Godly Wisdom

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, March 14th. Today we start a week-long series titled Walking Wisely. We set the foundation by helping you build your life on godly wisdom. There are only two ways to walk in this life, and that is to walk wisely or to walk unwisely. If you choose to walk wisely in this life, you can expect contentment. You can expect courage. You can expect confidence in your life.

You can expect peace and progress. And above all else, you can anticipate God's presence and power and His wonderful, marvelous approval of your life. Well, I want you to turn, if you will, to Ephesians chapter five. And I want us to look at this particular passage that has to do with God's challenge to us to walk wisely. And in this fifth chapter of Ephesians, beginning in verse fifteen, here's what he says. On the basis of his admonitions to us before, he says, Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

And Paul is simply saying to us this. He says on the basis of the kind of world in which we live, he says, Therefore, be careful how you walk. Be careful how you live is what he's saying. That is, be sensitive to what's going on around you. Be alert to what's happening.

We have three enemies, the world system, the flesh, and the devil. He says be careful how you walk. Not only that, he says, making the most of your time, that is, taking advantage of every opportunity that you and I have. If we walk wisely, we will take advantage of opportunity. If we walk wisely, we will not squander our time, our resources, our finances, our relationships. We will be sensitive. We will watch out what's going on around us.

We will be alert. We will be on guard, lest somehow Satan trip us up. Then he says, So then, do not be foolish.

Don't walk unwisely. But he says, understand what the will of the Lord is. What's the will of the Lord? The will of the Lord is that you and I would walk wisely. In all of that, we may become the persons God wants us to be, do the things God wants us to do, and that you and I would enjoy all the benefits that God has for us.

Now, let me just say this, wisdom is that capacity to be able to look at a circumstance and see it beyond what appears on the surface. Therefore, if you and I are going to be wise persons, then we must be able and must be willing to look at things from God's perspective. We must look at them from His framework, the way He sees things.

Oftentimes, we make decisions and don't know all the circumstances that are involved. But walking wisely says that you and I have a relationship with Almighty God who is all wise. He sees the big picture.

He sees things in relationship, too. So when He says, be careful how you walk now. He says, walk wisely, not as unwise men, but as wise men. So what He's talking about, simply this, the very foundation of all wisdom, it begins with a personal reverence for Almighty God, which means this. If I'm going to be wise, I must understand who God is, and on the basis of understanding who God is, surrender my will and my way to this sovereign God, who in all His wisdom has only chosen, will only choose the best way always in every circumstance.

So when somebody says, are you a wise person? You ask yourself the question, am I living in submission to God? Do I know God? Do I know His Son, Jesus Christ? Do I want His will?

Am I searching for His will? Let me say this. You cannot be a wise person and abandon God for your life.

You may tell me all about how knowledgeable you are and how many degrees you have and all the accomplishments, all the achievement, all the recognition, all the notoriety, all the fame and the fortune. And I want to tell you, my friend, without God, you're still playing the fool's game. Because apart from God, He says, listen, the beginning of wisdom is reverence for God.

You may impress the world and you may seemingly get along for a season of time. But I want to show you that the world's way and the world's wisdom is not acceptable in God's eyes. It's not sufficient.

It's going to prove disappointing. And ultimately, if you ignore God, abandon Him in your life and try to live apart from Him, you're going to end up facing Him one of these days in all eternity, having played the fool. So spiritual wisdom is that gift that God gives to those who reverence Him, commit themselves to walking in obedience to Him as the sovereign of the universe, submitted to, committed to, yielded to and walking in His will as a way of life. That's what a wise person is. Now, knowledge is something that comes from study. Knowledge is of God. For example, if God didn't pull back the curtains, you and I couldn't understand a lot of things that are happening in the world.

And we couldn't understand things that we have to do and how to go about them. All knowledge is a gift of God. But knowledge and wisdom are not the same. Go back, if you will, to Proverbs for a moment and look, if you will, in this fourth chapter and notice what he says. He clarifies it and oftentimes you'll see the difference, the distinction between knowledge and wisdom and sometimes they're very close in the Proverbs. He says in the fourth chapter, he says, acquire wisdom, exclamation point, acquire understanding or knowledge.

And so they are not the same. And so oftentimes a person has the idea that because they are very knowledgeable, lots of experience, that they're wise. There are many people who are extremely knowledgeable who are not wise at all. You see, a wise person not only has understanding and knowledge, but a wise person knows how to use the knowledge that they have and the understanding that they have.

They know how to do it. A person can be very knowledgeable, but not know how to use the knowledge that they have and the process of not being wise. There is confusion and that confusion is going to lead to disappointment and despair in their life because they unwisely use the things that God has given them, their opportunities, their wealth, and the privileges God has afforded them. You can have a lot of head sense, but what about my heart? What's the condition of my heart?

What's my attitude about life? Do I have perception? Do I have understanding? Can I listen to someone and hear more than one message and more than two messages? Can I listen to someone, sit down before someone and hear the message that comes from their lips? Can I hear the message that comes from their eyes? Can I hear the message that comes from the way they handle their body sitting there? Can I discern from them what they do not say?

Do I hear what they're not saying as well as what they're saying? Do I see beyond what I see? Do I hear beyond what my physical is here you see knowledge is not enough. God grants wisdom to those who desire wisdom with certain absolute irrevocable requirements in order to become wise and So you can have knowledge without wisdom, but a wise person Utilizes their knowledge to their greatest advantage.

I want you to go back to James for just a moment. Let's look at that third chapter again, because we're talking about the distinction between worldly wisdom and godly wisdom God's wisdom now look at this We said we have three enemies primarily the world system in which we live the flesh that is our naturalist and the devil Isn't it interesting what James says here? He says now who among us wise and understanding let him show by his good behaviors deeds the gentleness of his wisdom He says now if your life's characterized by bitterness Jealousy selfish ambition in your heart. He's don't be arrogant and so lie against the truth This wisdom it's not from above Listen treating people the wrong way. It's not that's not wise He says that didn't come down from above. It's earthy.

It's natural. It's demonic now look at this for a moment he says man's human wisdom is is earthy it Is natural and it's demonic now. What does he mean by that? Simply this that man's wisdom is limited.

How is it limited? it's limited to what earthly man can conceive of and Understand all the wisdom that man has within himself apart from God is what man in his fallen Sinful blinded nature can come up with that is man at his best is not wise Why because he has the sinful nature? His sinful nature governs his life. And so he says the wisdom of the world is earthly.

It's limited Not heavenly. It's natural people do what comes naturally and that is not what's wise but what comes naturally Why because our naturalness seeks to satisfy gratify reach out do whatever is necessary to get our own happiness our own Gratification our own satisfaction. That's the natural way to live.

Why not? The world says you don't have but one life you get one life in this you better get all you can get why you can Step on whoever you can whatever is necessary. Just get it get it get it do do do because life's gonna be open It's gonna be all over what a foolish way to look at life He says now Three characteristics of the world's wisdom.

It's very limited. It's earthy. Nothing heavenly about it's not spiritual It's on the basis of man's fallen nature That's all the capacity he has and now that he says it's demonic Listen to that. The world's wisdom is demonic Or does that mean we'll go back to the Garden of Eden and what happened? What did Satan say to eat? He said you want to be like God You want to have the knowledge God's got? Here's the best way you take a bite of this and And you won't surely die. I mean, I you know what God said you won't surely die Just take a bite of this have a bite You'll be like God knowing good from evil Well, would you say that Eve made a wise decision?

Absolutely not You know what? She did she decided to believe a liar rather than God and the consequences of Eve's sin has been Dumped on every single one of us because all of us came into this world with a sinful nature of which God had to deal With in our life until he could give us a new spirit and a new sense of victory in our life over sin Now you think about this for a moment The world is going to live with wisdom that is characterized by limited to what man and his earthly limitations can do with his fallen nature, which is an opposition rebellion toward God and it's demonic in its source by its very nature So think about this When you and I choose to live unwisely Out of the will of God doing our own thing our own way. Here's what we've said. I Choose to live by the wisdom of the earthly by my naturalness and that which is demonic You say oh no, no, no, I wouldn't say that. You don't have to say that's what we're doing when we choose listen because Wisdom begins with reverence for God as the sovereign of this universe. I heal myself to him. I commit myself to him I want to walk in his ways Whenever I choose and whenever you choose to have it your way in rebellion against God in difference to God Doing it some of the way then God's way.

What we've said is I prefer the earthly I prefer the natural I prefer the demonic way of living then my friend. What do you get you get the same thing that all sins consequences bring? Certainly not joy and peace and happiness and confidence and courage and strength Certainly not the approval of God and peace certainly not progress and prosperity in your life. You don't get any of those things but disappointment and and disillusion and Discontent and you look around you you look around at people who are living unwisely.

They're discontent They get disillusioned. There's no peace. There's no joy. There's no happiness They may live it up on the weekend or at some party somewhere But when they get by themselves and they get absolutely deadly honest about their life There's no real joy. There's no real contentment.

There's no real peace. They're looking for something You see this world is so frantically frantically frantically looking for something to satisfy That's why in the movies they have to become more and more and more and more Explosive and using all kinds of new technology They got to get worse and worse and worse and worse than the next one because it's man's futile foolish endless Search for something to satisfy the human heart and nothing can satisfy the human heart, but Almighty God himself cannot So the two kinds of wisdom no doubt about it. There's the wisdom of the world earthly natural and demonic There's the wisdom of God It says you and I have the capacity to see beyond what is seen here. What is not spoken the capacity to make Decisions that fit into God's plan and will and purpose for our lives We have the wisdom to make right choices in life the power to make right choices in life The confidence to make right choices in life those choices may be very very very unacceptable to others But if it's a God's choice, it'll be a wise choice now think about this Why should we look at the world and look for a pattern of living and this is one of the reasons of the weakness of? The churches that the churches look to the world and say yes. Yes Yes, yes when God wants the world to look at us and see such a difference that they're saying. Wait a minute.

What is this? Think about this. We look heavenly for what the Bible says our citizenship is in heaven The whole idea of being born again that didn't come from man where that come from that came from God He says that which is born from above the scripture says We think in terms as believers where our treasures and treasures are not on earth he says he says lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, but in heaven I Think about when he says this evil world think about where we look. Where is our eternal home?

It's in heaven Where's our hope it's in heaven. Why should we who are citizens of heaven? Indwelt by the God of heaven by the power of the Holy Spirit Why should we look to the unwise world for a way and a pattern to live it is absolutely foolish It doesn't fit who we are a God's purpose in our life So ask yourself this question Could somebody who knows you rather well say you're a very wise lady You're a very wise young person you're a very wise man Would they say that about you? What is it about your life that would cause someone to say you are so wise That was a very wise decision Can they say that about you?

What would be their basis of saying it? Now, let me just leave it with one last phrase I want you to remember this if you forget everything else remember this You want to live and walk wisely if you will remember this simple short brief concise question And when you come to a decision in your life ask this question, it's so simple. You cannot forget it Is this a wise decision Is this a wise decision You said that's mighty short I told you it'd be short Is this a wise decision?

As a believer, you have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of you. You know what he's going to do He's going to trigger. Yes or no, that's his business. That's his responsibility when you say is this a wise decision You see those of us who believe us we have a connection with God We have a communication that is continuous and eternal and uninterrupted When we come to a decision we can say Father is this wise And the Spirit of God will give you Wise direction wise counsel he will lead you to make the right decision Now think about this We're all going to walk one two directions All going to walk one of two ways One of them Is the right way? It is God's way. It is the best way. It is the most profitable way It is eternally profitable. It is profitable today and will be profitable for all eternity The other way is the wrong way That's satan's way That is the world's way. That's man's way without God There is no possibility There is no possibility of walking that way And enjoying these benefits Because you see wisdom in essence Is acknowledging who God is Reverencing him as the sovereign of this universe Yielding your life to him and saying father Not my will but your will be done and the simple question in every decision is father is this wise And he'll show you exactly what to do. Well now why does all that begin? first wise decision in your life Is to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior If there were any other way to get to heaven i'd be more than happy to tell you but there's not Jesus said no man comes to the father but by me There's no assurance of life after this one With God apart from a relationship with Christ And I want to invite you to make the wisest decision you'll ever make in life Second to none To accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior by confessing your sins to him And acknowledging and confessing that when he died on the cross at Calvary He paid your sin debt in full God arranged it to be so he took your place And the moment you said to him Lord, Jesus, I confess that i'm a sinner I'm asking you to forgive me of my sins and i'm trusting you as my personal savior. You will have made The most important the wisest decision you will ever make in your life and it will be the beginning of a lifetime of walking wisely With your heavenly father and enjoying the benefits of an unconditionally loving God Thank you for listening to godly wisdom if you'd like to know more about charles stanley or in touch ministries stop by intouch.org If you'd like to know more about charles stanley or in touch ministries stop by intouch.org this podcast is a presentation of in touch ministries atlanta, georgia