SO YOU WANT GOD TO SPEAK TO YOU?

Proverbs 2:6-9 (KJV)

For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

I am going to take a short leap into the dark and say that I imagine that you would like to hear from God.

·   We would like God to tell us His will for our lives

·   We would like God to help us make choices that have huge consequences

·   We would like God to tell us when we are about to say something we shouldn’t or do something really dumb

I would suggest that one of the reasons some people give up on church and Christian living is because they don’t feel like they have ever heard from God.[1]

· Prayer for God’s guidance and wisdom is one of the most frequent prayer requests in our Wednesday night service and

·   Counsel about how to know the will of God is one of the most frequently sought sorts of counsel from me

Assuming that I am speaking to a room full of people who want God to speak to you, allow me to point out that,

God gives wisdom and speaks to three sorts of people:

I. THE RIGHTEOUS

Proverbs 2:6-7(KJV)

For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous:

I am going to keep this simple and stick to the definitions for these three persons as they are found in Strong’s Concordance.

The definition for the righteous is

1a) straight, level

1b) right, pleasing, correct

1c) straightforward, just, upright, fitting, proper

1d) uprightness, righteous, upright

1e) that which is upright (substantive)

We know that there is only one way for a person to possess this righteousness,

2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV)

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Just about the only issue I have with most preaching, teaching and personal Bible studying from the Old Testament I hear about is that people confuse the purpose of the Old Testament.

They forget that the point is, we can’t be this righteous.

A. Abraham found out he could not be righteous in His own power, didn’t he?

He left the Ur of Chaldees, following God.

He got to the Promised Land and started building altars upon which to worship God.

But a famine came and he left the Land for Egypt

And he brought in his nephew Lot and eventually that just caused a family feud

And the promised child didn’t come as soon as they hoped and they tried to work out God’s promise in their strength

B. Moses found out he could not be righteous in His own power, didn’t he?

Raised in the privilege of Pharaoh’s house, Moses one day reached out to protect the Jews in his own authority.

But:

·   The Egyptians wouldn’t follow him

·   The Jews wouldn’t accept him and

·   The Pharaoh wouldn’t support him

C. David found out he could not be righteous in His own power, didn’t he?

He was anointed to be king of Israel.

There is no doubt that he was blessed of God and mightily used by Him.

But when David let down his guard and looked at Bathsheba, we learned that he was as capable of sin as any man.

D. That’s why Jesus came.

He fulfilled the righteous standard of the Law of the Old Testament.

Now, when we come to Him, He gives us the righteousness He fulfilled and we do not deserve.

God speaks first, to the righteous.

I take that to mean those who are resting in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and through that are saved.

God speaks to

II. THE UPRIGHT

Proverbs 2:6-7 (KJV)

For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

Strong’s Concordance defines this as,

1a) completeness, fulness

1b) innocence, simplicity

1c) integrity

I want to focus on the words completeness and fullness and, by extension, add “perfection.”

Hebrews 6:1 (KJV)

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection…,

Saved people start out as “newborn babes”

We begin innocent and simple concerning spiritual things.

But we are supposed to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”[2]

The Bible doesn’t have very complementary things to say about the Christian who doesn’t grow does it?

1 Corinthians 3:1-2 (KJV)

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

The church at Corinth was an absolute mess.

There were so many things that needed correction, but Paul found himself handicapped – crippled.

He couldn’t teach them what they needed to learn because they were still babes.

They couldn’t take the strong meat teaching they desperately needed.

They were not the only ones.

Hebrews 5:11-14 (KJV)

Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.

For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.

For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.

But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

The believers he wrote to in the book of Hebrews had the same problem.

Only in Hebrews Paul tells us how a babe in Christ grows out of the milk and into the meat.

But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

·   We grow by exercising our faith.

·We grow by stepping up to the spiritual plate and serving God

We grow by

·   Faithfully attending services

·Teaching a Sunday school class or helping in another ministry

·   Inviting people to come to church with us

·   Witnessing to people and telling them how to be saved

·Answering their questions about spiritual things and

·   Trying to find the answers if we don’t have them

God speaks to the saved and to the growing.

Finally, God speaks to,

III. THE SAINTS

Proverbs 2:8-9 (KJV)

He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

Strong’s Concordance defines this,

1) holy

1a) kind

1b) pious, godly

1c) faithful

Typically today we would hear probably one of two ideas concerning what is a saint:

The Catholic idea

The Catholic concept elevates a saint above the average Christian, even above the pope.

The Pope, according to their system, is the substitute for Christ on the earth, but in the eyes of the Catholic Church, Mother Teresa is a saint[3] and not all Popes are.[4]

According to the Catholic Church tradition, there are five steps to be declared a saint:[5]

·   Step one: Wait five years after death. ...

·   Step two: Become a 'servant of God' ...

·   Step three: Show proof of a life of 'heroic virtue' ...

·   Step four: Verified miracles. ...

·   Step five: Canonization.

If you meet the first four requirements, then the Church can make an application and the Church leadership can declare you to be a saint.

The Christian idea

This whole Catholic concept flies in the face of the New Testament where Paul said,

Romans 1:7 (KJV)

To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And

2 Corinthians 13:13 (KJV)

All the saints salute you.

The word “saints” is found sixty one times in the New Testament.

Sixty of them unquestionably speaks of people living at the time of the writing.

None of them would have met the first of the Catholic Church’s requirement.

New Testament Christians know the word saint as synonymous with Christian.

It’s another term for those who are saved.

But I would like to key in Strong’s definition of this Hebrew word.

A saint, according that definition is more than a saved person.

A saint is:

·   Pious

·   Godly

·   Holy

·   Faithful

The word holy means “dedicated to God.”

A saint is a growing Christian who is dedicated to the Lord and the things of the Lord.

I am sure that God speaks to every Christian.

I just don’t believe all Christians are in a position to hear what God says.

·   Some don’t hear because they are too busy to listen

·   Some don’t hear because they don’t want to listen (don’t like what they hear)

·   Some don’t hear because they just won’t listen (go to church or read a Bible)

Conclusion:

Proverbs 2:6 (KJV)

For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

Mark 4:9 (KJV)

And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

God gives His wisdom

·   To the Saved

·   To the growing and

·   To the dedicated

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[1] Others quit because they have heard from God and they do not like what He said.

[2] 2 Peter 3:18

[3] http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/04/europe/mother-teresa-canonization/

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_canonised_popes (81 out of 266 popes have been canonized as saints)

[5] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27140646

HOW TO EARN A PROMOTION

Proverbs 4:5-9 (KJV)

Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.

She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.

Notice that our passage begins with the admonition, “Get wisdom” and promises very near the end, “…and she shall promote thee:…”

I understand that a promotion may not have to do with a financial raise or an advancement in career, but they would certainly be included in the promise, wouldn’t they?

The Bible teaches that the way to get a promotion is not to work at getting a promotion but to work at getting wisdom.

A couple of weeks ago, in the Sunday night service, I used part of a definition for the word wisdom. I want to give you the complete definition from Brown Driver Briggs lexicon. By wisdom is meant:

a) skill (in war)

b) wisdom (in administration)

c) shrewdness, wisdom (in personal relationships[1])

d) prudence (in religious affairs)

What impresses me about this definition is that it seems to me that wisdom is good sense about whatever it is you are called to do.

Whether our work involves:

·   Warfare (politics)

·   Business (administration)

· Management (personal relationships, human resources) or

·   Spiritual (religious affairs)

Wisdom is, possessing the skills to succeed at it.

So the way to succeed is not to focus on success, but on the skills necessary for success in our field.

With that in mind, let’s look at Proverbs’ priorities on wisdom

Get wisdom and,

I. DON’T FORGET HER

Proverbs 4:5 (KJV)

Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

I take this verse two different ways:

A. Don’t forget to get wisdom

Sometimes a person gets so focused on doing something they forget to work at the skills to do them.

An example.

I am considering doing a week-long bike trip this summer. There are some hurdles to overcome that may prevent me from doing it but I am looking in to it.

Now, there are a couple of ways of going about this.

One would be to jump on my bicycle and start riding to – wherever.

The other would be to figure out:

·   Where I want to go

·   Which roads would be the best routes of travel on a bicycle

·   What gear I will need to have with me

·   How to carry that gear on my bicycle

·   How to use that gear

·   Etc

·   Not to mention spending enough time on a bicycle to be in reasonable condition for the ride

All of those things could be considered – skill, wisdom.

An young or unskilled person might just jump on their bicycle and head out, without any of those things that are necessary and without telling anyone what they are doing,

And they might end up in the hospital or worse because of it.

A skilled person has calculated the risks and taken step to mitigate them.

Don’t forget to get wisdom.

Then,

B. Don’t forget the wisdom you’ve gotten

This would happen most likely through lack of use

Anita and I both took Spanish when we were in High school. We both liked it and did well in it.

However, Anita’s first year of teaching involved teaching a large number of monolingual Hispanic first graders.

As a result, she used her Spanish every day for several months. I never used my Spanish again after High school.

When we made a missions trip to Mexico, Anita could communicate with the people because she had used her Spanish and not forgotten it.

I could understand a word or two now and then, but I could not understand what they were saying and I sure couldn’t say anything back.

Proverbs says get wisdom and use her

Get wisdom and

II. DON’T FORSAKE HER

Proverbs 4:6 (KJV)

Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.

We can do this by neglecting what wisdom (skill) we have

I watched a short video on how to survive a dog attack the other day.

One of the things they said is that, even if you know what to do, you have to get in a frame of mind to do it, because your mind will want to forget how to fight the dog and just run.

Panic set in and a person who has the right training defaults to what is natural rather than what is wise.

I see this happen in families very often.

People come to church, hear the Word of God, study books on having a Christian home – all those things –

But then, whenever something doesn’t go perfectly with their kid, or they get into an fuss with their spouse, they default to what their parents did with them instead of what the Bible says.

They have the training; they just forsake it when they really need it to use it.

Get wisdom and

III. FOCUS ON HER

Proverbs 4:7 (KJV)

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

This takes me back to the introduction to the lesson today.

The way to succeed is not to focus on success, but to focus on the skills necessary for success in our field.

Get wisdom and

IV. FAVOR HER

Proverbs 4:8-9 (KJV)

Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.

She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.

I think this means to make much of wisdom.

I think it means honoring those who possess wisdom, to promote the gaining of life skills, and the training necessary to succeed above:

·   Charisma

·   Enthusiasm

·   Youth

·   Good looks even

·   Success

We teach our young people the wrong values because we tend to exalt those things instead of wisdom.

·   If we would learn to point out people who have great skills, training and

·   If we would praise them for those skills they learn

We exalt wisdom and we teach them to focus on getting wisdom instead of trying to ride on the wave of their youth and natural instincts.

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[1] I added this.