Once again, we're going to make our way through a couple of chapters in Proverbs by pulling out several verses that relate to each other topically. As I read through Proverbs 19 and 20 this past week, I noticed a recurring emphasis on the topic of listening. Learning. If we are to become wise, We must learn to be teachable. Flyable.
We must learn to listen well when we're being instructed by truth. We need to develop an ability to listen and learn.
So, with that in mind, I'd like to read. Nine verses from Proverbs 19 and 20 that relate to this theme of teachability. We'll begin with Proverbs chapter 19 and verse 2. Proverbs 19.2. Desire without knowledge is not good.
and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way. Whoever gets sense loves his own soul. He who keeps understanding will discover good. 1911, good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. 1920.
Listen to advice. and accept instruction that you may gain wisdom in the future. 1925. Strike a scoffer and the simple will learn prudence. Reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge.
Cease to hear instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge. Proverbs 20 verse 15. There is gold and abundance of costly stones, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. 2018. Plans are established by council.
By wise guidance wage war And then 2024. A man steps. are from the Lord. How then can man understand his way? Let's pray.
Father, we so desperately need to hear from you. Today. Please open our eyes to see what we don't yet understand. Open our hearts to receive what we. struggle to accept and submit to.
Make us eager learners, and may we persist in that which we learn from you. That we might Experience the exquisite blessings of wisdom. all the days of our lives. I pray in the name of Jesus, who is wisdom incarnate. Amen.
Well, the book of Proverbs is all about gaining wisdom. If we are to gain wisdom, we must learn how God's world works. And if we are to learn how God's world works, then we must become eager students of God's truth. truth, we must be teachable. Are you teachable?
Are you seeking to love God with all your mind? Do you want to know everything that God has seen fit to reveal?
So that you can understand and appreciate God and His world better. You know, we ought to answer these questions with the resounding yes, but...
Sometimes I'm afraid our enthusiasm to learn and grow in our understanding is lost on us.
Sometimes that loss of enthusiasm is maybe due to our own pride and hubris as we think we already know it all.
Sometimes it's just due to our laziness. We just don't want to go to the effort of having to learn and study and remember and grow and change. It's easier to be stagnant. But God commands us to study to show ourselves approved. God commands us to love Him with all of our minds.
God commands us to know and remember and not forget certain truths. We are called to be learners, students of our great God. In fact, the Great Commission itself defines discipleship as, among other things, the process of learning what God has taught. The verses before us today describe the value and the method of learning, the value and the method of learning.
Now, just to be clear, we're not talking about learning in general, we're talking about learning wisdom, learning the ways and the will of God. These verses then tell us why and how we should pursue wisdom. In the Christian life.
So let's consider these two things before us this morning. First, let's consider the value. of learning wisdom. the importance of it. The evangelical church today is By and large, one that often downplays the importance of studious intellectual rigor in our pursuit of knowing God.
And so, perhaps a good starting point for us is to ask the question: what makes learning wisdom so valuable?
Well, our text that we've just read mentions several things. First, we see from Proverbs 19, 2 that knowledge gives moral direction to the soul. Knowledge gives moral direction to the soul. Proverbs 19:2, desire without knowledge is not good. and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.
Now the word desire is a very broad Term. It refers generally to the soul or the life of a person. But oftentimes, the context in which this Hebrew word appears can indicate a more specific use of the term, a nuance. In the context of verse 2 here, it seems to be referring to the non-cognitive, the non-thinking part of the soul, the passions, the affections, the desires, as it's translated. And it says that that part of the soul, when it lacks knowledge, when it acts without the proper information informing the soul, is not good.
And not good is simply a nice way of saying it's evil. Passion or zeal. Enthusiasm without the mind restraining and guiding it leads to bad immoral things. in the same way that hasty actions, hasty feet, They're in the second half of the proverb, lead to bad, immoral things.
Now, perhaps we don't think of knowledge in terms of having a moral category. Maybe we think of knowledge as just neutral, not good, not evil, just neutral information. But Proverbs 19, 2 is ascribing moral value to knowledge. It's the difference between something being good or bad. And when good knowledge is present, it elevates base desires and passions from being not good to being good.
So knowledge then, far from being neutral, is one of the things that makes our natural uninhibited passions go from being evil to being righteous.
Now our world, our culture. It is one that trusts intuition. doesn't it? And kind of distrusts instruction. How many times have you heard someone say something like, stop following your head and start following your heart?
Or Don't let anyone tell you what to do. You've got to just do what's in your heart. To do. We're rarely encouraged to subject our internal desires and feelings to some external opinion or advice or counsel. It's almost as if in our world the more subjective something is, then the more authentic it is, and therefore the more virtuous it must be.
I remember years ago talking to a young man who fancied himself a great musician. And he wanted to use his musical skills in the church.
So I set up a time to listen to him and very quickly discovered that he was not as musically gifted as he thought himself to be. In fact, he was quite ungifted at music, but Not wanting to crush him, I suggested that he learn some core fundamentals of music and maybe one day he'd be proficient enough to use those skills in public.
Well, my words didn't register because he replied with something to the effect of, you know, I'm not really a book learning kind of musician. I prefer to just experiment with what I like and discover for myself what works for me. Desire without knowledge. Passion without knowledge in music, in our vocation, in our relationships, in our faith, in fact, in all of life is not good. Paul in Romans 10:2 put it like this: speaking of Jews who had rejected Christ, he said, They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
Sincerity and zeal are of no use if they're not informed by knowledge, by doctrine, by truth. And in both Romans and Proverbs, when it speaks of knowledge, it assumes good knowledge, right knowledge, true knowledge. knowledge. That kind of knowledge is of such great value because it gives moral direction to the soul. Direction without which the soul will head impulsively down wicked paths that end in destruction.
So be a learner. Be a student of the knowledge that God, both in the books of Scripture and nature, reveals for our benefit. Don't trust your heart, trust God's truth.
Well, secondly, if knowledge gives moral direction to the soul, then being a learner demonstrates a proper love for one's own soul. Understanding reflects love. For one soul. Look with me at verse 8. Whoever gets sense loves his own soul.
He who keeps understanding. will discover good.
Now, the word sense there in verse 8 is another word, like the word desire back in verse 2, that has a very broad range of meaning. It literally means heart. And so depending on the context, it can refer to one's emotions or the will or the mind, one's courage, one's stubbornness, and on and on. Since most of the proverbs are made up of two parallel statements, we can often arrive at a better understanding of how a specific word is being used in a proverb by comparing the first statement to the second statement.
So in Proverbs 19, 8, the word sense in the first statement corresponds to the word understanding in the second statement. And so we can conclude that sense, as it's being used in verse 8, refers to the mind. It's that part of the soul that keeps understanding. Perhaps we could paraphrase the first half of verse 8 like this: whoever gets wisdom or insight or truth into their mind. loves his own soul.
You see, loving oneself in the best way, in the righteous way. is not about giving self what it wants. It's about giving self what is true. It's about demanding from myself conformity to God's world as it is. Not as I imagine it to be or as I wish it were.
The healthy soul, the well-loved soul, is the soul that is governed by a mind that has good sense because it's anchored in God's truth.
Now our world currently is a pretty nonsensical place, isn't it? Reality has given way to all manner of Foolish nonsense with regard to ethics and beauty and family, and even something as. obvious as identity. And in a world like ours, it's easy to think.
Well, I'm I'm not as bad as those people who who don't even know what they are. And perhaps we develop a false sense of our own wisdom and righteousness and virtue. Because we're closer to God's standard than most, we Maybe develop blind spots for the ways in which we fall short of God's standard. In a world like ours, it's easy to excuse our own foolishness. simply because it's not as extreme as the next person's foolishness.
But what we need to remember is it good sense. Wisdom. Knowledge of the truth is not defined by how far away I am from the most foolish fool. It's defined by how close I am to God's truth, to reality as God defines it. As we live by that standard, we're demonstrating love for our own souls.
True soul care involves learning what God says is good and then doing that. Verse 11 highlights another benefit of wisdom. It tells us that good sense tempers the soul. Good sense tempers the soul. Verse 11.
Good sense makes one slow to anger. And it is his glory to overlook an offence.
Now, the word sense here in verse 11 is not the same Hebrew word that we saw back in verse 8. The word sense here means what we probably think of when we use the term good sense in English. It has to do with having discernment, discretion. The ability to make good decisions because you're able to make intelligent deductions. A person who possesses this sort of good sense is, according to the proverb, able to control his temper.
and is able to easily forgive. If you see a person who is unable to forgive others when he is wronged or unable to not fly off the handle whenever he's crossed, that person lacks sense. He lacks the discretion and discernment that comes with wisdom. Good sense tempers the soul. Now, maybe we think of temperance as a sort of drab boring virtue that is Characteristic of dispassionate people, but Proverbs 19:11 calls this virtue a glory.
Self-control is something that's beautiful. And honorable and noble in God's sight. It's something we ought to pursue if we want to be pleasing to God. And it's something that is acquired as we learn to see the world as God sees it. The same God who makes his son rise on the evil and on the good commands us to learn the good sense of loving our enemies and praying for those.
who persecute us. Good sense tempers the soul. Jumping ahead to Proverbs 20, verse 15, we see one last indicator of the great value of learning wisdom. Proverbs 20:15 asserts that the wise soul is a rare soul. The wise soul is a rare So it says There is gold and abundance of costly stones.
But the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.
Someone who speaks Knowledgeably, wisely, in accordance with God's truth, is a rare thing. And a rare thing like a precious jewel is a valuable thing. Brothers and sisters, we work hard, don't we? the resources with which to meet our physical needs. We work hard to acquire influence and recognition and power.
We want to be well cared for. We want to be noticed, appreciated. Proverbs tells us that the best care you can afford your soul is to pursue God's wisdom. The best attribute to be recognized for Is possessing wisdom. It's worth more than gold.
It is our glory. The path of wisdom is the path. to a happy soul. Are you in pursuit of that goal? In fact, how do we pursue that goal?
Well, that's what we'll discover next.
Solomon describes the method. The process. of learning wisdom. Let's look at five verses briefly. First Proverbs 19, 20.
It says, listen to advice. and accept instruction. that you may gain wisdom in the future.
So how do we learn wisdom? We listen. We accept. And we persist. In God's instruction, listen to advice and accept instruction.
Those are two distinct commands: listening and accepting. Listening involves outwardly hearing, while accepting involves inwardly receiving, believing. submitting to that outward instruction. Both are important. And you know, in our technologically advanced world, it's literally possible to listen to good sound teaching 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
You could spend every waking hour listening to the Bible itself being read to you in one of a thousand different AI voices at two times speed, even. But if you're only listening and not accepting If you're hearing without believing, it's of no use. In fact, James Tells us that someone who is constantly listening to the truth but not obeying it. being a hearer only and not a doer of the word. Is falling into greater and greater self-deception.
He's convincing himself that he's growing in wisdom and knowledge, but his soul is actually wasting away with atrophy. We need to listen. But we also need to accept to receive godly instruction and do something with it. Obey it. But then there's a third part to the instruction of verse 20.
And it's there in the second part of the proverb. It says, that you may gain wisdom. in the future. In the future, listening and receiving godly instruction today may not show immediate fruit. In fact, listening to and receiving sound counsel might even result at first in setbacks and delays, maybe even in difficulty and pain.
But knowing what is right and doing what is right regardless of the immediate consequences will eventually bring blessing. A huge part of being wise is the ability to persist in wisdom. Until the gains begin to come. You know, it's easy to be impulsive. It's easy to do that which brings immediate relief or pleasure or recognition.
It's difficult to wait for good things to come. But the wise man is the man who persists in the truth. Day after day, year after year. Until one day he arrives at old age and is able to look back and see the priceless riches. of a life lived wisely.
Psalm 37:37 says, Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace. Psalm 90, verse 12 says, So teach us to number our days. to have an accurate perspective of the passing of time. that we may get a heart of wisdom. We gain wisdom.
by listening to wise instruction. We gain wisdom by accepting wise instruction. We gain wisdom by persisting. in wise instruction.
Next, we come to Proverbs 19, 25, which tells us that the way to learn wisdom is to watch. And listen. Watch and listen. Verse 25, strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence. Reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge.
Notice that there are three different characters mentioned in this proverb. Here's the scoffer. who can't learn. There's the simple who learns the hard way. And then there's the man of understanding who learns the easy way.
Now, if we're honest, we probably have a tendency to overestimate our teachability, right? We like to think of ourselves as the man of understanding in this proverb. Just tell me what I ought to do, and I'll have the discernment and the humility to be a good listener and do it. But truth be told, we are Rarely that pliable and teachable, aren't we? Most of us have have to learn the hard way.
through the hard knocks and pains of life. But the grace of God is seen in the fact that God can even teach hard-headed simpletons how to be wise. One of the ways God does this is by allowing simple-minded, stubborn people to watch the downfall of scoffers. When those who have so hardened their hearts against God and his wisdom that they have no hope of repentance and restoration, when they are brought down and are given what they deserve, then those for whom it is not too late ought to watch and learn lest they head down the same path. God's judgment against the wicked is intended to be a deterrent to sin.
I've counseled with a number of people who Have ruined their lives through foolishly flirting with sin. And the sight of the destruction that sin causes is always frightening. And it's supposed to be frightening. Sin is not to be trifled with. or downplayed or undersold.
It's to be run from. Sin is to be repented of. It's to be put to death. How then ought we to learn wisdom?
Well by watching the downfall of fools and avoiding their errors. But there's a better way. If we would commit ourselves wholly to the pursuit of wisdom, unlike the simpleton who just won't make up his mind. Then we would put ourselves in the advantageous position of being teachable by mere reproof. That's the second half of verse 25.
The man of understanding doesn't require the corporal punishment of the scoffer and of the simpleton. He's so pliable, so teachable, so eager to learn wisdom that all it takes is a word of reproof, and he quickly corrects his trajectory. We need to be people like that. If you're a son or a daughter, be the kind of son or daughter who responds to the mere words. of your parents.
If you're a wife, be the kind of wife who responds to the mere words of your husband. If you're a husband, be the kind of husband who responds to the mere words. of Christ. Wise people are those who listen well. and listen humbly even to words of reproof.
This brings us to Proverbs 19, 27. It says, cease to hear instruction, my son. and you will stray from the words of knowledge.
Well, this verse tells us again to listen and persist in wise instruction. Verse 27 kind of gives us the flip side of the coin from verse 20. Verse 20 exhorted us to listen and keep listening if we're to gain wisdom. Verse 27 warns us that if at any point we stop listening to wise instruction, we will stray, we'll lose the ground we've gained. And so persist.
in this path. Persistence is an essential component of learning wisdom. And you know, Solomon is the perfect example of this, isn't he? This very danger.
Solomon is identified in Scripture as the wisest man who ever lived. And what a status to have. And yet, even Solomon, in all his wisdom, stopped listening to wisdom. And what happened? He strayed from wisdom.
He allowed his pagan wives to turn his heart away from the Lord, away from wisdom, and he began sliding down a destructive, slippery slope of wickedness and compromise and misery. The old Puritan John Owen famously said: Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you. There is no place for the men. Or Neutrality. or passivity in our fight for holiness.
The moment we stop fighting is the moment that sin begins to take the upper hand.
Well it's the same with wisdom. The moment we stop persisting in wisdom, is the moment we begin walking towards foolishness. Wisdom is not like a diet with a cheat day once a week. I'll be wise six days, but Saturday's my free day. No, persistence in wisdom is an essential component of wisdom.
Without it, we become fools. Skip down then to Proverbs 20 verse 18. We discover a fourth. Exhortation in our pursuit of learning wisdom. Proverbs 20, 18.
Plans are established by council. By a wise guidance wage war.
So the exhortation here is to seek. And listen. Seek out Wise counsel from wise people, and heed that counsel. Listen to that counsel. Are you beginning to catch the redundancy?
Do you hear the repetition of these proverbs? Over and over and over, we're told that the path to wisdom. The means of Learning the right way, the godly way, the pleasant way is by listening. to wisdom. We could say that the top three keys of learning wisdom are: number one, listen.
Number two, listen. Number three, listen. Wisdom will not spontaneously generate in the lives of those who have no ear for reproof. Or no mind for truth, or no heart for being teachable. We will not grow in wisdom if we aren't listening to godly counsel.
Listening to wise instruction, listening to God's truth.
Well, this brings us to the last verse that we'll consider today. It's a verse. That tells us, through the means of a rhetorical question, who it is we're supposed to be listening to. Proverbs 20 verse 24. A man's steps are from the Lord.
How then can man understand his way? The first half of this proverb asserts that God is the one ordering the circumstances of my life. Nothing happens to me or through me except by the sovereign decree of Almighty God. This world is God's world. It runs according to his plan.
Plan.
Now, I can deny that, I can ignore it, I can even try to actively oppose it. It does not change the fact that God is sovereign over everything He has made. And he has made everything. If that's the case. Then how can man understand his way?
You're going to have to look to God. If he's ever going to understand his way, if I want to know how life works, if I want to know what's right and wrong, if I want to know what's true and false. If I want to understand how to make the most of my life and how to find happiness and purpose and value, if I want a soul that is satisfied and content. If I want peace in my heart and mind when I lay in bed at night or when I get up in the morning to face another day, when I have to deal with hard people or wicked people or confused people, if I want to know how to live well and how to die well and how to find eternal life when this life is over, I must look to the Lord. I must listen to what he says.
I must receive and persist in the counsel that he gives. My success in life will be in direct proportion to my joyful submission. to the one who has created my life. and orders my life according to his wisdom. Proverbs 9.10 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Any claim to knowledge or wisdom or moral virtue that is not grounded in the fear of a sovereign God who orders my every step and who dictates with all wisdom what is good and what is true and what is beautiful is not real knowledge or wisdom or virtue. It's fake. If I cannot acknowledge God's sovereignty over my life, and my utter moral obligation to him. If I insist on pretending that I am the sovereign master of my own fate. I will never learn.
I will never be wise. I will never be good. I'll be like that scoffer. who is only ever good for being made an example of for the benefit of others. But friend, there's a better way.
If you recognize today that God is a fearfully sovereign and wise God to whom you must give account. Let that fear drive you to beg him for mercy. and beg him for the wisdom you lack. Do you know what you'll find when you run to him for mercy? You'll find a God who loves to give mercy.
You'll find an always God who liberally gives wisdom to those who ask for it. You'll find a smiling Redeemer. Who says to sinners, come to me. All who labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. You'll find a Lord who says, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.
For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Friends, come. to God and learn from Him. And in learning from him, find rest for your souls. Find guidance.
for your life. I find joy unspeakable that will last for all eternity. Let's pray. Lord, you are to be feared. And when we dismiss that fear and pretend that we are wise enough or virtuous enough to live life.
According to our own judgment, what fools we are. But you have spoken truth to us from your word this morning.
Now give us the grace to listen to that truth and to believe that truth and to persist in that truth. that our souls indeed might find rest in you. I pray in the precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Right.
