Look at verse 22, Proverbs 16,
22. Understanding is a wellspring
of life unto him that hath it, but the instruction of fools
is folly. Understanding, we've seen this
word in the Proverbs quite a bit, understanding and wisdom. And those are used synonymously.
And even faith is synonymous with this. I mean, think about
it. You can't understand anything unless you believe God. You literally
can't understand anything unless you believe God. You haven't
understood anything rightly. And even if you believe God,
you don't know anything like you ought to know it, scripture
says. But thank God for some light,
for the grace to understand what we do. We know him. Whom to know
is life eternal. But there's no wisdom without
understanding. These are synonymous, really,
in a lot of ways, and of course, distinguishable, too. So believing
on Christ, this is what we're talking about, as always in the
Proverbs and everywhere in Scripture, believing on Christ, knowing
him, following him, trusting him, bowing to him, resting in
him, is a wellspring. We haven't seen that word, I
don't believe, in the Proverbs yet. A wellspring. Knowing God, knowing and believing
God's word is a wellspring. So what is a wellspring in natural
things? You know how the Lord, even as
he walked this earth and taught, he used natural things as illustrations
of spiritual things. So what's a well spring as far
as natural things go? Well, it's exactly what it sounds
like. It's a spring-fed well. It's from a root word that means
to dig for water. So a well that you dig deep enough,
it'll be a spring-fed supply of water. But think about what
that is essentially. Let's take it down even more
basic than that. What is a well? What is water
to us? This well, it's a source of water. It's a reliable, known, present
source of water, which is man's most urgent need,
except for air. The only thing you need more
than water is air. But water often in the scripture
signifies spiritual need, spiritual refreshment or sustenance. Christ
is called the living water. He called himself that. And what
this wellspring is to the body, Christ is to the soul. So simple
the way he teaches us. A constant, necessary, life-giving
supply. It's a well spring, not just
a trough with water in it. It's an ever-giving supply. An earthly well spring gives
physical life. Without some wells, without reliable,
sustainable sources of water, we're goners. And Christ gives spiritual life.
Without the spiritual wellspring of the living water, there's
no life. There's no spiritual life. Christ
is the only thing necessary. Between those two, only one of
them is necessary. The spiritual. Say, well, I gotta
have water. No, you don't. If you and I never,
ever take another drink of water, in this world. As long as we
have Christ, we'll be just fine. We'll be just fine. We will live
in the greatest sense of the word and always will. So another way The one thing needful is Christ. And there's a digging for a well.
It means to dig for water. And the scriptures teach us to
seek. Seek ye the Lord while ye may
be found. Look for water, dig for him. In the gospel, in the scriptures,
seek him. Now I like the word half in our
text. I believe that's a key word here. You may run across water in your
travels and you may know where some water is, but the reason
you dig a well is so you have it. You have it. I have water. I don't just know where I can
get some, I have it. And you know you can always drink. Another way the scripture compares
this is in picturing the believer as a tree planted by the rivers
of water. If you have a river running through
your backyard, you don't need to go for water, you have it.
That's what we have to have, water. Can't just know about
it. Listen to, turn with me to Matthew
14, 13, if you would, please. This is Christ to us in a spiritual sense. We have
him. We know about him, certainly,
but it doesn't stop there. Matthew 14, 13, when Jesus heard
of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart. And when the people had heard
thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus
went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion
toward them and healed their sick. And when it was evening,
his disciples came to him, saying, this is a desert place, and the
time is now past. Send the multitude away, that
they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals.
But Jesus said unto them, they need not depart." You don't need
to go looking for what you need. I'm right here. Everything we
need is Christ. They don't need to go anywhere.
Give them something to eat. And you remember the rest of
the story. They said, well, we don't have but five loaves and
two fish. And he said, bring them to me. Bring them to me. All they needed
was Christ. If we have Christ, we don't need
to go to anybody or any place else for what we need. We have
him. To whom would you go anyway?
Here it is, right here, 1 John 5 11, and this is the record
that God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. Everything, now what does our
scripture say? It's life, the word life is in our text. He that hath the Son hath life. and he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. It doesn't get simpler than that.
You have one need, I have one need, and we don't need to go
anywhere else. So that word half is so precious
there. You may know where some water
is, you know, maybe a few miles away. A lot of people know a
lot about the Savior, but don't have Him. They don't have him. Knowing
where water is will not quench your thirst. You got to have Christ. Christ
in you is the hope of glory. In John 4, 13, Jesus answered
that woman at the well and said unto her, whosoever drinketh
of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that
I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing
up into everlasting life. That's our text. Scripture expounds
scripture. And the last part of our verse,
notice the word instruction. It seems out of place until you
realize how you get understanding. The thing that ties instruction
to the first part of the verse is that's how you get understanding.
How is it that God gives understanding to sinners? Listen to Acts 8,
26 again. And the angel of the Lord spake
unto Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south unto the
way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And
he arose and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia, and eunuch
of great authority, under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who
had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for
to worship, was returning and sitting in his chariot, read
Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip,
go near and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither
to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah and said, understandest
thou what thou readest? Do you have understanding as
you read? And he said, how can I except
some man should guide me? Instruction. Instruction, and this is God's
way. Some man, it doesn't matter who
does it. I'll tell you this, he won't
be the star of the show. He won't be the cream of the
crop because the Lord chooses the base and the weak and the
foolish. That's all I know about him.
He's just some man other than that. But that's how the Lord reveals
himself to sinners. And you know the rest of that
one too. The place of the scripture which he read was this. He was
led as a lamb to the slaughter. It don't matter where you go
in the word of God and read, you're reading about that lamb. Because that's what God's book
is about. It concerns his son from start to finish. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter and like a lamb done before his shearer, so opened
he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away. Who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered
Philip and said, I pray thee, "'Of whom speaketh the prophet
this? "'Of himself or of some other man?' "'He didn't know
much, did he?' "'Neither do we. "'The truth of the matter is
you don't need to know much. "'You just need to know him.'
"'And so Philip opened his mouth "'and began at the same scripture
"'and preached unto him.'" He didn't rebuke him, he didn't
say, what are you talking about? You don't know anything. He's
just preached unto him one word, Jesus. Christ is all you need to know. All you need to know. Instruction. Instruction of fools is folly.
I'll tell you how you can tell whether they're a fool or not.
Are they telling you what God said? If not, they're a fool. Don't listen to them. Don't listen
to anybody concerning the Lord except a man that will just simply
tell you what God said. And it's all contained in that
one word, Jesus. Jehovah's Savior. Jesus, for
he shall save his people. from their sins. We preach Christ
and him crucified by God's grace. And that's how God gives understanding
by the foolishness of preaching. It pleased him to save those
that believe. Let's pray.