I'm flying to England today and later this week I will be teaching a Bible Study from these notes on Wisdom. I just wanted to share these notes/verses with you and maybe you can get some benefit from them. Happy Thanksgiving!
Romans 11:33-36:
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
God is rich, wise and the author of knowledge. Nothing exists outside Him or beyond His authority. He is sovereign, He is all knowing, He is the most glorious!
You can’t even dig deep enough! Oh, the depth! He is bottomless! This is one of my favorite things about the Word of God. As I devote my life to Christ and search for Him in the Bible I continue to dig and find Him and I will never reach the bottom this side of eternity.
Romans chapters 1-11 reveal our sin, our struggles, our depravity, our hope, His love, His Spirit, His plan for redemption through Christ’s blood, His plan for victory! This doxology in 11:33-36 takes Romans 1-11 into account and says in effect:
He is unending, He is wise! He has a plan to redeem us from ourselves! Who can know His ways? Who can know His thoughts? HE IS GLOROIUS!
I propose this thought during this study: Wisdom that comes from Christ revealed through the gospel, believed by faith and fueled by grace should always point to the glory of God! This is my motive during this study, to look at wisdom through the lens of the gospel… And it’s always important to remember that MY WORD MAY RETURN VOID, BUT GOD’S WORD DOESN’T. That’s why I’ve saturated this Study with verse after verse to show the depth of God’s Wisdom for the purpose of His glory.
• Oh, the depth of His wisdom. (That’s what I really wanna talk about in this study.)
If our goal is to let this Wisdom that comes from God bring glory to God in our lives then we must ask the question…
What is Wisdom? Wisdom, which includes knowledge, understanding, instruction, discretion, and obedience, is built on the fear of the Lord and the Word of God. Folly is everything opposite to Wisdom.
Be careful to note that there are two kinds of Wisdom.
James 3:13-18 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”
Just as we see two types of Wisdom in this world… Proverbs focuses on three types of people.
The simple: The simple people in Proverbs are not committed to wisdom or folly; they are easily misled. They refuse to seek Wisdom that comes from God.
The simple believes everything. (14:15)
The simple inherit folly. (14:18)
Proverbs 1:32 For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them.
The fool: The fool is opposed to God’s covenant. Opposed to the cross & the Word of God.
• Fools resist the offer of forgiveness. (14:9;15:8)
• fools are dangerous in their influence. Proverbs 13:20 the companion of fools will suffer harm.
• Fools cause grief to their parents. Proverbs 10:1 A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.
The Wise:
• Embrace God’s covenant through the cross. (1 Corinthians 2)
• Proverbs 1:5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance. They hear the Word of God, and seek understanding to know God.
• Proverbs 9:9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. They are open to rebuke, to correction, to insight and the knowledge of Truth.
• Proverbs 12:18 the tongue of the wise brings healing. Their words edify and build up.
Where do you land in these 3 categories? Simple, Fool or Wise?
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
Note this: Greeks seek wisdom. 1 Corinthians 1:22 The Greeks were definitely seeking wisdom but from the wrong source. Seek the Wisdom that comes from Jesus Christ!
How do we get Wisdom?
1. The cross!
2 Corinthians 2: 1-2, 4-7, 10
1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. …4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
Paul preached the gospel through a plain manner of speech. But this gospel communicates a treasure of the truest and highest Wisdom. It takes a measure of grace to believe the gospel!
The gospel contains a wisdom that:
• Has exceeded the achievements of man.
• Reveals a love from God that we could never perceive apart from the gospel.
• Comes from the Spirit of God.
2. The fear of the Lord! It would be irresponsible to teach a lesson on wisdom apart from mentioning “the fear of the Lord.” It is the beginning and the foundation of the Wisdom that comes from Christ.
• Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
• Proverbs 2:5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
• Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
• Proverbs 14:27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.
• Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.
To be wise like Jesus we must learn to see God in His power, His strength, to revere His name, to treasure His Word.
3. Seek Wisdom!
• Proverbs 2:4 seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures.
• Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
• Proverbs 15:14 The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge.
• Proverbs 28:5 Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.
The Value of Wisdom: (in Proverbs)
1. To understand “the fear of the Lord.” (2:5)
2. To find knowledge of God. (2:5)
3. To guide your path. (2:9)
4. To protect you. (2:11)
5. To protect you from the wrong relationships. (2:16)
6. To bring you to Christ. (2:20)
7. To find life & peace. (3:2)
8. To keep you from pride. (3:7)
9. To equip you financially for righteous, just & equitable purposes. (3:10) Note the difference between just purposes & wealth. Wisdom doesn’t serve to make you rich for your own glory! Wisdom exhorts you to honor the Lord with all you have and all you are for His glory, for His will, for His name’s sake.
10. Proverbs 3:13-16 Blessed is the one who finds wisdom,
and the one who gets understanding,
for the gain from her is better than gain from silver
and her profit better than gold.
She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.
Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
The goal of the book of Proverbs is to describe and instill wisdom in God’s people, a wisdom that is founded in the fear of the Lord and that works out covenant life in the practical details of everyday situations and relationships.
WISDOM IS WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD. GIVE ALL THE HONOR AND PRAISE TO JESUS!
I leave you again where we started…
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Why do you read the Bible? to what end?
this text is from the 1st chapter in J I Packer's "Knowing God":
For this very reason we need, before we start to ascend our mountain, to stop and ask ourselves a very fundamental question—a question, indeed, that we always ought to put to ourselves whenever we embark on any line of study in God's holy book. The question concerns our own motives and intentions as students. We need to ask ourselves: What is my ultimate aim and object in occupying my mind with these things? What do I intend to do with my knowledge about God, once I have it? For the fact that we have to face is this: If we pursue theological knowledge for its own sake, it is bound to go bad on us. It will make us proud and conceited. The very greatness of the subject matter will intoxicate us, and we shall come to think of ourselves as a cut above other Christians because of our interest in it and grasp of it; and we shall look down on those whose theological ideas seem to us crude and inadequate and dismiss them as very poor specimens. For, as Paul told the conceited Corinthians, "Knowledge puffs up.... The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know" (1 Cor 8:1-2).
To be preoccupied with getting theological knowledge as an end in itself, to approach Bible study with no higher a motive than a desire to know all the answers, is the direct route to a state of self-satisfied self-deception. We need to guard our hearts against such an attitude, and pray to be kept from it. As we saw earlier, there can be no spiritual health without doctrinal knowledge; but it is equally true that there can be no spiritual health with it, if it is sought for the wrong purpose and valued by the wrong standard. In this way, doctrinal study really can become a danger to spiritual life, and we today, no less than the Corinthians of old, need to be on our guard here.
But, says someone, is it not a fact that a love for God's revealed truth, and a desire to know as much of it as one can, are natural to every person who has been born again? Look at Psalm 119: "teach me your decrees"; "open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law"; "Oh, how I love your law!;" "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"; "give me discernment that I may understand your statutes" (vv. 12, 18, 97, 103, 125). Do not all children of God long, with the psalmist, to know just as much about our heavenly Father as we can learn? Is not, indeed, the fact that we have received a love for his truth in this way one proof that we have been born again? (See 2 Thess 2:10.) And is it not right that we should seek to satisfy this God-given desire to the full?
Yes, of course it is. But if you look back to Psalm 119 again, you will see that the psalmist's concern to get knowledge about God was not a theoretical but a practical concern. His supreme desire was to know and enjoy God himself, and he valued knowledge about God simply as a means to this end. He wanted to understand God's truth in order that his heart might respond to it and his life be conformed to it. Observe the emphasis of the opening verses: "Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.... Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees!" (vv. 1-2, 5).
The psalmist was interested in truth and orthodoxy, in biblical teaching and theology, not as ends in themselves, but as means to the further ends of life and godliness. His ultimate concern was with the knowledge and service of the great God whose truth he sought to understand.
And this must be our attitude too. Our aim in studying the Godhead must be to know God himself better. Our concern must be to enlarge our acquaintance, not simply with the doctrine of God's attributes, but with the living God whose attributes they are. As he is the subject of our study, and our helper in it, so he must himself be the end of it. We must seek, in studying God, to be led to God. It was for this purpose that revelation was given, and it is to this use that we must put it.
For this very reason we need, before we start to ascend our mountain, to stop and ask ourselves a very fundamental question—a question, indeed, that we always ought to put to ourselves whenever we embark on any line of study in God's holy book. The question concerns our own motives and intentions as students. We need to ask ourselves: What is my ultimate aim and object in occupying my mind with these things? What do I intend to do with my knowledge about God, once I have it? For the fact that we have to face is this: If we pursue theological knowledge for its own sake, it is bound to go bad on us. It will make us proud and conceited. The very greatness of the subject matter will intoxicate us, and we shall come to think of ourselves as a cut above other Christians because of our interest in it and grasp of it; and we shall look down on those whose theological ideas seem to us crude and inadequate and dismiss them as very poor specimens. For, as Paul told the conceited Corinthians, "Knowledge puffs up.... The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know" (1 Cor 8:1-2).
To be preoccupied with getting theological knowledge as an end in itself, to approach Bible study with no higher a motive than a desire to know all the answers, is the direct route to a state of self-satisfied self-deception. We need to guard our hearts against such an attitude, and pray to be kept from it. As we saw earlier, there can be no spiritual health without doctrinal knowledge; but it is equally true that there can be no spiritual health with it, if it is sought for the wrong purpose and valued by the wrong standard. In this way, doctrinal study really can become a danger to spiritual life, and we today, no less than the Corinthians of old, need to be on our guard here.
But, says someone, is it not a fact that a love for God's revealed truth, and a desire to know as much of it as one can, are natural to every person who has been born again? Look at Psalm 119: "teach me your decrees"; "open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law"; "Oh, how I love your law!;" "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"; "give me discernment that I may understand your statutes" (vv. 12, 18, 97, 103, 125). Do not all children of God long, with the psalmist, to know just as much about our heavenly Father as we can learn? Is not, indeed, the fact that we have received a love for his truth in this way one proof that we have been born again? (See 2 Thess 2:10.) And is it not right that we should seek to satisfy this God-given desire to the full?
Yes, of course it is. But if you look back to Psalm 119 again, you will see that the psalmist's concern to get knowledge about God was not a theoretical but a practical concern. His supreme desire was to know and enjoy God himself, and he valued knowledge about God simply as a means to this end. He wanted to understand God's truth in order that his heart might respond to it and his life be conformed to it. Observe the emphasis of the opening verses: "Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.... Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees!" (vv. 1-2, 5).
The psalmist was interested in truth and orthodoxy, in biblical teaching and theology, not as ends in themselves, but as means to the further ends of life and godliness. His ultimate concern was with the knowledge and service of the great God whose truth he sought to understand.
And this must be our attitude too. Our aim in studying the Godhead must be to know God himself better. Our concern must be to enlarge our acquaintance, not simply with the doctrine of God's attributes, but with the living God whose attributes they are. As he is the subject of our study, and our helper in it, so he must himself be the end of it. We must seek, in studying God, to be led to God. It was for this purpose that revelation was given, and it is to this use that we must put it.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Lord I love Your Word
Just reflecting on God's Word tonight I scribbled down a few lines to a poem and I thought that I would share it with you... here it is:
Lord I love Your Word
It is the truest sound to my ears
It gives faith that fills my eyes
The song of joy rising with my breath
Lord I trust Your Word
It is a lamp unto my feet
Useful for me
God breathed to teach
Lord I read Your Word
Because You first loved me
Day and night by Your light
The Truth has set me free
Lord I love Your Word
It is the truest sound to my ears
It gives faith that fills my eyes
The song of joy rising with my breath
Lord I trust Your Word
It is a lamp unto my feet
Useful for me
God breathed to teach
Lord I read Your Word
Because You first loved me
Day and night by Your light
The Truth has set me free
True Theology is God's Word
What's the point of studying God's Word and increasing in the knowledge of God? To glorify and delight in God through a deep personal knowledge of him. Meaningful relationship with God is dependent on correct knowledge of him.
Do you love the Lord? Do you long to live by faith so that you can please Him with your life and grow closer to Him as you live out each day? Do you tremble at His Word? Do you find true meaning and life by meditating on the scriptures day and night? Are you falling in love with God when He illuminates the scriptures and allows you to see Him? There is nothing like seeing God and knowing that you are loved by Christ. Nothing compares with His glory, His name, His love, His kindness, His majesty, His grace, His beauty, His freedom, His Spirit, His Word. Any theological system that distinguishes between “rational propositions about God” and “a personal relationship with God” fails to see this necessary connection between love and knowledge.
Does God's Word give you more than knowledge? Does God's Word transform you and cut the marrow from the bone and bring a song of praise to your lips? Does the Word of God live in you and bring the gospel into your thoughts? I hope so... because when it does, life is so sweet! Let's devote ourselves to Jesus Christ by His Wisdom, His strength, His power, His leading, His Truth, His forgiveness and once again His Word.
Knowledge without devotion is cold, dead orthodoxy. Devotion without knowledge is irrational instability. But true knowledge of God includes understanding everything from his perspective. Theology is learning to think God's thoughts after him. It is to learn what God loves and hates, and to see, hear, think, and act the way he does. Good theology is based in the belief that God exists, is personal, can be known, and has revealed himself. These presuppositions motivate theologians to devote themselves to a passionate pursuit of knowledge from God's Word. Loving God means loving truth. God is a God of truth; he is truth.
The greatest thing that could happen to you today would be for you to fall in love with the Bible. For you to devote yourself to The Word of God. For you to be changed by seeing the glory of God in the Scriptures. (2 Cor 3:18) For you to know the Christ of the Bible as your Savior, Master, Redeemer, Propitiation, Friend, Mediator, Justifier, Shepherd and source of Truth. God meets man's greatest need of relationship with him through an understanding of truth.
“O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant” (2 Sam. 7:28). “Every word of God proves true” (Prov. 30:5; Ps. 12:6; 119:42; John 17:17).
ALL WORDS IN ITALICS ARE FROM THE ESV STUDY BIBLE ARTICLE: "Biblical Doctrine- An Overview of True Theology: Knowing and Loving God"
Do you love the Lord? Do you long to live by faith so that you can please Him with your life and grow closer to Him as you live out each day? Do you tremble at His Word? Do you find true meaning and life by meditating on the scriptures day and night? Are you falling in love with God when He illuminates the scriptures and allows you to see Him? There is nothing like seeing God and knowing that you are loved by Christ. Nothing compares with His glory, His name, His love, His kindness, His majesty, His grace, His beauty, His freedom, His Spirit, His Word. Any theological system that distinguishes between “rational propositions about God” and “a personal relationship with God” fails to see this necessary connection between love and knowledge.
Does God's Word give you more than knowledge? Does God's Word transform you and cut the marrow from the bone and bring a song of praise to your lips? Does the Word of God live in you and bring the gospel into your thoughts? I hope so... because when it does, life is so sweet! Let's devote ourselves to Jesus Christ by His Wisdom, His strength, His power, His leading, His Truth, His forgiveness and once again His Word.
Knowledge without devotion is cold, dead orthodoxy. Devotion without knowledge is irrational instability. But true knowledge of God includes understanding everything from his perspective. Theology is learning to think God's thoughts after him. It is to learn what God loves and hates, and to see, hear, think, and act the way he does. Good theology is based in the belief that God exists, is personal, can be known, and has revealed himself. These presuppositions motivate theologians to devote themselves to a passionate pursuit of knowledge from God's Word. Loving God means loving truth. God is a God of truth; he is truth.
The greatest thing that could happen to you today would be for you to fall in love with the Bible. For you to devote yourself to The Word of God. For you to be changed by seeing the glory of God in the Scriptures. (2 Cor 3:18) For you to know the Christ of the Bible as your Savior, Master, Redeemer, Propitiation, Friend, Mediator, Justifier, Shepherd and source of Truth. God meets man's greatest need of relationship with him through an understanding of truth.
“O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant” (2 Sam. 7:28). “Every word of God proves true” (Prov. 30:5; Ps. 12:6; 119:42; John 17:17).
ALL WORDS IN ITALICS ARE FROM THE ESV STUDY BIBLE ARTICLE: "Biblical Doctrine- An Overview of True Theology: Knowing and Loving God"
Monday, November 9, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
A prayer for our nation
This is a prayer by Billy Graham that a friend shared with me today and I just loved it and thought I would share it with you!
'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics... We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!'
'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics... We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!'
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