Verse 24 of Proverbs 17 wisdom
is before him that hath understanding But the eyes of a fool are in
the ends of the earth This is a Simple verse that's Echoes Everything that the Word
of God teaches is Wisdom being before you means that you've
set it before you You've latched on to it. You've placed it before
you you've made it your business to pursue it to study it To live
in it to treasure it to act upon it Notice that the opposite of
this is And in the book of Proverbs,
as we've seen so many times, the opposing side of the verse
often defines the positive side. In other words, here's what's
good and right and desirable, and here's what's not. And a
lot of times what's not, what the point and the lesson is not,
defines the lesson. That's true here The opposite of this is your
attention is on everything else but Wisdom the ends of the earth
everywhere whatever in the preaching of the gospel and in the living
of the gospel The opposite of Christ is not Satan The opposite
of Christ is everything else The opposite of Christ is not
Christ. That's taught very clearly in the scripture. Wisdom is before
this man with understanding because he focuses on it and keeps it
before him. Wisdom is not gonna chase you,
you've got to chase it. Now that's God's way, that's
God's design, that's God's purpose. Proverbs 2 verse 3, look at that
with me please. Remember what I said now, wisdom's
not gonna chase after you. Now in a sense, of course the
Lord is, he pursues us and finds us before we're gonna find him.
But the way that he has ordained that we obtain wisdom from him
is we search for it. We're not gonna search for it
until he finds us, but we're gonna search for it. Look at
verse three of chapter two. Yea, if thou cryest after knowledge,
and liftest up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest
her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures. You see how you get it? You see
how you find some of it in God's purpose and design? Then shalt
thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of
God. So that's the first thing. Wisdom
is before him because he has set his heart on it. Second thing
is this, wisdom is before him because God's been gracious to
him. Look at the next verse, chapter two, verse six. For the
Lord giveth wisdom. It's the gift of God. It's just
the way that he gives it to you is by causing you to desire it
above all else. Thirdly, wisdom is before him
because once you get some of it, your eyes stop wandering. You quit looking everywhere else
once you see him. Chapter four, verse seven of
Proverbs also, Wisdom, and this is the man now. You remember
Solomon is the man that the Lord gave more wisdom than anybody
else. Christ is wisdom itself, himself. But as far as any mortal
man, he said, nobody's ever been as wise as you're gonna be, and
they're not ever gonna be after you. And what's the wise man
say? Wisdom is the principal thing,
therefore get it. It is the principle thing. Get wisdom, therefore get wisdom
and with all thy getting, get understanding. That's why it's
before him, because he won't let go of it. Once you get some
of it, it's all you want. There's more of it. Next, wisdom is before him because
once he has it, he needs it. He needs it. I hate to use the illustration
of drugs for the obvious reasons, but the scriptures do that. There
are those mentioned in the word of God who are said to be addicted
to the ministry, addicted to honoring Christ. Once you have it, you need it.
Proverbs 4.13. Take fast hold of instruction.
Let her not go. Keep her, for she's thy life. This is not just a question of
being a little smarter than somebody else or dumber or whatever. It's
not a matter of IQ. It's not a matter of just common
sense even. No, that's better than IQ. It's
your life. It's life or death. And that's true in the gospel
now. You're not gonna need the Lord
until you have him. And once you have him, you've
got to have him. What is wisdom is a big question,
but it's a big question with a very concise answer, Christ. Now that's the word of God. Christ,
the power of God, and Christ, the wisdom of God. And I'll tell
you this, our verse is talking about the wisdom of God, not
the wisdom of this world. Wisdom of this world God has
made foolishness Christ is the wisdom of God What was before the Apostle Paul
Think about this our text says a man of understanding Wisdom
is before him Not he's not looking off hither and yon Wisdom is
before him And it has all of his attention Has all of his
focus It has the very purpose of his heart Was what was that
for the Apostle Paul Philippians 3 7 you know what it was don't
you you know where I'm going Let's look at it together though.
I want you to see some of the context of this as it pertains
to our text Philippians 3 and 7 But what things were gain to
me those I counted loss for Christ Ye doubtless and I count all
things But loss what's the opposite of Christ everything else? I?
All of it's loss, all of it. We're gonna quote from Ecclesiastes
in a minute, and you know, again, the wisest man that ever lived,
what he concluded, everything is vanity, everything. I've suffered the loss, let's
see, where are we? I've suffered the loss of all
things, the end of verse eight, and do count them but done, I
don't care, it doesn't bother me. This is a good loss that
I may win Christ. I've lost everything but him,
and I have everything. And be found in him, not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God, and by faith, that I may know him, the power of his resurrection,
the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his
death. You see how wisdom is before
him, that I may know him. Everything else is done that
I may know him. If by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already
attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after,
if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. The Lord laid hold of me, and
ever since he did, all I want to do is lay hold of him." That's
simply what that said. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended. I haven't arrived. Salvation is not just something
I took care of and now I can get on with my life. Christ is
my life. Set before me. Forgetting those things which
are behind and reaching forth under those things which are
before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. The prize is in Christ. To be
in Christ, that's the goal. To be found in Him is the purpose
of everything I am and everything I do. Let us therefore, listen
to this part. See, and think of our text now
as we read verse 15. We usually don't go that far.
We're quoting this a lot of times. But listen to it. Let us therefore,
as many as be perfect or mature Settled in the faith. Be thus
minded. What minded? Christ is all. That's what he's been saying
this whole chapter. Be thus minded. Everything else
is done and I'm pursuing him. I'm following after him. And if anything, you be otherwise
minded. You see the opposite of being
of having wisdom set before you is otherwise. It doesn't say don't pursue evil,
don't pursue Satan, don't pursue anything else. That's key now. If anyone be
otherwise minded in anything, it doesn't matter what it is. God shall reveal this unto you.
Does he do that for you? If you're perfect, if you're
in Christ, Paul was already in Christ when he said this. God
had saved him and put him to work. And he's saying, I wanna
be in Christ. I wanna be found in him. I'm
gonna chase him as hard as I can, as if my life depended on it.
It's like we just read, it is your life. Otherwise is the opposite of
pursuing Christ, of setting him before your face as your purpose,
your goal, your desire, your pursuit. And that's the last part of our
text deals with that, otherwise. The fool is looking everywhere
else. God says, look and live. And
the fool is looking everywhere else. Other remedies, other purpose,
other desires, other pursuits. And the same ones, these ones
at the end of our text, they're described in Ephesians 4. Let's
look at that together. I believe that'll help us with
our text also. Ephesians 4, 13 through 15. Paul's talking about how the
Lord gave us the gospel. He gave us people to preach and
teach the gospel. Verse 11, apostles, preachers,
teachers, prophets, evangelists. Till we all come, verse 13, in
the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God
unto a perfect man. We just saw that phrase, didn't
we? A perfect man, a settled, mature, seasoned believer, somebody
that knows and loves and is devoted to Christ by his grace. Unto
the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we
henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried
about with every wind of doctrine. Look in here, look in there.
Boy, I heard this guy and he sounds really good, you know.
I've run into that recently. Somebody that every one of us
know, and don't be thinking about, it doesn't matter who, it'll
be you tomorrow. It'll be me. Boy, this looks
good. This guy knows what he's talking
about. It's the craziest foolishness you've ever heard in your life. Carried about with every wind
by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in
wait to deceive, But speaking the truth in love. The truth is always spoken in
love. Every time. May grow up into him in all things. You see how that's our text?
Which is the head, even Christ. You see, we can't assume that
not being interested in Christ Looking hither and yon for satisfaction
in other things means just the pursuit of money or Fame or entertainment
in this world or the lusts of the flesh It is that And it's
also religious people maybe more than not it's religious people
perhaps especially This is referring to religious people who will
believe anything and support anything that fancies their religious
flesh and and not Christ. So that's the warning here. Remember
what Paul said. And again, think about our text
as I read this to you. Second Corinthians 11 three,
Paul said to the Corinthian church, but I fear lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. You see our
text there? Not everything else but him. I set him before my face. The wisest man that ever lived,
Solomon, pursued everything and concluded that all is vanity. and vexation of spirit. You remember Solomon said in
Ecclesiastes that God has made man upright in the garden, but
man has sought out many inventions. There we are, looking here, looking
there, pursuing everything but God. But Solomon concluded the whole
matter Remember what the conclusion, and read the book of Ecclesiastes
if you haven't in a while, and if you have, read it again. I was looking at that this morning,
and Solomon pursued everything. He withheld not any pursuit of
pleasure and joy in this world and satisfaction and entertainment. And he concluded that all of
that is vanity and vexation of spirit, but his conclusion in
the very end of the book of Ecclesiastes of all of it, the conclusion
of the whole matter he said is this, fear God and do what he
says. What does God say do? Hear my
son, this is my son, hear him. Bow to Him, believe on Him, and
you'll have everlasting life. And Solomon said, what's the
conclusion of the whole matter? Fear God. What's the beginning
of wisdom? Our text talks about wisdom.
What's the beginning of wisdom? The fear of God. Until God and what He says is
paramount to us. Until we esteem the words of
his mouth more than our necessary food, we're lost. We're the fool looking everywhere
else. May God be gracious to us. What's before you today?
What is before you today? And maybe more importantly,
because this is the day of worship, what will be before you tomorrow?
Will it still be the worship of God? Let's pray.