Sermon Tone Analysis

Title: Keys to Wisdom, Part 2

Theme: Grasping the Wisdom of God

“Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.

Though it cost you all you have, get understanding.

Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you.”

(Proverbs 4:7-8) “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.

Do what it says.”

(James 1:22)

If Christians would but just take heed to the Biblical principles in seeking God’s perfect will for them and grasp the truths found in today’s message.

The church would be seen as a people of God who knows, understands and walks in the wisdom of God.

We serve a God who has resources that never run out.

One of those resources that are available to all Christians is wisdom.

James wrote, “If any of you should lack wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

(James 1:5) The child of God needs only to ask and then live according to the written Word of God and he can enjoy the benefits of “Walking in the Wisdom of God.”

Proverbs 4:7-8 says, “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.

Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you.”

James the half brother of Jesus gives us some practical advice and we read it in James 1:22, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.

Do what it says.”

I would propose to you that if Christians would but just take heed to the Biblical principles in seeking God’s perfect will for them and grasp the truths found in today’s message.

The church would be seen as a people of God who knows, understands and walks in the wisdom of God.

Just what is in the heart of those who enjoy the benefits of Godly wisdom?

Over the last few weeks we have been discussing the practical ways of seeking and applying the wisdom of God.

The Christian who takes Jesus seriously has studied and he has discovered that there are four basic disciplines to making the two master disciplines of hearing and doing a practical part of his Christian walk.

They are 1.) Attention.

2.) Meditation.

3.) Obedience and 4.) Endurance.

We have already looked at “Attention and Meditation,” today we will come to understand “Obedience and Endurance.”

The basic disciplines of “Attention and Meditation” are needed before we can lay down a foundation for wisdom.

The basic disciplines of “Obedience and Endurance” are needed so we can express a life of walking in the counsel and wisdom of God.

Every Christian needs the “Basic Discipline of Obedience.”

Every Christian needs the “Basic Discipline of Obedience.”

In order to enjoy that abundant life promised in Christ we need not only to seek the wisdom of God, but also have the right heart attitude in obedience to the written word of God.

For example: Suppose there is a Christian who has the character that we can label as “Wild Mind Billy.”

He has been convicted of the sin of exaggeration.

Billy doesn’t lie about important things like, did he get to work on time or in honesty in financial areas of his life, but he has a way of embellishing the story.

Things like if he saw ten turkeys cross the road, by the time he told the story it was a hundred turkeys.

His embellishing has often gotten him into very embarrassing situations and has even hurt the name of Christ and the Holy Spirit has convicted him about this every time he does it.

So Billy says to himself, “I must stop this bad habit of embellishing.

It always gets me into more trouble than it’s worth.

This stretching the truth just ends up making me look like an idiot.”

Let us look at the heart of what Billy is actually saying.

His reason for wanting to stop embellishing is so that he will not be embarrassed and look like an idiot.

His motives for embellishing were self-centered and his reason for wanting to stop is still self-centeredness.

His primary concern is still self-image and he will not be successful very long at stopping his story telling.

The reason he will fail is because he will not have the power of the Holy Ghost to help him overcome as long as he is concerned about his self-image and has no concern about how Jesus feels and about being changed into the image of Christ.

If the child of God is going to enjoy and know the power of God to enable him to obey, he must want to obey because it first, pleases the Lord and second it will show God’s grace upon his life.

There must be a personal submission to God, Christ and a longing to have fellowship in the Holy Spirit before any child of God will be able to beat any sin that causes him to miss out of walking in the wisdom of God.

A Christian cannot allow himself to be deceived by the flesh, the world or the devil without showing a great disrespect for the very nature of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus describes Himself as “the way, the truth and the life” in John 14:6.

The Holy Spirit is called the “Spirit of truth” in John 14:17.

Therefore, the heart condition to walking in obedience should be for the glory of the Lord, not for us.

We should not want to walk in obedience so that we can be seen as someone great or good, but that Christ is working in and through us.

So the lost will be encouraged to look to Christ and not to us.

Our goal is to please Christ and He will enable us to enjoy the blessing of walking an obedient life to God’s will for us.

Having the right heart will cause you to walk in the joy of obedience and keep you from missing God’s best.

Having the right heart will cause you to walk in the joy of obedience and keep you from missing God’s best.

The Prairie Overcomer ran the true story of an honest, wealthy Christian businessman.

The truth in the story was, “I Missed God’s Best.”

After the pastor preached a message on obedience, this businessman confessed of missing God’s best for him.

When he was young the Lord had called him into the mission field.

So he started working hard and he began to earn money, paying his tithe and living a life worthy of the gospel he proclaimed.

He just kept earning more and more money and he decided to stay in the business world.

He became rich, had a wonderful wife and family.

He owned a huge successful business and a large beautiful home.

He had everything money could buy except this, sensing the Lord’s pleasure in what he did with his life.

He wrote, “I have a beautiful home and a lovely wife and children.

In my heart, however, there is a deep void.

From the world’s view I was successful, from God’s view point I never knew His best for me.”

The Word of God shows the cost of a disobedient heart and the blessings of an obedient heart.

There are two men mentioned in the Word of God that show one, the cost of a disobedient heart and two, the blessings of an obedient heart.

The heart of disobedience was found in a king named Saul.

This first king of Israel was superb physically, but was lacking in the spiritual qualities necessary to be a successful king.

The primary indicator of Saul’s unsuitability was his repeated failure to obey the Word of God.

(1 Samuel 13, 15) Had Saul demonstrated his willingness to submit himself to a “theocratic authority structure” he would have confirmed his suitability to be king.

(Who’s Who in the Bible)

In Gilgal, Saul was to wait for the Prophet Samuel to arrive.

When Samuel was slow in coming, Saul proceeded to offer pre-battle sacrifices in Samuel’s absence.

After hearing Saul’s excuses, Samuel told King Saul that he had acted foolishly and that his kingdom would not endure.

(1 Samuel 13:13) (Who’s Who in the Bible)

Just as 1 Samuel 13 records Saul’s unauthorized sacrifice, 1 Samuel 15 records Saul’s intention to offer another unauthorized sacrifice.

When Saul was sent by God, through the words of the Prophet Samuel, to go and completely destroy the Amalekites and to destroy everything that belonged to them, the Bible says, “Saul… spared [the king of the Amalekites], the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs – everything that was good.

These [King Saul and his army] were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.”

(1 Samuel 15: 9) (The Expositors Bible Commentary)

The Hebrew verb for, “unwilling” is specifically linked with the sin of rebellion in Deuteronomy 1:26.

Saul’s specific deeds of disobedience were but symptomatic of his fundamental inability to accommodate himself to the necessary requirements of theocratic kingship.

In short, they were symptomatic of his lack of faith in God.

The Bible says that God told Samuel, “I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.”

(1 Samuel 15:11) (Who’ Who in the Bible)

In contrast is King David whose life bears out the correlation between humility, obedience and God’s goodness.

Although his human nature caused him to suffer the consequences of sin on several occasions, his heart attitude was one of repentance.

The Lord’s chastisements brought a spirit of brokenness in the heart of David, thus, David came to trust and recognize God’s hand in all his life.

David writes, “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation.

He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—from violent men you save me.” (2 Samuel 22:2-3) David also wrote, “…To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

You save the humble…” (2 Samuel 22:2-3a)

King David, the man who sinned greatly before the Lord had a heart of repentance and he longed to walk in obedience before his God.

The Bibles says, “After removing Saul, he made David their king.

He testified concerning him: `I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.'” (Acts 13:22) God blessed David’s heart by giving him protection, provision and the blessing of a family line that goes to Jesus Christ whose kingdom will last forever and is still growing.

God promises to show His love to thousands of generations of those who obey His commands.

(Exodus 20:4) For those who show more than just partial obedience God blesses them and their labors for years and years to come.