[606th edition] October 8th, 2011 Cyber Fellowship Sermon (October 13, 2011)

Proverbs chapter 1 verse 22 “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scoring, and fools hate knowledge.”

Whenever I read the Bible, there are so many stories concerning wisdom recorded; especially in the book of Proverbs. “Wisdom calls aloud outside; she raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gates in the city she speaks her words: “Wisdom and imprudence, wisdom and arrogance and wisdom and foolishness; such things exist. However, where imprudence exists, wisdom cannot, and one who is wise cannot be imprudent. Wisdom cannot dwell among arrogance, and one who is wise cannot become arrogant. Only for people who do not possess wisdom is it possible to become imprudent, foolish or arrogant. Nevertheless, when one does possess wisdom, that person cannot turn imprudent, arrogant nor become foolish. In the bible, a story of an ostrich is recorded. After an ostrich lays its egg, it has no time to think about its egg. It does not wonder whether its egg will be crushed, explode or be eaten, and just flees acting as if the egg does not belong to it. There is a saying that when an ostrich runs, it thinks lightly of even a rider and his horse. The ostrich runs quickly and busily, however since it lacks wisdom it cannot even think about its own egg. The same is for us; when we do not possess wisdom, our ability to think dies. That is why it is not our thoughts that accomplish anything, but we are just led by the thoughts Satan inserts into us and face destruction. As we live our life, wisdom continues to call us aloud from outside while raising her voice in the open squares. Wisdom cries towards us out in the chief concourses and at the opening of the gates of the city. When we arrive at the point where we realize that we had believed in ourselves and that like the prodigal son we had completely failed, go to the pig pen and starve and stand right before death; that is when you will think, “Ah, I was truly a fool. I was imprudent. I was foolish. How was i so foolish?” You will not think of foolish, imprudent, and arrogant thoughts but will think in such a way. So as wisdom enters you, it liberates you from your imprudence, arrogance and foolishness. As wisdom enters inside of you, it allows you to contemplate and think, “Ah I was so foolish to believe in myself. It was so imprudent of me to do so.” This allows you to have faith in God and advance forward into the world of faith.

Now that I am saved, when I think about the time when I wasn’t saved, I was truly evil, filthy, and foolish. However, I still thought that I was doing well, was smart and was a good person. Though I was not doing well, was not smart and was not a good person, I still believed myself to be so. I possessed no wisdom to find out about myself, but as the wisdom of God entered within me, it helped me to be free from this conflict. I realized that it was the grace of God that had been bestowed upon me. God declared that when he called us we did not wish to heed his words, and when he opened his hand towards us there were none who looked back. Also, we despised his statutes and did not receive his chastisement. However, the thankful thing is that he still allowed for wisdom to call us from the open squares and from outside. One day when we have failed and have been broken down, his wisdom will enter us and that is when we can become free from our imprudence and can realize about this amazing Lord. We can then receive his grace as well. Through our thoughts it cannot be reached, however if the Lord bestows his grace upon us then it can be done. Forty nine years have passed since I received salvation. Whenever I think back to that time, it was not me who realized but, “Ah, Jesus’ wisdom spoke to me. I received the wisdom of Jesus and was able to receive his grace as well.” After realizing that, I cannot explain how thankful I was. Even today, people with no wisdom are trapped within imprudence, foolishness and arrogance. They are not realizing this fact. We can see that someone who is truly wise receives the word and dwells inside the wisdom of God.