I. Introduction
A. Third series of four: this one oriented to our youth
B. The book of Proverbs: a book written for youth (the only one). I pray you will listen.
C. Read Proverbs 2:1-22
D. This reminds me so much of the theme of Pilgrim’s Progress: journeying through this life and making it safely to the celestial city, the place of real life: eternal life, abundant life, happy life, life the way it was meant to be, peace, security, blessedness, satisfaction and fulfillment, prosperity, joy, your real home, the real you, everything you were made to be and enjoy, what everyone ultimately wants, complete fullness, unbounded happiness.
1. Life is a quest for this celestial city, and wisdom is the map.
2. But the path through life is filled with pitfalls and detours and difficulties which you can’t even imagine. And there are counterfeit treasures and counterfeit maps. And it’s all way beyond our ability to handle.
3. That’s why we so desperately need wisdom.
E. This isn’t to be confused with what the world calls wisdom: 1Cor.1:18-29
F. Youth is a time of preparation, not a time of vacation. We need to learn wisdom while we’re young.
G. The four series fit nicely together
1. Proverbs: preparation for the journey: what you need to know and what you need to bring with you
2. Psalms: how to keep in communication with God along the way
3. Ecclesiastes: things you’re going to learn along the way: a group of weathered travelers talking about their journeys
4. Stories of Jesus: remembering Who is with you — and what He’s like — as you journey
II. The book of Proverbs stresses the value of wisdom over and over again.
A. Pr. 3:13-18 How blessed is the man who finds wisdom, & the man who gains understanding. For its profit is better than the profit of silver, & its gain than fine gold. She is more precious than jewels; And nothing you desire compares with her. Long life is in her right hand; In her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, And all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who hold her fast. Cf. 16:16.
1. Money is really big to a lot of people. But money is nothing compared to wisdom.
2. In Philippians 3:4b-11 Paul says that in comparison to the surpassing value of knowing Christ, all the best things in life are dung.
3. All the best clothes, the best cars, the best entertainment, the best friends, the best career, the best intelligence, the best talents, the best opportunities, they are all dung in comparison to the value of knowing Christ!
III. Proverbs 2:1-4: four parallel pairs
A. OPENING YOUR HEART TO WISDOM: “My son, if you will receive my sayings, And treasure my commandments within you,”
1. Welcoming God’s word, rolling out the red carpet
B. PAYING CLOSE ATTENTION TO WISDOM: “Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding;”
1. This attentiveness is not merely outward, but inward. It is an inclination of the heart.
C. CRYING OUT TO GOD FOR WISDOM: “For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding;”
1. You can't just be willing to hear it. You have to be hungry to hear it and listen to it.
D. GOING ON AN ALL-OUT SEARCH FOR WISDOM: “If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures;”
1. This desire is not merely passive. It is active and aggressive.
E. THEN... 5 you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
IV. Seeking desperately
A. What is being urged upon is us an all-out search for wisdom, a pursuit you invest your whole life in. As if you cannot live without it!
B. Do you remember when Jacob wrestled with the angel (Gen.32:22-31)? Do you remember that he would not let go until the angel blessed him? That is what we are talking about here: seeking God with such a determination that we are unwilling to take no for an answer. God often gives His blessing only to those who so know they need it that they are willing to fight for it.
C. You remember the man who found a treasure hidden in a field? He put it back in its place and he went and sold everything he owned in order that he could purchase the field and have the treasure. And you remember the story of the merchant who found a pearl of such great value that he sold everything he owned in order to purchase the pearl? (Matthew 13:44-46)
1. There are some things worth giving up everything else for. And wisdom is one.
D. There is a time for everything. There is a time to be laid back and see what happens. But there is also a time to seek after something urgently and desperately.
E. You know.
1. One time when she was almost 3 we lost my daughter Abigail at a 4th of July celebration at Great Meadows among thousands of people.
2. Now you young people are not yet parents, but I think you have some sense of how you would feel in a situation like this.
3. That was the time to look with desperation.
4. It was not the time to go and wait in the snack bar line to buy a hot dog.
5. It was not time to sit down and say she’ll probably show up eventually.
6. It was time to get up and search.
7. And if you searched for a half hour and couldn’t find her, it wouldn’t be appropriate to give up and say, “I guess we’ve lost her. We better get back to our dinner.”
8. You look and you look and you look — without giving up until you find her.
9. There is a desperation and a determination to find her, no matter how long it takes, no matter how hard it is, no matter who tries to stop you.
10. Are you going to talk to other people?
a. Well, you’re certainly not going to talk to others about yesterday’s baseball game.
b. But you would talk to others if you felt that it might help you to find her.
c. Not a time to be shy about intruding.
11. Are you going to eat anything? You are only going to eat when you become persuaded that not eating is going to hold you back from your searching for and finding her.
F. This is the kind of searching that Proverbs 2 is talking about.
1. It is an all-absorbing quest. It is completely consuming pursuit.
2. You will talk to people, but only to help you find what you are hunting for.
3. You will eat, but only to help strengthen you for your search.
G. You probably know about the movie 127 Hours, based on the true story of Aron Ralston, whose arm was trapped under a boulder in an isolated canyon in Colorado, and had to cut off his arm to save his life.
1. I once heard a similar testimony of a man who was cutting down trees alone and got his leg crushed under a tree and had to cut off his own leg with a pocket knife in order to get free, and then climb up on his loader and drive with one leg to his pickup, and get off the loader and into his pickup and drive home so that they could take him to the hospital.
2. This is exactly what Jesus taught us about how desperate we should be to get to heaven.
3. Matthew 5:30 “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” Cf.18:8-9.
4. That is the kind of determination we are talking about here.
5. But someone may say, that is a matter of saving your own life. YES! That is exactly the point. We need to see that wisdom is the way to life. Without it, we’re walking on the path to death. And this life and death is much more significant than earthly bodily life and death, which is just here for a moment and it is gone. This life and death lasts for eternity.
V. Conclusion
A. In case all this sounds too Old Testamenty to you, Jesus used this same kind of language in Luke 11:31 “The Queen of the South shall rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”
1. Solomon wrote the words of Proverbs 2 (see Proverbs 1:1).
2. There is such great wisdom in the words of Proverbs that it’s worth traveling from the ends of the earth to hear them, as the Queen of Sheba did (1Kings 10:1-13).
3. But we have something even greater than the wisdom of Solomon. We have Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the wisdom of God, the very word of God.
4. And if it is fitting to pursue the wisdom of Solomon with great earnestness, it is doubly so with the truth of Jesus.
B. This all gets down to what you really believe.
1. Do you believe that what the Lord tell us here true?
2. Do you believe that God’s truth is really what you need?
3. Do you really believe that the way of Christ is the key to your happiness?
C. You can’t seek everything in this life. You must decide what it is you are going to seek above everything else, what you are going to hold most valuable.
1. You have heard the expression, “You can bet your life on it.” Well, the fact is that every man has got to bet his life on something. You are either going to bet your life on what God says, or you will bet it on going your own way.
2. In a few years most of you will be married and starting to have children of your own. At that time, you will called upon to lead and to teach others how to live. Will you be ready?
3. Let nothing stop you from the pursuit of God’s wisdom!