Wisdom & Prudence

Open your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Ephesians. Continue our study in this absolutely wonderful book written by Paul. To the saints at Ephesus. He's moved by the Holy Spirit of God to write these words. To the dear saints at Ephesus, former pagan idol worshippers, who've turned to serve the living and true God. turned away from idols to serve the living and true God. And it's all by the power of God, the Holy Spirit. And because they are sons, God sent the spirit of his son, the Holy Spirit, into their hearts, whereby they now cry, I have a father. And they're born again, and they're trusting and resting in the Lord Jesus Christ and his shed blood as the only safety from sin. as the only savior of sinners the Lord Jesus Christ God in the flesh isn't that amazing that's just amazing well the name of the message is wisdom and prudence we didn't quite finish the section on wisdom so we're going to touch just a little bit on on wisdom and then we're going to look at prudence So let's read from verses five to verse nine of Ephesians chapter one, where we read about the saints of God having been predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, and that's God's will.

So it's God's will. that we were chosen in Christ. It's God's will that we have all spiritual blessings in Christ. It's God's will that we'll be adopted into his family, and it's all to the praise of the glory of his grace. Verse six, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, that's accepted in Christ, in whom we have redemption.

Beautiful verse here. There's how we're redeemed through his blood, through the blood of Christ, the blood of the God-man. Result of that the forgiveness of sins all sins and it all is according to the riches of God's grace And then he says to us in verse 8 wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence In verse 9 having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure Which he had purposed in himself See this means of salvation is No man would ever have purposed this.

It's so foreign. The gods of, the false gods that these folks turned from, they always had to be appeased. They always had to be given things. And sometimes they didn't, they accepted those things in those people's minds and then Sometimes they didn't and bad things would happen to him.

Our God is totally satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ. And all who are in him, God is no longer angry with us. Because of our sin, because it's being bought and paid for. Now the scripture says God's angry with the wicked every day. Every day. My, but God's not angry with us. his wrath for his people being appeased in Christ. This is a cause for great rejoicing, isn't it? Our sins are forgiven, it says here, through his blood.

Now, last week we looked at wisdom in verse eight. And now there's differing views on this portion of scripture. And there's three possible interpretations I think personally that all three would apply. Number one is God exercised wisdom and prudence in causing grace to abound towards sinners. That's certainly God's wisdom and prudence at work, isn't it? And we're the receivers of that. Number two, God made the mystery of his will known through wisdom and prudence.

So through knowledge that we didn't have before the Lord saved us. He's made known to us now the mystery of his will, which was to save sinners, chosen sinners, through the blood of the Son. We had no idea about that, did we? But he's given us an understanding of that now, where we never had that before. And then number three, God's grace abounded toward us in wisdom and prudence, which is the preferred interpretation is God's wisdom and prudence abounded to us through Christ.

So I believe all three can be right though. I really do. Because if you look at it and break it down, it's all glorifying God. And that's the main thing. I didn't know nothing about God until he saved me. And the little bit I know now is he, it all come from him. And now we glorify God, don't we, in what we know. I was listening to something yesterday, and I thought, boy, I gave the answer.

The guy said, what's the number one reason most people in churches go to church for? The number one reason. And it was old R.C. Sproul. And he said, what's the number one reason? And he said, fellowship. You ask most people why they go to church, and they'll say, "'Cause of fellowship." You know why I come to church? And I think I know how you come to church.

To worship God. The fellowship is just a wonderful byproduct, right? To worship God. We're here to worship God, beloved. I thought, oh, that's so true. It's not just a gathering place for social activity. We come to worship God when we're here, beloved. We come to listen to the gospel. We come to hear about our Savior.

My, and as a result, we have the sweetest fellowship that no one can ever know what it's like unless you have it. I'm celebrating my birthday with my family. There's nowhere I'd want to be other than here with you guys. Isn't that wonderful? It's amazing. But we're worshiping God together. That's why we're here. Isn't it wonderful? To give God all the glory. And he's given us wisdom and prudence to understand that we're here to worship him. That's why we need to be attentive during the Word Preach, right? Because it's about Him. It's not about us.

We're receiving what we need. I need strength. I need grace every day. I'm telling you. As Donnie Bell said one time, I called him up and I said, Donnie, I'm getting worse instead of better, man. My sinfulness. And he goes, well, you're growing in grace then. You're starting to see it more than you ever seen it before. I'm like, oh yeah. So he just laughed and said, well, you're growing in grace.

Because we don't see our sinfulness before we're saved. And this is why we worship God. This is why we praise him, because look what he's delivered us from. Look what he's done for us. It's absolutely amazing. And again, all three of those interpretations fit together, I believe. So let's continue what we looked at last week, is that wisdom is the singular wisdom born of knowing God, of being born of God and being taught of God, is something that we can never learn.

You know, people go to seminaries and they learn about history and they learn about the history of the church and they learn all this stuff, but this spiritual wisdom, Henry used to say, you go to Bible college to learn about history, you go to church to learn about Christ. And he wasn't knocking Bible colleges, he just was saying, and a friend of mine who was in Canada, his dad was a professor at a seminary. He said if the churches were doing what they were supposed to do, preach Christ, there'd be no need for seminaries.

Isn't that wild? Because God raises preachers up from the midst. He raised Travis up to be a teacher, too. Preaches when I'm gone. Right? You never expected that, did you, Travis? Neither did I, to be a preacher. Look what he's done. He raises up within the church, beloved. My! And we come here and we learn about Christ. We worship our great God.

So this knowledge of knowing who God really is doesn't come by human learning. It doesn't. That's why you must be born again. That's why you hear me stress that all the time. You must be born again. It's a gift of God. Salvation's a gift of God. The knowledge that we have of God is a gift of God, isn't it? And we're taught by the Holy Spirit of God. He's our teacher, beloved. He's our great teacher. The elect to be given a knowledge of who we are. We're sinners to the core. Who Christ is more important. He's God in the flesh, the only savior of sinners.

Charlie was at work this day and he said to one guy, I'm going to church. And Charlie said the guy got mad at him and got all upset with him. Why? Well, because it's a spiritual thing. I said, you saw the enmity of natural man has against God. And Charlie said, well, that was me. Yep, that was us, wasn't it, brother? That was where we were. I don't need to go to church. If I go in there, will you say lightning's gonna hit the church and burn it all down or something? I used to say that all the time, too. Now I'm a preacher. Isn't that amazing? And I always tell people, I go, you know what?

I says, lightning doesn't fall down yet on the church because we're all a bunch of sinners in there. So if you're a sinner, just come sit with us and listen to the good news that Christ saves sinners. This is a hospital for sinners, isn't it? Right? This church is a hospital for sinners, man. Come hear the good news. Come hear the good news. Come hear about Christ.

So we've been given a knowledge that we never had before, and a knowledge that the world doesn't have, and it's concerning spiritual matters. That's what it is. And now we have, isn't this amazing? We had no care for our souls before, right? Now we have care for the souls of others. My! We know the Lord saved us. Now our concern is other. Our family members, our friends, our co-workers, people we run into all the time. My! Turn if you would to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. The world cannot understand, cannot understand this faith that we have in Christ. And we didn't either before the Lord saved us.

Now look at this. Do you know if you hope for something, it's usually something you've not seen. Or you've seen it and you hope to one day see it, right? But if you see it, if you go there, you don't hope for it anymore because you're there, right? Look at this, Hebrews 11, verse 1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Have we ever seen Jesus Christ? No, but we will one day, won't we? And where's our hope? Our hope's in Him. Who we've never seen, but we will. Isn't that wonderful? So if you hope for something, you've not seen it. You're hoping. Right? Oh, look at this, it continues here. For by it the elders obtained a good report. This is hope and faith in Christ.

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Man didn't make this world. No. The one who we've not seen but we hope in, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not only our savior, but he's the creator of all things and the sustainer of all things. Even all those people out there cursing him and swearing at him. He gives them breath to breathe. What mercy. Oh my. Verse 8 again, listen to this, we're gonna look at it again.

Where in the earth abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence? Now, the word prudence, we dealt with wisdom last week. The word prudence has to do with skill or expertise in the use and employment of the wisdom God has given us. Now many times, we may have found ourselves in trouble answering man when he asked us questions about what we believe. Some people ask us, and sometimes we might have struggles in how to answer the person. And we think that we need to sound as if we know everything we believe. Right? We don't want others to think that we don't know what we're talking about. So we're conflicted that our ability to answer, even though God has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, that, oh, I can't answer the way I want to.

Get out of the way. Get yourself out of the way. Tell him the great things God has done for you and leave it there. Get ourselves out of the way, hey brother Trevor. Just tell him about Christ. Tell him about what he's done for you. And leave it there. Isn't that wonderful? Just leave it there.

He redeemed me by his blood, hey brother. He saved my soul and he's sovereign. And he did it willingly. The problem is not with what we know, but we allow ourselves to get in the way. Brother Henry Mann, that's where I got it from. He said, get out of the way. Get out of the way. My. Get out of the way of what we know, beloved.

We are just to proclaim what we know. What we know. It's God who does the converting, right? So we just proclaim what we know. Jesus Christ is the only Savior of sinners. And through His blood and righteousness, sinners are saved. And that's it. There's no other hope. Proclaim what we know and the rest is up to the Lord. Just leave it alone. Brother Henry Mann used to say, we need to get out of the way when we tell others about Christ.

And if you listen to his preaching, which I know you do, he just preaches Christ and leaves it there. It's wonderful. I love that. That's what I strive for, just to set Christ before you guys and let the Holy Spirit do all the work, which I can't do anything but proclaim it. And even the ability to proclaim it comes from him. He makes the preacher. He makes the believer, doesn't he? And I'm just a believer like you guys are, who've been saved by the grace and mercy of God and called to proclaim His word. That's the only difference between me and you. We're all saved sinners. There's no higher up little pedestal. No. I'm saved on the same ground you are saved. The blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.

That's it. That's it. Let's read verses 8 to 10. This is wonderful. Look at that. He made something known to us that we never knew. The mystery of his will. Now look at that. People like to talk about our will. But they don't talk about God's will a whole lot, do they, Brother Travis? But look at this. He's made known to we born-again, blood-washed believers, His will. What was His will? To save us from our sins. And He did it all.

Salvations of the Lord, Jonah 2.9. We say, hallelujah, Lord. This is wonderful. It's all You. You saved me. Look at that. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will. Look at this. According to his good pleasure, which he had purposed in himself. He had no counselors. He didn't say, hey, Charlie Wayne and Travis. What do you think of this? He didn't go up to the angels and go, well, what do you think about this plan here? No, he counseled within himself, right?

The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. And they did. They did whatever pleased them to do. And it pleased them to save sinners in Christ. And they planned that before the foundation of the world. Before time ever was. Before the worlds ever were. My. That's a long time ago, isn't it? Before He said, let there be light, and there was light. Before He formed the world. Before the stars and all the galaxies and everything we see. My. That in the dispensation of the fullness of time, He might gather together in one all things in Christ.

That's all His people. everything both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in him he is the master and ruler of all our savior his king of kings and lord of lords the ruler of everything now wisdom and prudence represent two different aspects of spiritual understanding wisdom refers to knowledge to knowledge and understanding in dealing primary with the intellect. So the things that we now know that we never knew before. Prudence, however, goes beyond mere intellectual understanding. Prudence means a state of mind which includes our affections as well as our understanding. So the whole man, basically, right? The whole man. Or the whole woman.

And what we have been given is insight and spiritual knowledge and spiritual discernment that we never had before. It's given us the ability now to discern between spiritual things, spiritual things, spiritual matters. It's given us the ability to contemplate the excellency of God and of his workings. And we just know a little bit, but that little bit we know, oh my goodness, right? Isn't it amazing? Charlie and I were talking about that just this morning. It just leaves us in awe.

So we see God's grace is according to his wisdom and prudence, and enabling believers not only to understand spiritual truth, both intellectually, but also to embrace it affectionately with our hearts. and our souls, wholeheartedly. Now think about this, all the advances in knowledge, all the advances in science, right? Throughout the centuries, there's been many, right? All those advances, all those advances, centuries worth of advances, could not make the slightest difference in mankind's ability to understand spiritual things.

Man is born dead today, just as much as they were born dead when Adam fell in the garden, after Adam fell in the first, Cain and Abel were born. They were both born dead in trespasses and sins. In all the advancements, all the breakthroughs, scientific and invention-wise, have not given man one more particle of being able to understand the things of God. You must be born again.

And then you're given an understanding of the things of God. You're given wisdom and prudence from God. And we embrace it with our whole being, don't we, brother? Isn't that wonderful? It's a work of God. And God alone. My. It's amazing. It's amazing.

All the advances of even AI now, All that stuff will not give men one more, one more piece of understanding of spiritual things. Doesn't make the slightest difference as far as spiritual knowledge. Now they plug things into them, our AIs, and they go crazy, right? And they can pop out facts, right? And they can even articulate things in the Bible. But unless you have wisdom and prudence from God, you will not understand what that thing is telling you about, even though they're facts. Facts of what the scripture says. The Bible can only be understood by the regenerated mind. We know that, don't we? Because we know where we came from. I was religious. I thought I knew all kinds. I knew doctrine. I could tell you about the five points of Calvinism. I could tell you about what Armenians believed.

But I had no grace. I would argue and debate with anyone who came along. Oh man, I would go toe-to-toe with them. No grace. No grace. But then one day, The Lord saved my soul. And I didn't want to debate no more. I didn't want to argue no more. I just present the truth now. And God does all the work. Isn't it neat? The mind of man at its best was never adequate to understand the spiritual understanding that God gives to his people.

Because we're dead spiritually. We have to be made alive, don't we? We have to have a new nature. We have to be born again. We have to be given faith, trust, and rest in Christ. And then the Holy Spirit teaches us. Because now we have a new understanding. Now we have a new nature. It's amazing.

And again, what we believe is a mystery to people today, just as it was 2,000 years ago, just as it was 4,000 years ago, just as it was 6,000 years ago. Man will not understand the need for Christ until they're born again. My. You know what happens without grace? You get self-righteousness. You get pharisaism. You get religion that tells you what you have to do rather than what Christ has done.

Well, we say enough of that rubbish, right? That's what it is. It's just garbage, isn't it? Some say, oh, don't talk like that. It's true. It's just garbage. I know. I was there. It's just garbage. I rejoice now when I leave church, when I'm with you guys, because we worship God. We worship the King. Puts a click in our heels, doesn't it, Brother Brian?

My. So think about this. The gospel, now think about this. The gospel is accessible to all people, right? In the general call. We don't hold anyone back. The general call goes out. We say, come to Christ. Come to Christ. So there's the general call to the whole world. Right? It's accessible to all people, regardless of intellectual capacity, regardless of society, wherever you are in society. You know why? It's accessible to all, but it only comes by God giving us the understanding.

And man in our natural state says, I will not have this man rule over me. Even though the call goes out to all, right? And we were there. At one time we said, I don't want this man ruling over me. Now we say, praise your mighty name, Lord. You're king! You're king! What a change God wrought, isn't it?

And no college could teach us that. No human teacher could teach us that. Only God the Holy Spirit can reveal it to us. The great teacher sent by Christ. And he shall not speak of himself. He'll show us the things of Christ. Isn't it glorious? It's glorious. So, intellect or absence of intellect does not make a vital difference. in what we believe. Because the knowledge of what we believe comes from God. It doesn't come from man. Isn't that amazing? Mine. He came here to save us from our sins. And the fact of our sinfulness is all an understanding of what God's given to us. The fact that we know why he came is all an understanding that God's given to us.

And it doesn't matter where our intellect is at. We could be not knowing a whole lot of stuff, and we could be one of the smartest people around. But born into this world, we're all dead. And when we're born again, then we're given an understanding that we never had before. And it's not based on our social class. It's not based on our intellect.

It's all from God. Isn't that wonderful? My. The scripture claims this. Not many wise, not many noble are called. God has deliberately chosen the foolish things of the world, the common things of the world. the ignorant, the hopeless to receive his truth.

Here I am. Oh my, isn't it wonderful? We can all say that, can't we? Here we are. I was talking about that R.C. Sproul guy and I told somebody, I told Chris yesterday, I said, that man's got more knowledge in his brain or he had more knowledge in his brain than I'll ever have in my baby, my little pinky finger. We both preach Christ, right?

That's what matters the most. And a sovereign Christ, a God who saves whom he wills by his precious blood and righteousness. And that there's no other hope outside of Christ. My, and praise be to God that the gospel is universally accessible, isn't it? Right now the gospel goes from here all around the world. It's universally accessible.

You can go this morning to the heart of Central Africa. You can visit a tribe that can't read nor write, that has never had any kind of learning. And you can take this great epistle here, and you can preach it. And if it's the will of God, and he saves them, Some of them, they're having understanding just like we have. Isn't that amazing? And they're going to grow in our understanding as long as they're alive, and going to hear in the gospel preached, and coming to worship God, spirit and truth. Why? We present it, and God gives people faith to believe it. It's absolutely amazing. Why?

Well, because God is the one who enlightens them to understand that. God is the one who gives them grace and faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So the first part of verse nine answers this dilemma. Answers this dilemma look at verse 9 haven't made no one unto us the mystery of his will According to his good pleasure, which he had purposed in himself see God Gives people an understanding of who he is God reveals that to us in all wisdom and prudence He makes no one to us the mystery of his will which is he came to save his people from their sins and Next week, we'll look at that, the mystery of God's will. It's wonderful. Praise be to God for salvation in and through the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Brother Jim, can you close us in prayer?

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