don’t make asking others for “counsel”
your first choice.
Learn to ask God for advice, and spend time in God’s word
before you do this.
Don’t become so dependent on other people’s counsel that
you never learn to hear from God yourself.
2:10-19 The Evil Path
:10 When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
:11 Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you,
:12 To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse
things,
way – derek – way, road,
distance, journey, manner
evil – ra’ah – bad, evil
perverse things – tahpukah –
perversity, perverse thing
:13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of
darkness;
uprightness – yosher –
straightness, uprightness; what is right, what is due
:14 Who rejoice in doing evil, And delight in the perversity of the
wicked;
perversity – tahpukah –
perversity, perverse thing
:15 Whose ways are crooked, And who are devious in their
paths;
crooked – ‘iqqesh –
twisted, distorted, crooked, perverse, perverted
devious – luwz – (Niphal)
to go wrong, go crooked; devious, perverse (participle)
:12 To deliver you from the way of evil
Wisdom not only puts us on God’s path, helping us make the right choice at
the fork in the road, but it keeps us from making the wrong decisions, from
getting on the path toward evil.
These are qualities of people you need to steer clear of:
They speak perverse things (vs. 12)
It’s not good stuff coming out of their mouth.
They walk in the ways of darkness (vs. 13)
They are doing wrong, sinful things.
John wrote,
(1
John 1:5–6 NKJV) —5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to
you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say
that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not
practice the truth.
They might tell you they are a Christian, but if they are
doing evil things, you have to wonder how real it is for them.
They rejoice in doing evil (vs. 14)
They don’t just do bad things, they love talking about it.
You probably see it in their FaceBook posts.
:16 To deliver you from the immoral woman, From the seductress who
flatters with her words,
immoral – zuwr – to be
strange, be a stranger; (Qal) strange woman, prostitute, harlot (meton)
seductress – nokriy –
foreign, alien; foreign woman, harlot
flatters – chalaq – to be
smooth, slippery, deceitful; (Hiphil) to be smooth; to flatter
:16 the seductress who flatters
Whether the “seductress” is a male or female, they can seduce you by saying
nice things to you.
The word for “flatters” carries the idea of “smooth words”.
They are easy to talk to.
The wrong path may involve a relationship with someone you shouldn’t have a
relationship with.
If you are a married person, there are people you need to keep at arm’s
length or else you will get into trouble.
If you are not married, there are still people you need to stay away from.
:17 Who forsakes the companion of her youth, And forgets the covenant of
her God.
companion – ‘alluwph –
tame, docile; friend, intimate
covenant – beriyth –
covenant, alliance, pledge
:17 Who forsakes the companion of her youth
forsakes – ‘azab – neglect,
leave behind
What makes this “seductress” the wrong choice is that they abandoned their
own marriage.
This is a person who has left their marriage for unbiblical reasons, and is
not apologetic for doing so.
They might seem so nice. They might
be attractive.
Think about this:
If they abandoned their last marriage and aren’t sorry about it, what makes
you think they won’t abandon you?
Be sure that you are that one who has “forsaken” their partner.
:18 For her house leads down to death, And her paths to the dead;
death – maveth – death,
dying, Death (personified), realm of the dead
dead – rapha’ – ghosts of
the dead, shades, spirits
:19 None who go to her return, Nor do they regain the paths of life—
:19 None who go to her return
return – shuwb – to
return, turn back
Lesson
Warning
Somehow when it comes to temptation, we tell ourselves that we are the
exception to the rule.
We tell ourselves, “Others have been burned by this, but I’m going to be
okay.”
We give ourselves permission to do things that are going to end up causing
us pain.
Let me give a serious warning here.
If you are playing with an inappropriate relationship, get out now.
It might be someone at work that you are allowing yourself to get too
emotionally close to, and you shouldn’t.
Learn to tell yourself, “Not Mine”. And back off.
It may be a Facebook connection that you are spending too much time with.
It may be a friend of the opposite sex that seems to understand you so much
better than your spouse does. Or so you
tell yourself.
The answer is not spending time with that person who
“understands” you, it’s fixing the broken connection in your marriage.
It may be those pornographic images that you are finding yourself
connecting with.
You can’t tell me that pornography doesn’t speak
“flattering words” to you.
Some of these issues can be classified as “addictions”.
Don’t think you’re going to beat it on your own. You need to bring it out into light and find
people who you can talk to and who will support you. We’ve got people. Talk to me about it.
You may be a single person who is drawn to a person who does not know what
it means to know and love Jesus.
The Bible says,
(2
Corinthians 6:14 NLT) Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness
be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?
You might tell me that you are going to lead them to the
Lord.
The odds are against you.
It’s more likely they are going to lead you away from
God. I’ve seen it too many times.
2:20-22 The Right Path
:20 So you may walk in the way of goodness, And keep to the paths of
righteousness.
way – derek – way, road,
distance, journey, manner
goodness – towb – good,
pleasant, agreeable; a good thing, benefit, welfare; welfare, benefit, good
things
paths – ‘orach – way, path
righteousness – tsaddiyq –
just, lawful, righteous
:21 For the upright will dwell in the land, And the blameless will remain
in it;
:22 But the wicked will be cut off from the earth, And the unfaithful will
be uprooted from it.
:20 keep to the paths of righteousness
Wisdom allows us to walk on the path that God wants us to walk on.
There is a problem though.
The Bible tells us that none of us are righteous.
The Bible says that we are all sinners.
So how can be find the paths of righteousness?
It starts by coming to Jesus, admitting that you are a sinner, and asking
Him to come into your life.
When you do, God does an amazing exchange.
It’s something that took place on the cross.
(2 Corinthians 5:21
NLT) For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our
sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
God takes your sin and exchanges it with the righteousness of Jesus.
Are you looking for the wise thing to do?
It starts with getting right with God and following Jesus.