Nothing you desire can compare...

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.