Wisdom

Q: What does the Bible say about wisdom?

The Bible teaches that true wisdom is found in Christ, who embodies God's understanding and guidance. The Bible presents wisdom not merely as intellectual knowledge, but as the profound understanding and relationship found in Christ. As Job asks in Job 28:12, 'But where shall wisdom be found?', it is ultimately revealed that wisdom is God-given and cannot be obtained through human effort or worldly knowledge. It is Christ who represents the wisdom of God, as articulated in 1 Corinthians 1:24, where Paul states that 'Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.' Thus, true wisdom involves recognizing our need for divine revelation and submitting to God's sovereignty in our understanding.

Q: How do we know Christ is the wisdom of God?

Christ is declared as the wisdom of God through Scripture, representing the fullness of God's understanding and the means of our salvation. Scripture provides clear testimony to the nature of Christ as the embodiment of divine wisdom. In John 1:1, we learn that 'the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' This 'Word' is Jesus Christ, revealing that all of God's thoughts and purposes converge in Him. Additionally, Paul consistently refers to Christ as the wisdom of God, especially in 1 Corinthians 1:24 where he emphasizes that in Christ, God's power and wisdom intersect, particularly in the context of salvation. This understanding emphasizes the necessity of Christ for both our spiritual knowledge and our justification before God.

Q: Why is the fear of the Lord considered wisdom in the Bible?

The fear of the Lord is deemed wisdom because it aligns our hearts with God's holiness and leads us to true understanding. The Bible emphasizes that the fear of the Lord is the starting point of true wisdom, as mentioned in Proverbs 9:10. This fear is a deep reverence for God's holiness and majesty, leading us to acknowledge our own sinfulness and our need for redemption through Christ. Psalm 111:10 states, 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do his commandments.' This implies that true wisdom is not only knowing about God but also responding appropriately through faith and obedience. When we fear God, we turn away from evil and seek His ways, which validates the divine understanding essential for our lives.

He went to turn to Job 28. Job 28. In this 28th chapter of Job, Job is interested in something and he's after something. And it's identified here in verse 12. So when you get there in Job 28, look at verse 12. Job says, but where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?

Job's seeking the wisdom of God and God-given wisdom. He's not interested in the wisdom of this flesh, man's wisdom that's gonna drive you to your works, drive you to an idol, drive you to man's religion. He needs wisdom of God and from God. And here's the reason he's interested in this.

Turn one chapter over to Job 29 and look at verse 21. In chapter 29, Job is reminiscing about the past. He's experiencing this great trial and he's looking back at the past and saying, those were better days. And this is what the better days in Job's mind looked like. Verse 21 says, unto me, men gave ear and waited and kept silence at my counsel. After my words, they spake not again, and my speech dropped upon them.

And they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths wide as for the latter rain." Job's saying, everybody thought I was really wise, and I gave great counsel, and they all gathered around me to hear it. They opened their mouths wide. They all listened to me.

I thought I was wise. They thought I was wise. It was a great relationship. Verse 24, if I laughed on them, they believed not, and the light of my countenance they cast not down. If I criticized somebody, they took it to heart, and they didn't hold it against me. They thought I was that wise, that was that learned. Verse 25, I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, and one that comforted the mortars. I had respect, I had a high place, everybody thought I was real smart, and I was real wise, and I knew what I was talking about.

But what does he find now? What's the truth? Chapter 30, verse 1. But now, they that are younger than I have me in derision. They mock me, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock. Everybody thought I was really wise. I thought I was really wise. Everyone gathered around and listened to what I had to say. But what's the truth? What has he finally learned by divine revelation? He's a fool. He sits in a fool's seat. And that's very hard. In a human sense, I'm not ragging on Job at all. That is a very hard, a very hard fall.

But you know, spiritually, that is the best possible place a man can ever be brought. That by divine revelation and the power of God himself acting on a man to take him from this place, I've got it figured out. I'm wise. I know what I'm talking about. I know God. I know his manner of salvation.

You find out, I don't know him. and I don't know what his expectations are of me, and I don't know what he's like, and I don't know his manner of salvation, here's one thing I'm convinced of, is that he's beyond finding out. With this natural wisdom, with this natural man, with this fleshly, sinful nature I have, he is beyond finding out. I am shut up to a divine revelation, and I am shut up to an irresistible call, and I'm being shut up to being given a new man in Christ Jesus. That's the only way I can possibly know him, and he is sovereign in doing that.

I need him to come to me where I'm at and give me his wisdom." You know, you can't even get that low on your own. The Lord's got to bring you to that place, stand in the light of who Christ is, reveal him to you. Standing in the light of his holiness, you see something of yourself in your own sinful ignorance, and then show you the way, the truth, and the life, Christ himself.

Now, at the bottom there, That's where the Lord gives the wisdom of God. But what does that mean? There's a lot of scriptures about that. There's a whole lot of scriptures that talk about wisdom. If you ask that question, what is the wisdom of God? You might as well ask this question, because they both have the same answer. What is the word of God? The wisdom of God and the word of God, what are they?

They have the exact same answer. It's Christ. John said this in John 1.1, he says, in the beginning was the word, And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. Jesus Christ, that second person of the Blessed Trinity being equal with God because He is, in fact, God Himself. He's the Word of God.

What does that mean? He's the Word of the Father. What do I mean by that? When the Father thinks and when the Father speaks, And when the father feels and when the father purposes, he is singular in all those things and his purpose, his thought, his speech, his heart is Jesus Christ. I was thinking about this. If you're looking to Christ right now, he is your only hope of salvation.

You know him. And he knows you, you have a relationship with him, he is your husband, he is your father, he is your provider and your protector, he is your God and he is your king. And that is a relationship that cannot be dissolved. And what we see of him and what we know of him we love, but we see through a glass darkly. But the father sees him as he really is.

He sees him in all his glory, in all his power, in all his sovereignty, in all his boldness, in everything that is so good about him, he sees it so clearly. And you think about who he is, he's God Almighty, who is without constraint, who can do whatever it is he purposes to do.

In the eternities, he could find no greater purpose in the Godhead than to glorify the person of Jesus Christ. How great his character must be. that of all purposes, he could do anything he could possibly want. He said, this must be the purpose of the Godhead eternally. Jesus Christ has to be glorified.

And he does that through the salvation of his people. He's the word of the father. He's the written word. What does the written word contain? Everything the father saw, everything he sees in Christ, the greatness of his person and the greatness of his achievement.

Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. That's how the purpose is accomplished. How can the Godhead be glorified? The salvation of a corrupt and wicked and sinful people, single-handedly accomplished by this great Christ who must be glorified. I love that scripture. He shall save. He must, he has, eternally it's done. Who? His people. We don't have to wonder about that. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. People have no hope. People have nothing good about themselves. People who can offer nothing unto God. He saved them and it's done.

That's his great glory. That's what this word declares. And that's the spoken word. What do we preach? Everything the father saw. Everything the father said, everything he wrote down in this book, that is the declaration. Paul put it like this. Well, we preach Christ crucified under the Jews a stumbling block and under the Greeks foolishness, but under them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

You remember the original question, what is the wisdom of God? He just said it right there. Christ, the power of God. Not my works, not your works. and not my will and not your will, and not my seeking and not your seeking. Christ, the power of God, he's the power of God unto salvation, and he's the wisdom of God. What does that mean? Who is God? He is just and he is holy. Who are his people?

They are unjust sinners, wicked. Those things are contrary. Justice, perfect sense of it. Holiness, the only thing I can accept is purity. Sinful, wicked, can't be anything but. How can those two seize me? How can a sinner ever be justified before a holy and a just God?

The Father found the answer to that in the wisdom of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5 21, for he hath made him sin for us. Who knew no sin that we might be made the very righteousness of God in him. The cross. Christ being the made of the sins of his people. Going to that cross, putting them away.

Us having his righteousness, so it really is ours. And now, because the justice of God is satisfied for every member of the elect, that means that the mercy that we are shown, free mercy. Mercy that says you are absolutely free, you owe absolutely nothing, go! It's over. It's just mercy. The floodgates of mercy are open to God's elect simply because there is nothing to hold them accountable for.

All the sin is gone, it's all been put away. Could anyone in this room have possibly devised such a plan? Or, if you could devise the plan, could you have the power to execute it? It is impossible, but Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

Now, everything I just told you That's exactly what Job says in Job chapter 28 here. And we're just going to take a few minutes and stroll through the chapter and you're going to see everything in here. Job's got five points and I'll give you the first one up front. Job's first point is this.

The natural man can be brilliant in worldly matters, but by nature he cannot find Christ. Look at verse one. He says, surely there is a vein for the silver and a place for gold where they find it. Iron is taken out of the earth and brass is molten out of the stone. He said, if an end to darkness and search without all perfection, the stones of darkness and the shadow of death, the flood break it out from the inhabitant. Even the waters forgotten of the foot, they are dried up. They are gone away from men.

This is an illustration. Job opens with an illustration. He says, here's the illustration. I'm going to give you a minor. If a man wants to go find gold or silver, precious rubies, things like that, natural resources, if he applies man's logic, good sound logic, and he looks in the right place where he's likely to find gold, and he puts his hands in the mattocks, and he works really hard, and he digs as hard as he can, and he builds the mine shaft, and he accepts all the perils and all the dangers that is associated with trying to dig up that gold and mine it, there's a fair chance he'll find it.

But not wisdom. Not Christ, the wisdom of God. not Christ, the power of God. No manner of man's wisdom will lead you to Christ. He says this, Paul does in 1 Corinthians 2.14, he says, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. What Paul is saying there is that the natural man, even if he does stumble upon Christ, and he hears of who he is, he will reject him. He will say, no, God, and the issue is always glory. We can boil it down to what it actually is.

This is foolishness to me. You tell me salvation predicated completely and utterly by what someone else did, that my purpose in all this, that all I will be is a trophy to someone else's power and glory, that I will sing the praises of someone else. Someone will get all the credit for my salvation and I will get none. That's foolishness. I'll have nothing to do with that.

That's the natural man's response. But if you're given a spiritual nature, you're given that new man in Christ Jesus, I could want nothing more. Todd, my pastor, he's got a good saying. He says, I am so content with Christ getting all the glory and my salvation because it's for two reasons, one greater than the other. He says, number one, because he deserves it. And he absolutely does.

And number two, it's a selfish reason. If he gets all the glory, that means he has to do all the work. That means there's nothing on my shoulders. There's nothing for me to do. I am free. My salvation is accomplished. He gets all the glory. That is fantastic. That means he does all the work.

Look at verse five of your text. This is Job's second point, which is the natural man can see something of the creation or see something of God in the creation, but the darkness of his heart distorts the truth. So verse five, Job opens up and he says, as for the earth, he's gonna talk about the creation, what we can see. As for the earth, out of it cometh bread.

Says a man can go out and he can plant some corn in a garden. And he lets the rain water it and things like that, and he comes back a little while later and a stalk shoots up, and all these delicious ears of corn are right there. And he sits there and he ponders that, and he says, that's not natural. Someone designed that. Somebody did that. Somebody caused that. There's a God and he did that. And he can sit there and he can ponder that and say, God must be very wise, very, very wise. If he can create this way and devise this way to have food come up out of the ground, he must be very, very wise. And that's a logical deduction by man's logic, by man's wisdom.

But it'll never lead him to this question. If God is so wise, this question that Job asked, how can a man be just with God? He'll think about that. He'll think about how did this food grow up out of the ground? How did he do that? And he'll ponder it and he'll study it and try to come up with the answer. But how can a man be just with God?

Man's wisdom will never lead him to that question. He's not interested in it. He knows nothing of the just character of God. He knows nothing of his own sinfulness. He's not interested in the answer to that question, let alone would he know the answer to it is this, the wisdom of God is Christ. That justice and mercy being done in one man, completely humanly impossible, It was done in one man, Jesus Christ.

That's where salvation was accomplished. When those two seas met together, impossible for the natural man. Verse five again, as for the earth out of it cometh bread and under it, it is turned up as it were fire. A man can go out and he can see a volcano erupting and can hear the blast and he can watch the smoke and he watched the lava flow down the side of the volcano.

And he can logically deduce by man's wisdom, God did that. And he must be very, very powerful. He must be more powerful than me, based on what I just saw. And then he turns a blind eye to what he just saw, and he goes back to his home. And he goes back to his religion. And he goes back to his idol, his man-made God. And he says, this is my God right here. And he has some power. He has some ability. He wants to do something for me. He wants to make my life better. He wants to save me. But I just have to come up with the thing he needs to make that happen. He sees the power of God in the volcano.

He says, he did that and I can't do that. I must be subordinate to him. But he turns a blind eye to what he sees, the truth of it. And he goes back and says, no, I'll make my own God and he will be subordinate to me. He'll be subordinate to my will. He'll be subordinate to my works. There must be something I have to do to activate him, to get him to do what I want him to do.

Look at verse six. He says, the stones of it are the place of sapphires. and it hath dust of gold. A man by wisdom can go into a mine shaft, and he picks up a gem, a sapphire, a ruby, a diamond, and he looks at it and he says, that is beautiful. God made that. He must be a God who admires beauty. But man's wisdom will never lead him to the understanding that the beauty the Lord admires, it's not outward beauty, it's inward beauty.

And he says this, Psalm 51.6, David says, behold, thou desirous truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part, thou shalt make me to know wisdom. What does God find beautiful?

An honest heart. You know what an honest heart looks like? The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. a broken and a contrite heart, O God, that wilt not despise." What's an honest heart before God? It's a broken heart. It's a heart that doesn't work. What do I have? I've got a broken heart. I've got a broken nature. It doesn't work. It can't know God, not naturally. It can't seek God, not naturally. It can't please God, naturally. It's absolutely impossible.

There's nothing but sin. There's nothing but wickedness. A broken and a contrite heart, that's an honest heart before God. I've got nothing. The only way I can possibly be saved is if someone else does everything that is necessary for me to be made whole before this just and holy God. I've got to have Christ. And the father says, I look at that, that honesty, that honest heart, that broken heart. He says, that's beautiful. That's the beauty I desire.

And you know, if you have that broken heart, that is the very evidence that you have a whole heart as well. That you have a new man and a new spirit dwelling in you. It takes a new man, it takes a holy man to see a wretched man. It takes an honest man to recognize a dishonest man. Anytime a man comes to this knowledge, I'm a sinner before God and I can do nothing. I am in his hands and it's up to his will and his power. That's because you have a new man dwelling in you. The very spirit of God dwelling in you. Look at verse seven.

Job says, there is a path which no fowl knoweth, in which the vulture's eye hath not seen the lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion pass by. A man can consider the vastness of the creation, And you think about how long ago Job was written, most people think this is probably the first book written in the Bible. So, so many thousands of years ago this was written. Job's saying, we know something of the vastness of this creation.

There are places, there are ways, there are paths on this earth that no man has explored, no foot has touched, no fowl has seen. They exist, that's the vastness of what God has created, and that's still true today. He can see something of the vastness of the creation and say, this must be a big God, there must be a vast God, and he can consider those paths, what's out there that hasn't been trodden yet.

But man's wisdom will never lead him to the path, the way. Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father except by me. How can a man be accepted by God the Father? He has to be in the way, he has to be in Christ. Loved of the Father, how? How could anyone possibly be loved of God the Father? All God the Father's love is in one man, it's in Christ Jesus. The only possible way another man can be loved is if he's in Christ. Chosen in Christ. Why were the elect chosen? These particular people, was it an arbitrary choice? No. He made the decision in Christ. He chose us in Christ. We've always had an eternal union with Christ in Christ.

How can a man actually be righteous with the righteousness of Jesus Christ? The only possible way that I can be righteous is if I did it. The only possible way God can look at me and say, He did righteousness is if I actually did it. We did it in Christ. The only possible way that perfect justice of God can be satisfied is if I have been punished to the fullest extent of the law so that no more punishment is necessary.

We were in Christ. And now when Christ walks in the presence of his Father and the Father sees him, he says, you are altogether beautiful and fair and I receive you with everything I have. He is looking at every member of the elect because we are in Christ. There is no more condemnation. There is free access in Christ. Man's wisdom could never reveal to a man that he is the only way, the truth, and the life. Now, look at verse 9.

He says, he put forth his hand upon the rock. He overturned the mountains by the roots. The man can go to a mountain. He can see this huge mountain. It seems so immovable, so solid, so strong. Say, what could possibly take that down? There's nothing stronger. And then he sees an earthquake happen. The Lord just reach out underneath that mountain and turn it upside down and tear it down to complete rubble. And you say, God did that.

And he must not just be a God who creates, he must be a God also who destroys. But man's wisdom will never lead him to the understanding of why he destroys and why he damns and why he kills, because he is a just and a holy God. That he cannot let sin go unpunished. When he saw sin on his only begotten son, he did not spare him, he won't spare anyone else. The wisdom of God in finding a way to be just and the justifier of the ungodly. It's beyond finding. Verse 10.

He cutteth rivers among the rocks, and his eye seeth every precious thing. The natural man can understand erosion. He can look out, and he can see how a new river is formed in the rocks. The water must have just traveled over those rocks for thousands of years, just carving out a canyon, and the river continuing on. And a man can see that by man's wisdom and says, God did that. That's by design.

And he must be very, very patient, because that took a really, really long time. But he'll never understand why he is so patient. Really, it's for two reasons. Number one, because he's absolutely sovereign. He is absolutely in control of everything and everyone at all times. And so he's patient. And the reason you and I are very patient is because we can't control the outcome. But he's patient because he's already controlled the outcome. Also, this reason, though. You know when you're patient? It's when your work is done. Listen to this, Hebrews 10, verses 12 and 14.

It says, but this man, speaking of the Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.

Why is he patient? Why is he simply just patiently waiting till the end of his time? Because he's already won. Everything the Father gave him to do, come, save the elect, put their sins away, make them acceptable unto me, he's done. The work is finished, it's completed, and now he sits, his enemies all having been vanquished already. Sin, death, Satan, and he waits till his enemies be made from his footstool because his work is completed, and every member of the elect, when he said it is finished, it's done. It's finished, and it's over. Verse 11.

He bindeth the floods from overflowing, a thing that is hid, bringing forth to light. A man can go out to the sea and he can watch the tides come in and the tides go out. He can watch that for a while and recognize that it matches with the sun and the moon and the seasons. And he can see that there's a predetermined point that that tide comes into and it goes no further. And there's a predetermined point that the tide goes out to, and it goes no further.

It stops, and it stops. And he says, somebody controls that. It's too perfect, too rhythmic. It works too much in unison. Somebody controls that. God controls that. He sets the bounds of those waves. It goes to one point, and he says, stop. And it goes no further. It goes to the other point, he says, stop. It goes no further. And he can understand that, that God is in control of that. And he sets the bounds of those waves. but he will never understand the joy of the Lord putting bounds around his people.

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. But listen to this, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, By what power, I ask? If you continue, if you continue looking to Christ alone, that's how you began, looking to Christ alone, looking nowhere else but Him, if you continue, it's contingent on that, by whose power? Because if it's on me to bind myself, and it's on me to keep my eyes on Christ, then I will surely be lost, but that's not the case. the same way he sets the bounds on those waves and those tides. He says, you'll go no further, and you'll go no further. That's exactly what he does to his people.

I thought about, it's a silly illustration, but see if it resonates with you. You guys remember pinball machines? You pull the little pole, and it shoots the ball up there. It's got left and right lateral limits, has a top and bottom lateral limit. And you shoot that ball, and that ball bounces all the way around in that pinball machine. But you know what it never does? It never leaves the machine. It stays right there. And that's what it looks like.

Sometimes faith is strong. Sometimes faith is weak. Sometimes we backslide. Sometimes we're right and left and all these things. But he sets those bounds, left and right lateral limits, and he keeps us right there in Christ and constantly looking to him, constantly following that path.

And the natural man's wisdom, it can never lead him to Christ and never understand that joy. Now here's Job's third point. This wisdom, Christ, salvation, His gospel, it can't be bought, and it can't be earned. Look at verse 12. But where shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of the living. The depths saith it is not in me, and the seas saith it's not in me.

It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir and the precious onyx or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it, and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or pearls, for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold. I think it's funny that it talks about silver and gold here. He says you can't buy wisdom with silver and gold. Think about silver and gold for a second. The only reason it has any value with us whatsoever is because we say it does. You can't eat it. You can't build with it. It's a soft metal. It doesn't do anything.

You can make some fancy jewelry out of it. That's it. It's shiny to look at. The only reason it has value is because we all got together and said, this is valuable. This is worth something. And that's it. But really, it does absolutely nothing. And folks, that's the same way for our works. We all got together and said, these are valuable. This is good. This is right.

All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. You can't buy this wisdom. You can't even approach on the grounds that you can earn this wisdom in any way. I can't get any better. I can't come up with whatever it is that God would need from me. This wisdom must be by grace. Thank God salvation is by grace. By grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. not of works, lest any man should boast. That's the whole design. There'll be not of works at all. There'll be free grace. So the Christ would get all the glory and salvation and nobody else would get any whatsoever. Is it not sovereign grace? It absolutely is. He will be gracious to whom he will be gracious, and he will show mercy to whom he will show mercy. But this is just as equally true. Listen to this.

Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. You see what that says? This salvation, this wisdom, this Christ, if you have nothing, you've got nothing to buy with, you have no silver and gold, you have no righteousness of your own, come.

Come. Come to Christ. Trust Him. It's yours. This is exactly who it's for. It's for sinners, for people who can't buy it, who can't earn it, who can't come up with the goods. You come right now and you'll have this. You'll get it. He will give it to you. In fact, if you're coming, you already have it, you already have. Now here's his fourth point. His fourth point is this, is God knows wisdom.

Look at verse 20. Once thing come with wisdom, and where is the place of understanding? Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living and kept close from the fowls of the air. Destruction and death say we have heard the fame thereof with our ears. God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven to make the weight for the winds and he weigheth the waters by measure. When he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder, then did he see it and declare it.

He prepared it. Yay. And he searched it out. This is talking about things that happened before the foundations of the world and eternity past. He's saying, when I was weighing the winds, When I was purposing every wind gust that would ever take place on this earth, that's when I saw him. When I was charting the courses for every lightning strike that would ever strike on this earth, that's when I saw him. I saw wisdom, wisdom's Christ. He says he saw him, he declared him, he tested him, he prepared him. He saw wisdom.

It actually opens up in Genesis 1.1 and this is what it looks like. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, let there be light. And there was light, and God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.

Eternally, he saw Christ. The father saw the beauty of Jesus Christ. He saw the holiness of Jesus Christ. He saw the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He saw the efficacy of Jesus Christ. And he said, this must be our purpose to glorify this one God, man, Jesus Christ. He saw him eternally. He's seen the son. Secondly, he said this, he declared wisdom or rather he counted Christ. He reckoned him. He counted him faithful. The Father said, this is my people. They must be saved. This will be to the great glory of the Godhead in Jesus Christ. And he looked around for the Savior. Who will it be?

And he counted Christ faithful because he could not fail because he's God himself. He says he prepared wisdom. That means he established Christ. He established his covenant with him. He gave his people to Christ. He said, you will be the single-handed savior. Salvation will be upon your shoulders and not on them at all. And when they struck hands, see if we can enter into this. It wasn't then that the covenant was just made, but eternally it was accomplished. Salvation is an eternal thing. When were you saved? When the Lord revealed the gospel unto you, you looked to Christ for the first time. Yes, that's true. When were you saved? When Christ said it is finished. Absolutely, it's true.

But the truth of the matter is, for every member of the elect, eternally. There has always been the established covenant. He has always been established as the surety. He is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world before any of his people came into this world and committed one sin. There was a lamb slain, there was an atonement for that sin. We can't mess this up. It's impossible. And he said this, he searched out wisdom. And that's an interesting word. It means examined or tested. He tested Christ. He watched him.

He watched him as he walked through this earth and he found one man that never sinned. Never had a sinful thought, never took a sinful action, never disobedient to his father in any way. He examined him the entire time and he didn't fail, he did righteousness. He watched him on the cross, he examined him, he tested him. the sins of God's people being made him, him suffering under the wrath of God. He examined him the entire time, and he did not fail. He didn't falter going to that cross in any way, shape, or form.

He was victorious in everything the Father sent him to do. He was tested. Could he have failed? No. But tested yet he was, and he arose victorious. That's why the Father raised him from the dead. This is Job's final point. He gives us a litmus test to know whether I have this wisdom or not. Verse 28.

And unto man he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding. If I've been given this God-given wisdom, if I have Christ, I fear God. The fear of the Lord is wisdom. What does that mean? I want to show you one scripture. I want you to turn to it and I think it'll sum it all up. Turn to Psalm 111. Psalm 111. When you get there, look at verse 10. What is this fear of the Lord?

Psalm 111.10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all they that do his commandments. Notice there that his commandments is in italics. That means it's not in the original. Here's how it reads. A good understanding have all they that do. Do what? They do what God commands them to do. What is that? Very important.

1 John 3.23, and this is his commandment, singly, that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave his commandment. If I've been given this wisdom, if I have Christ, If he's been revealed to me, if he saved me, I'm gonna fear God. You know what that looks like?

You look to Christ alone. You are afraid to look anywhere but him alone. I'm not looking at my works. I'm not looking at my walk. I'm not looking about how I'm doing today or how I intend to do tomorrow or how I did last week. One place, there's only one hope, that he died for me. and I am dressed in His righteousness and He makes effective intercession for me with His blood right now and always will. That's my one hope of salvation. And folks, if that's it, you have the wisdom of God. You're wise. All right, let's pray.

Wisdom

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about wisdom?

How do we know Christ is the wisdom of God?

Why is the fear of the Lord considered wisdom in the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

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Wisdom

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about wisdom?

How do we know Christ is the wisdom of God?

Why is the fear of the Lord considered wisdom in the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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