Proverbs 2
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Hey, good morning, everybody. Turn your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 2, and while you're turning there, I'm just going to say it's great to be back, and so many new faces, and some old faces, and my family and I, my wife and I first came here in 2000, that seems like a long time ago, because it was a long time ago. Nothing is the same, the building keeps changing, people are being saved, someone's being baptized today. It's just so exciting to see God at work in God's people. So I love the church. I love Greg and Mariah. So grateful to be here. My wife Dina is here. Dina, can you wave to me so I know where you are? Hi, that's my wife Dina. Yeah, yeah. We normally sat right there, so I know she's feeling like where the Dukes are. That's where we would sit when there were pews. I really, they're still LARP use. All right. If you are anything like me, when you hear the word Proverbs, your mind turns
to short, pithy statements like Proverbs 26, 14, as a door turns on its hinges, so a slugger turns on its bed. Or Proverbs 12, 1, he who loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid. And I think, like, the Bible shouldn't say stupid, but there it is. Just direct and to-the-point statements. And for the most part, Proverbs like the ones I just read to you are found in chapters 10 through 31. Chapters 1 through 9, though, are very different.
Chapters 1 through 9 is one long introduction to the book of Proverbs, and every chapter in that section screams out, wisdom is a matter of life and death. Wisdom is a matter of life and death. This is really serious. This is really important. Well, chapter two, the chapter I want to cover today, is part of that introduction. Now, the book of Proverbs as a whole, so the entirety of it, is about living a truly successful life. This book, Proverbs, is God's word for God's people in every culture and every generation, and it addresses all of our lives, and it leaves no stone in our heart unturned. So, Pastor Charles Bridges, long ago, he put it this way. He said, we look into this book, and as by the aid of a microscope, we see the minuteness of our Christian obligations. We're to be very specifically obliged to do what God would have us do, that there is not a temper, a look, a word, a movement. The most important action of the day,
the smallest relative duty in which we do not either deface or adorn the image of our Lord and the profession of His name. Now, of course, we need to read Proverbs as Christians. No one gets to heaven by living a wise life. We get to heaven by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And now on this side of the cross, how we live says something about Jesus. With our lives, we either glorify him or we mock him, and there is no in-between.
And so, to pursue the wise life, to pursue the wise life is to pursue the wise Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, Colossians 2.3. Now, King Solomon, the author of Proverbs, wanted his son to live a wise life. that's who he wrote the book for. He wrote the book for his son. God cares about his sons and daughters. God cares about how we live. Like what's true under the old covenant, in this case is true today for new covenant believers, right? God cares how we live. So maybe you're struggling to live well right now. I got an email the other day. So I have these struggles. I got an email the other day from a church member discouraged by our lunch together. Well, I never, like, intend to discourage people over lunch. I just hated that. Like, I want to live and love and shepherd wisely, so I need wisdom to do that. And I'm no different than you. You need wisdom too. And the good news is that God
loves to give His children the wisdom they need to walk in a manner worthy of Him. We know that from James in the New Testament. We see that in Proverbs 2, the Old Testament. Now I trust that as you gather together this morning that there's many things that you want, maybe healing for your body, maybe finances for your future, maybe salvation for your children. We prayed for that already this morning. Maybe you are looking for peace in various relationships you might have. There are many things you might want from God. I can't promise that God will give you those things I just mentioned. But God does promise wisdom. And so what I'm going to be doing this morning is not connecting wisdom so much to your ability to discern what you ought to do in the future.
That's a different sermon. Now, I'm connecting wisdom, as I think Solomon is, to a holy life. God wants you to know the joy of holiness. He wants you to know the peace of faithfulness. That's wisdom. Wisdom is God's gift to his precious children. So again, our passage is Proverbs 2, here's the main idea. Wisdom is a powerful gift. Wisdom is a powerful gift from a loving God given to those who pursue it. Given to those who pursue it. A powerful gift from a loving God given to those who pursue it. That is wisdom. Listen now as I read Proverbs 2. My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding. Yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for
the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path. For wisdom will come into your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil. Men whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.
So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God. For her house sinks down to death and her paths to the departed. None who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life. So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. For the upright will inhabit the land and those with integrity will remain in it. but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.
Right, I won't have time to get into every word, really every sentence there, but I do have two points. First, the pursuit of wisdom, and that point is by far the longest, mental note. And then second, the power of wisdom. So the pursuit of wisdom, the power of wisdom, may the Lord give you the wisdom that you need to live a holy life. Right, first, the pursuit of wisdom, biblical wisdom is knowing how to live in a fallen world. It's knowing what to do when the Bible doesn't give you clear direction. It's more than this, though, but it's not less. Wisdom is fleshed out in verses 1 through 4. Solomon uses several words interchangeably to get at this content of wisdom.
My words and my commandments, that's the teaching of Solomon. Wisdom comes from his mouth, or in this case from his pen, right? Understanding is used twice in verse 2 and 3. It's what you get when you heed Solomon's words. Insight is what we're after, verse 3. It's wisdom, it's understanding, it's the knowledge of how God would have you live. So when you ponder wisdom, you're not to be thinking of, you know, a University of Louisville professor in a tweed jacket. I don't know if professors wear tweed jackets anymore, but you have the image, right, of a professor with a tweed jacket and an old book under his arm, right? Don't even think of a scientist in a lab coat messing around with test tubes and beakers. Don't even think of a Bible answer man, right, who knows the Word of God inside and out, right? All of these individuals may in fact be wise, but they may not.
Thinking of wisdom instead, maybe like a landscaper who works hard to put food on the table and invests in his wife and his kids, even after a long day at work. Maybe think of a single woman that you might know in the church who would like to be married but is content to be single and invests her time, you know, pouring into older women and younger women alike. Right, that landscaper and that single woman, they may not have degrees, they may not be able to articulate all the nuances of systematic theology, but they know the Bible, they love God, and they seek to honor him by living simple and faithful lives. They're wise.
Now, how do you, how do you pursue this kind of wisdom? Well, you pursue it aggressively. I pursue wisdom with, with reckless abandon, right? I don't know if you've seen the show Alone where men and women try to survive harsh winters in places like Canada, and they go days and days without eating, and, you know, you see them with a line and a hook trying to catch a fish, right, because they're starving. Like, that's how you pursue wisdom, like you're trying to catch a fish on a loan. All right, but again, how do you do this? Like, what's it look like? Well, first, you need to value wisdom. Like, verse 4, seek it like silver and search for it. As for hidden treasure, a godly life, a godly life is more valuable than your reputation, than your career, than your retirement, than your family. Wisdom isn't a luxury. Like the wisdom I'm talking about that goes along with holiness, it's not a luxury like a second car. We're to value wisdom like we value oxygen. It's necessary to live a godly life. The author of Hebrews said, strive for the
holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Like no wisdom, no holiness. No holiness, no Lord. That's why I say you need to value wisdom. And second, you need to ask for wisdom. Verse 3, call out for insight. Raise your voice for understanding. Wisdom does not come from inside of us. Sculptors who carve a rock are simply chipping away at what's already there to reveal what they see inside of the rock.
But what's finally produced in that work of art was really there all along. Well, wisdom isn't like that. God doesn't chip away at what's bad in us to uncover what's good in us. No, wisdom is a gift from God. But it comes from outside of you, not from within you. So you need to ask for it. It's kind of like a new suit or a new dress that's been given to you for you to wear. But you need to ask for it. Amen. You can ask right now. And third, you need to obey wisdom.
Listen to God's word with the aim to obey. That's wisdom. It's the main point of verses 1 through 4. Receive my words does not mean, like, write them down and forget them. No, to be wise, to really pursue wisdom, you've got to be committed to heeding it, to obeying it. It's not wise simply to know the right thing to do. Wisdom is putting that knowledge into action. So my point is to move you away from this idea that wisdom is mere knowledge or even experience.
Some people equate the wise with people, well, like me, with gray hair. That's not true. And I pray that our gray-haired church members at your church and mine would be wise, but they are not necessarily wise. And not only that, you may be very young, but you can still be wise. If you listen to God's Word with an aim to obey. But you're never too young to be wise. Listen to God's Word with the aim to obey.
Like when listening to a sermon or reading the Bible on your own. Like before you're done, think about what you've studied and how it should change how you live. Take a few minutes before you move on to pause and to pray for the Lord to show you how to change. You need to obey wisdom. If I could speak to children and teenagers for a moment, you can, by God's grace, be wise. It all starts with the gospel, with believing that God made you to know him and to love him, and believing, really believing that you've, even in your own young heart, you've rejected God and forsaken his ways. You're sinful. You need God's forgiveness. Wisdom begins with looking at Jesus, crucified and raised for sinners. But sometimes I fear, kids, you'll think that, well, you'll try to be wise when you're really old, right? That's a bad idea. You shouldn't put off being wise. Commit your life to Christ today. Decide you're going to follow Christ today.
And by God's grace, seek to obey wisdom. And by the way, one way for you to pursue wisdom is to find a Christian adult and ask him or her the question, and guys, we can all play at this, or however old you are, feel free to do this. If you could relive your teenage years, what would you do differently? All right, verses 1 through 4 tell us to aggressively pursue wisdom. Then verse 5 tells us what we'll find. Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God, verse 9. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path. Again, I know I'm saying it a lot, but it's really important. Wisdom is more than head knowledge. It is life-changing, heartfelt insight. Biblical wisdom is a holy life.
Notice verse 5. I say wisdom is a holy life because it cannot be separated from the fear of the Lord. They go together like two sides of the same coin, wisdom and fear. Consider Proverbs 1, 7, the theme of the whole book. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, and not just head knowledge, but a knowledge of how to live. To pursue wisdom is to pursue the fear of the Lord. What does it mean to fear the Lord?
Well, let me get at that question indirectly with a few observations about the fear of the Lord, taken from other parts of the Bible. All right, so fear of the Lord. If you fear the Lord first, you'll take God seriously. If you fear the Lord, you will take God seriously. The worship, the God we worship, he's not our buddy, our pal, a hall monitor ready to slap our wrist for being tardy, a therapist trying to help you cope with life, a life coach advising on how to get a better job. He's the Lord God Almighty.
He's without beginning and without end. God carved the mountains. He dug the seas. he hung the stars, he holds the hearts of presidents in his hand, right? He is the standard of holiness and integrity and righteousness and all goodness, and he loves you with more love than you could possibly imagine, and God hates sin so deeply. He is the Lord God Almighty, and he's not to be trifled with, and his goal in life is not to please you or entertain you or make your life a little more comfortable. He aims to make you a worshiper of Him. Amen. As Jesus said in Matthew 10, 28, do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. So do not play with God. God does not exist to give you something to do on Sunday morning. He's the creator. He's the judge. He's the sovereign Lord of all. If you fear the Lord, you will take God seriously. And second, if you fear the Lord, you
will love what God loves. You will love what God loves. Psalm 19.8, the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. Now, I know that was Psalm 19.8. I know that David doesn't use the word love there, but he's clearly not neutral to God or His Word, like God's Word rejoices his heart. And he loves it, right? He's got nothing but good things to say about God's law, about God's precepts, about God's commandments. And he equates, like, rejoicing in that with fearing the Lord, right? The fear of the Lord is loving what God loves, His Word, His glory, His church, right?
The heart of those who fear the Lord beats with the rhythm of God. And third, if you fear the Lord, If you fear the Lord, you'll have spiritual life. Spiritual life. Proverbs 14, 27. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life that one may turn away from this snare of death. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. Let that sink in for a moment. Do you want life? Everlasting life? That's when you need the amens.
Yes. Do you want physical death to be a tiny blip on the radar screen of your existence. Like, fear the Lord. When you fear the Lord, you become an instrument even, a conduit of life. Like, God uses you. You don't save anybody, but God uses you as a fountain of life, right, to bring life to others. Consider Acts chapter 9, verse 31. You don't need to turn there, but it's the first century. The church is growing. Spiritual life is spreading. How is it spreading? Well, this is Acts, by the preaching of the gospel, by the preaching of the Word. And yet, I want you to notice what happened as the Word of God is preached. Like, people's lives changed. Like, not just what they believe about who God is, but their actual lives changed. Acts 9, 31. Acts 9, 31. And walking in the fear of the Lord
and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it, the church, multiplied. Right? The Spirit came to them. The Spirit comforted them. The Spirit changed them. And now they're walking in the fear of the Lord. And somehow in God's economy, it's as they're walking in the fear of the Lord, undoubtedly living holy lives, undoubtedly preaching the one true gospel, right? The church multiplies. Like you can't separate a preached gospel from a changed life because the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life that cannot be contained in the four walls of this building.
Those walking in the fear of the Lord will fear, will live and model and spread the gospel. They will be a fountain of life to others. And fourth, to fear the Lord is to walk in his ways. Job 28, 28. Behold, the fear of the Lord. This is Job 28, 28. Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to turn away from evil is understanding.
Job knew that to fear the Lord is to turn away from evil. I've already said this, but Job is so very clear. I just want to say the same thing again and again. To fear the Lord affects your hands, affects your feet, affects how you think, affects how you talk, what you watch, where you click. To fear the Lord turns your whole life upside down. Jesus is Lord and He is Lord. It affects everything you do.
To fear the Lord is to walk in His ways. If you fear the Lord, by God's grace, and none of this is easy. I don't mean to like, if I preach it, it will come true. This is hard stuff. But it is true that if you fear the Lord, you'll put lust to death. If you fear the Lord, you'll put bitterness to death. If you fear the Lord, you'll say no to hate and yes to love. And if you fear the Lord, you'll work for reconciliation. And I'm not trying to sound like Pollyanna.
I'm simply making Job's point, like the fear of the Lord is turning away from evil. Now, let's pause and review where we've been. You're to pursue, I'm to pursue, we're to pursue wisdom aggressively, verses 1 through 4. And when you do this, right, you come to truly understand the fear of the Lord, verse 5. Okay, great, but how do you know it works? How can you be sure that God will actually respond to your request for wisdom?
Like, what guarantee do you have that this prayer that you make to God for wisdom, He will answer? Well, here's my answer. Because God is generous. God is so generous. Verse 6. For the Lord gives wisdom. From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity. guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path.
For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Verse 6 is key. For the Lord gives wisdom. Not Kohl's, not Walmart, not Target, not the seminary, not the Supreme Court, not the internet, certainly not the internet. not the encyclopedia, although they are so great, not your godliest friend, family member, not even your pastor, not even the school of hard knocks. Like, the Lord gives wisdom.
It comes from the Lord. So picture a vault stuffed with wisdom, and only God has the key. Or picture a mine that goes down millions and millions of miles, and it's filled with veins of solid gold wisdom, and only God knows the way. God is the source of wisdom, and for some reason, God gives it away. He lavishes it on sinners like us. He loves to deposit wisdom into the checking account of your heart. James 1.5, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. Wisdom will. Wisdom will be given.
to him, to the one who asks. God will give it away. And God's storehouse of wisdom, verse 7, is not like a mine that runs out of gold. It is not like a vault that runs out of cash. God's storehouse of wisdom is like Elisha's jar that never ran out of oil. No matter how much wisdom is poured out, God's storehouse of wisdom remains full. There's enough for you. His wisdom is like manna. He provides just enough each and every day. How can you be sure God will give you wisdom if you ask? Because God is God, because God is generous. Romans 8, 32 comes to mind. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? And I believe that all things includes the wisdom to lead a holy life. But why does Paul connect the gospel, the giving of Jesus Christ, with God giving all things, including wisdom? Because everything that we need is found in Christ.
1 Corinthians 1 24. Jesus is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Jesus is the wisdom of God. And that means the pursuit of wisdom really is the pursuit of Jesus. It really is the pursuit of Christ. God will give you wisdom because he has already in history, Christian, given you Jesus who is wisdom. So let's go back and just think for a moment about the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. And think about that with Christ on our minds. Do you want to take God seriously? Remember that, the fear of the Lord. To fear the Lord, you've got to take God seriously.
Well, look at the Son of God, born in a manger, hung on a tree. Look at Jesus, crucified and in the place of sinners, bearing the guilt of fools, paying the penalty for all who would ever repent and believe. Do you want to love what God loves? Look at Jesus, love Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. Love the one the Father loved from eternity past. Love the one to whom the Father said, this is my beloved Son. Right? The Father and the Son have loved each other for all eternity before there was time. And in Christ, who is the wisdom of Christ, we can share in that love.
Do you want spiritual life? Do you want to be a fountain of life? Well, Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Are you thirsty for spiritual life, right? Not for church, not for religion, but for life. Jesus says, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Like the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. Jesus is a fountain of life that never runs dry. Do you want to walk in God's ways? Well, have faith in the Son of God. Believe Jesus is the Lord, right? Give up your independence, your bow your need of him, right? Die to your pride. Acknowledge your sin. Crown Jesus King. In Galatians 2.20, Paul writes, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
In the life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. If you're a Christian, to walk in God's ways is to live by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself up for you, right? The pursuit of wisdom then is the pursuit of Christ. I want to turn to the second and the shorter point, not less important, but shorter, and that's the power of wisdom, right? The final half of our passage has a simple and straightforward point.
God's wisdom has the power to deliver you from temptation. Wisdom has the power to strengthen you so that you do not give into temptation and thus fall into sin. Let's go to Proverbs 2 verse 11. Discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil from men of perverted speech who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil men whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways so you will be delivered from the forbidden woman from the adulteress with her smooth words who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God for her house sinks down to death and her paths to the departed none who go to her come back nor do they regain the paths of life so you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.
For the upright will inhabit the land and those with integrity will remain in it. But the wicked will be cut off from the land and the treacherous will be rooted out of it. In verse 12, we see the wisdom does the work of delivering you from the way of evil. Delivering you from the way of evil. And the example given in verses 12 to 15, 12 through 15 is of men, really a gang, who might lead Solomon's son astray. That's the first example of what wisdom will deliver Solomon's son from.
And then in verse 16, you see how wisdom very specifically brings deliverance from the forbidden woman. That's the woman who would lead Solomon's son to commit the sexual sin of adultery. Whatever the temptation then, freedom from the gang or freedom from lust or adultery, wisdom has the power to deliver you from it. Now, a few important points before I just very specifically apply that to us. This is not a promise for everybody. The promise of deliverance is not a promise for everybody.
It's a promise for Christians. And that goes back to the previous point. Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God. And so to be wise, you must know Jesus. To enjoy the protection that wisdom brings, you must know Christ. If you want to be wise enough to flee temptation, your first step is not the classroom, again, or the gym. It's the cross. Humble yourself before Him. The promise of deliverance from temptation really is the promise of Christ. And it's not a promise for everybody.
It's a promise for those who would submit their lives to Jesus Christ. So even if you would say, well, I'm a Christian, well, I would say to you, praise God. If you want to be delivered from temptation, each and every day you need to repent and believe the good news of the gospel. It's not a promise for everybody. It's a promise for Christians, right? This is not a promise of perfection. This generation, we don't really struggle with this point. Nonetheless, I just want to be really clear. Don't take these words to mean that you can be perfect this side of heaven. Yes, God always provides a way of escape for the believer from temptation, 1 Corinthians 10, 13, but none of us obeys it perfectly. We all fall short, 1 John 1.8, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So this is not a promise of perfection. But I also want to note, this is not a modest promise. This is not a modest promise. This is a specific and gigantic promise of protection from your greatest temptation.
That's a big deal. In verse 12, Solomon's son is promised deliverance from the way of evil. So why in verses 16 through 19 is the specific sin of sexual immorality called out? I think it's for the same reason that Solomon describes sexual immorality in chapters 5 and 6 and 7. Solomon knew his own son. Solomon knew the temptation that attacked his own son most forcefully.
So the original audience of Proverbs is Solomon's son. So it makes sense then that Solomon, knowing his son, would speak so definitively and clearly and repeatedly about the danger of sexual immorality. Well, as you think about your own fight against sin, identify your greatest temptation. And maybe it is sexual immorality, right? But it may even be different in different stages of your life, right? Sexual immorality was a greater struggle for me when I was younger. Pride has been a greater struggle for me in my middle to now later years. I anticipate as I get older that that laziness might become a bigger struggle in my life than it has been before, but everybody is different. It's not about me.
identify the temptation most likely to make a shipwreck of your faith. What is that temptation? Most likely to make a shipwreck of your faith. And read Proverbs 2 in light of that. And remember that wisdom has the power to deliver you from that temptation. And that's not a modest promise. And then, again, before I apply it, another observation. This is not a promise to be ignored. This is serious. Verse 18, for her house sinks down to death and her paths to the departed.
None who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life. Like, leaning into sin is deadly. That's the point there. Verse 22, the wicked will be cut off from the land and the treacherous will be rooted out of it. Right? If you take God seriously, you've got to take temptation seriously. right your eternity is in the balance so don't say to yourself ever like what does it really matter if i give in right now to that gossip to that lust or whatever like god is going to forgive me that's not the thought pattern of a christian it's just not the thought pattern of a christian bring your temptation into the light like share it with christian friends and if you think well i don't know what i would share well that's a problem you should know where you're tempted There should be things for you to share when you're around other Christians.
Tell others where you are most likely to fall. Ask for prayer and be honest when you stumble. There is a tempter and he wants your soul. And he wants the hook of sin to be dug so deeply into your flesh that it cannot be pulled out again. And with that hook, he wants to pull you away from God forever. And that's the end game for those who refuse to resist temptation. This is not a promise to be ignored. All right, so so far I've mainly addressed what the promise of verses 12 through 22 or 11 through 22 really is not.
Let me now focus on this promise that the wise man or woman can resist temptation. What can we say about this promise? Well, first, it's the promise that only God can deliver you. you cannot deliver yourself from sin or temptation. Yes, you are to fight. Yes, when you sin, you're to labor to pull the hook out of your flesh. Ouch! But yes, you're to labor to do that, and you work out your salvation with fear and trembling. But as Paul puts it in Philippians 2.13, it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. If Proverbs 2 means anything, it means you're powerless to resist temptation. You're like a rabbit trying to fight off a pack of wolves. You need the wisdom of God. Now, maybe that offends you. Maybe you think, you know, look, I work hard to stay pure. I stay off TV. I wake up early and read the Bible. I gather at the church on Sunday morning, right? You all look very holy to me. But if you cannot say that God has delivered
me from temptation, you've simply traded one sin from another. For another, you've traded purity for pride. Like Satan doesn't care how you fall. He's absolutely indifferent to how you fall into sin. He will kick you down the steps of arrogance as quickly as he kicks you down the steps of adultery. He just doesn't care. God is our deliverer. God alone is our deliverer. So don't for a moment, not even for a single second, think you're strong enough to withstand the evil one.
Don't think you have the power to resist lust or pride or greed. You need God's wisdom. So God is the one who delivers us from temptation. And second, and again, if I've lost you, this is where you should come back. It's a promise to be fulfilled as you watch and pray. This is a promise, this promise of wisdom, the wisdom you need to resist temptation. It's a promise to be fulfilled as you watch and pray.
Now, you may be helped. You don't need to, but you may be helped by turning now to Matthew 26, 36, where Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus himself knew temptation. We know from Hebrews 4, 15, in every respect, he has been tempted as we are. It's hard for me to fathom that, but I know it to be true, in every respect. And in fact, on his way to the cross, Jesus was tempted to despair.
In Matthew 26, 36, we're told Jesus became sorrowful and troubled. Sorrowful and troubled. Not sinfully so, but truly tempted to give in. Jesus, truly tempted to give up. What did Jesus do? How did he resist temptation? What did it look like for the one who is wisdom incarnate, right, to pursue holiness? Jesus prayed. Jesus fell on his face and he prayed.
Matthew 26, verse 39, and going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. not as I will, is a prayer of humility. It's a prayer for holiness. This is he who is wisdom, praying for the wisdom to walk in a manner worthy of his Father, even on the way to the cross.
He wanted another way, but not my will, but your will, he prayed. Jesus expected his disciples to do the same, But do you know what they did while he was praying? They were doing what I often do. They took a nap. And when Jesus finished talking to his father, he came back to Peter and he said, Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. Watch and pray that you may be wise. Proverbs 2. But they foolishly went to sleep when the way of wisdom was the way of prayer. Brothers and sisters, how many of you are sleeping when you should be praying? How many of you are complaining about your circumstances when you should be asking for God's wisdom? Like not necessarily like what to do, like what job to take or whom to marry, but how to be holy. How many of you are hating your enemies when you should be praying for them?
How many of you are fretting about the future when you should be pleading with God for the strength to be faithful for another day? How many of you are chugging along on your own steam when you should be face down pleading for Christ who is the power of God and the wisdom of God, a wisdom that brings holiness, pleading for Christ to be at work in you and through you? So here's the main idea of Proverbs 2. Wisdom is a powerful gift from a loving God given to those who pursue it.
Praise God that there is a gift that he always gives to those who ask. Don't go home and pray like, God, would you please give me an Xbox? Like, no guarantee. God, would you please give me a wife? No guarantee. God, would you please help me graduate? No guarantee. yeah, yeah, much could be said.
So many things we have no guarantee of. But this is not a modest promise. Like, God gives the wisdom you need to be holy. Christian, if you want that gift, the gift of wisdom to resist temptation, you have only to ask. And if you doubt for a second, Remember Romans 8.32, the father who did not spare his own son will not spare wisdom either. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are our great God. We thank you that by your grace and for your glory, you have changed our lives, that we might not only know you intellectually, but know you from our own heart and know you in a way that our lives are genuinely, robustly, powerfully changed. Father, for those in this room, which is all of us who have sinned, we pray that we would be repentant for those who right now feel like they're trapped in sin.
We pray, dear Lord, that Proverbs 2 and really the gospel would break them free by the power of your Holy Spirit. And we pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.