And the rest of us please, back to the book of Ecclesiastes chapter nine. Ecclesiastes chapter nine. When COP26 was going on in Glasgow, praise God that disruption is done now and Glasgow's getting back to normal. But I saw an interesting article and I think I was not that interested in many of the articles that were posted about that time. But this one did interest me about a little village, Kavalina. an Alaskan village that used to be protected by a wall of sea ice. So you can understand that climate change or whatever that is, global warming, whatever that is, or the fact that the temperature has changed dramatically in that area has deeply impacted this village of Kavalina, where that sea ice used to protect them. For the last two decades, it's not formed. And because of that, the sea, the aggressor there, is eroding the shores around that village. And the man that I saw being interviewed said, my house used to be there. And where he was pointing was to where the waves were breaking that shoreline and just taking away that village. The US Army Corps of Engineers built a defensive wall along the beach in 2008 But it was never more than a stopgap measure, it said. A ferocious storm two years ago forced residents into an emergency evacuation. And it says, now the engineers predict Kivalina will be uninhabitable by 2025. It's very sad, this village has a great adversary. The adversary is the Bering Sea. There's nothing they can do to defeat that adversary unless somebody has the wisdom to design something that will protect that village from that great adversary. Without that, her people will be displaced and that village will be destroyed. In Ecclesiastes chapter nine, we've got another village that has a great adversary and it's in great danger. We've already read it, but let's read it again. And so it says in verse 13, this wisdom have I also seen under the sun and it seemed great unto me. There was a little city and few men within it and there came a great king against it and besieged it and built great bulwarks against it. Now there was found in it a poor, wise man. And he, by his wisdom, delivered the city. Yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then said I, wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless, the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. The words of wise men are heard and quiet, more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroyeth much good. Okay, the city was delivered by wisdom. Solomon observed that and it was striking to him. It says in verse 13, this wisdom have I also seen or seen also under the sun and it seemed great unto me. This is something I looked at with interest and I learned something from it. Tonight in our study of Proverbs, we have a a proverb in chapter 24 that says, then I saw and considered it well, I looked upon it and received instruction. And it's about observation that, you know, we'll talk about this tonight. I wanna get into tonight's, this morning, but I mean, that is an important thing, isn't it? To look at something and to learn from it. And Solomon looked at this little village that was protected by this old, you know, this not old, but poor wise man, and how God deliberately thought, there is something that I need to think about. You know, that little city in our text can represent many things to us this morning. It can represent ourselves, our family, our children. Our church. I mean, there's so many things that we can think about that city. That could be, you know, this different things and then our life. And I want to have a primary focus on that this morning as we think about wisdom. Kind of like what John Bunyan wrote when he wrote the Holy War. He wrote about the city of Mansoul. And it's a descriptive idea that that city of Mansoul is a person, it's their life. the enemy is attacking, that Christ is the deliverer. And there's some wonderful pictures there. And I want us to think about us and our life as being that city that without wisdom will be taken. And so my message this morning is you must have wisdom or your city will be taken. It's vital to us that we have wisdom. Not everybody has wisdom. So we have to ask ourselves, do I have wisdom? What is wisdom? We talked a lot about wisdom in our study of Proverbs. And you know, not everybody has been delivered. And so we'd have to ask the question, have you been delivered? We understand, praise God, what that deliverance is, salvation by grace through faith in Christ and the person of wisdom. And so may the spirit of God bless as we come to the word of God and help us. And so let's pray to that end and ask God to enable this time to be a profitable time. Father, we thank you for the grace that you give. Thank you for Ecclesiastes chapter nine, and for this little story that's tucked into this book of wisdom. And Father, I pray that we'd observe it with Solomon, the wisest man. He looked at it and thought, you know, that's worth noting. And I pray that we'd consider it well. And spirit of God that we take something away from this service today that would stick with us for life, that this is a life principle. You must have wisdom or your city will be destroyed. And so I pray, God, give us ears to hear. I pray, Father, give me lips to speak. Help us both in taking in the truth as well as, Father, as I express the truth to us from the word of God, may the spirit of God guide me. Father, I pray that I preach lovingly. I pray I preach biblically. I pray I preach practically. And I pray that I preach powerfully the truth of the word of God. And we thank you for our time together just now. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, so Ecclesiastes chapter nine, without wisdom, your city will be destroyed. It's the first thing we want to consider here. So the great king of this world is seeking to destroy your city. He's actively seeking to destroy your city. It says in verse 13, this wisdom have I also seen under the sun. It seemed great unto me. There was a little city and few men within it. And there came a great king against it and besieged it and built great bulwarks against it. As we set that picture up, if we were to vote today and say, what do you think? Is the city going to stand or is the city going to fall? I think all of us would be on the side, you know, it sure seems like that city could not stand against those odds. You know, a few men in it, you know, and the great king is on the outside and the bulwarks all set up there. And so if we were to vote on that, we'd say, you know, that city is definitely going to fall. There's a city in Israel that sat up on top of a plateau. It's called Masada. It's a fortified city. It's a very beautiful place. And one of the stunning places that I got to go in 2017 when I was in Israel, you take a cable car up a mountainside. Some 750,000 people do that. every year to go up to where King Herod built two palaces up there on that rocky plateau. It seemed impregnable, it seemed like you could hold this no matter what the odds were against you. Well, that was tested in AD, I think about 70, 71, somewhere in there, when 15,000 Roman troops built a siege wall and a ramp up to that place there, Masada. Only 960 Jewish men, women, and children were in that city defending it. And amazingly, they kept that place in that position for quite a while, but eventually they breached the wall, they got in there. According to Josephus, the story is that they all decided on the inside they're gonna kill themselves before the enemy got in. that they did that, and that only two women and five children were found alive in the city of Masada once the enemy came in. You know, those odds, 15,000 against 960, even with that great fortress that they had, we just understand it's unlikely that anybody could succeed against those kind of odds. You know, the great adversary is laying siege to our city, and the truth is that we are no match for him. The Bible says that believers face this adversary. When Peter 5.8 says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Our family has had some downtime this past week. We're watching some hunting shows, and we saw them hunting in Africa, hunting lions. As you see him approaching that male lion, the guy's got the gun up, and he's noticeably nervous as he's doing this hunt, and that lion's tail starts to twitch. And you can tell that that lion is just about ready to pounce and come at that. And it's gotta be a very scary thing to be facing a lion, even though that man had a weapon, that weapon was trained on him. There's great danger there if there's a lion there. The Bible says about Satan that he is the great adversary that is that roaring lion. 2 Corinthians 2 11 says, lest Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices. That Satan is actively seeking to lay those snares and those traps against God's people and that he's gonna seek to have his way against our city. You know, the Lord said to Peter in Luke 22 verse 31, The Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desire to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. Here he is, one of the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Savior looks at him and says, Satan has a plan against you. Peter didn't recognize that, Peter didn't see that, but Satan was actively seeking to take down the city, if you could say, of Peter's life and seeking to attack him and praise God. Jesus said, but I prayed for you, Peter, that your faith fail not. And by God's grace, Jesus brings him through that. But the truth is, believers face this adversary. So we know today that Satan is seeking to actively destroy us and our families. But we understand too that unbelievers face this adversary. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4. It says, Our desire is to be bearers of the gospel light. We talked about that last Sunday, but as we do that, there's an adversary that is blinding the eye spiritually of those people And he's seeking to ensnare them, their city, and to take down their city by his adversarial work against them. Revelation 12 verse nine. It says, and the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil, and Satan, which deceived the whole world, he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. Satan is a deceiver that is seeking to lead people into sin. You think about the sin that's out there, drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, pornography, fornication, anger, bitterness, unbelief, rebellion, jealousy, and we could have a long list of things that are vices that are in people's lives and they are strong, they are hard to break, because there is a great adversary that has laid siege against that city. If somebody's not saved, then they're completely ignorant of that. Today, there's not people walking around in our area understanding that their city is under siege, not worried about the fact that they're defeated, or not even maybe recognizing the fact that they are defeated. We got things in our day. like paganism, Scientology, witchcraft, atheism, evolution. And these things, you know, there's people, you could say good people that just look at those things and say, they're not bothered by that. They're not scared that they're an atheist. They're not scared that they're into witchcraft. They're not scared that paganism is in their life, but it's the bulwark of the devil laying siege to their city. It has already breached the wall of their city and they don't even sense that that has taken a place. 2 Corinthians 11, 14 says, and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. A lot of people that are involved in things that they think are fine, idolatry, or again, those witchcraft and paganism things, and they think, they don't see it. In fact, they see it as being admirable. They see it as being something that's good, and they don't realize that Satan as an angel of light has deceived them. 2 Thessalonians speaks about the deception in our day of the last days in which we're living. It says, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all powers and signs and lying wonders. In our day, it could very well happen that the antichrist is going to come on the scene. Again, he's laying siege to this world. He's laying siege to the individuals that are in this world. And they don't even maybe recognize that this battle is taking place because the deception is so strong. 2 Timothy 3.13 says, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. So we know this, that as we get into these last days, and as we're in these last days, that there's gonna be a great deception as Satan infiltrates and defeats these people in their lives. Matthew 24, 24 says about it, there shall arise false Christs and false prophets. Wow. Satan is a great adversary. We need to understand that this great king is coming against us. And so we stop and reflect that without wisdom, Our city will be taken because the adversary is great. And as we think about wisdom, wisdom is often cloaked in humble garments. It's often cloaked in humble garments. Look at verse 15. It says, now there was found in it a poor wise man and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Now the man was there, the deliverer was there, the savior was there, he was present. But you look at the man and you never think it. Nobody pre-trouble and pre-this man doing anything saw anything about this man and thought, ah, here's the answer. He was garbed in humility. He was just a poor, wise man, but he was there and he was present. You know, if I asked us this morning, is there a man clothed in humility that can deliver our city? The answer is yes. And I want to consider the humility of our Savior. And as we see him in the word of God, he was clothed in garments like an infant swaddled in a manger around cattle. The Bible says in Luke 2, verse 12, And suddenly there was with the angel multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, And it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherd said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. When they had seen it, they may have known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior. And the shepherds, think of the humility of that, the manger, the stable, the cattle. and the garment that the Lord was in. Nobody would look at that and say, hey, there's the savior of the world, but he was there, the deliverer was there in that infant child. Humble garments like the robe of a little boy, the son of Joseph the carpenter. Matthew 13, 55, in his adulthood, they said this about Jesus in Nazareth. Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary and his brethren, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? Even Jesus comes back in adulthood and they still see him as a little boy that grew up in that area, in his little robes of work as he worked with his stepdad, Joseph, and he's a son of Mary, but they didn't look at that man clothed in humility as the answer, and yet he was. Robes like that which adorned the despised itinerant preacher of Nazareth. Luke 9, 58. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. He wasn't, he was sleeping outside many times and not having proper, you know, place of dwelling for himself. Luke 7, 34, Jesus said to the religious leaders, the son of man has come eating and drinking. And you say, behold, a gluttonous man and a wine bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. Again, the humility of Christ that they saw him around these people and we understand that he changed the lives of those publicans and sinners because they looked at him and saw the wisdom that he possessed. Isaiah 53, three, he is despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Again, as we think about the humility with which the Lord was clothed, they looked at him and they despised him. He was clothed in humility like discarded garments that were stripped off of the crucified Jesus. Luke 23, 32 says, there were also two other malefactors led with him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him and the malefactors, one in the right hand, the other on the left, then said, Jesus, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiments and cast lots. Again, as they saw the man on the cross, they didn't think that's the man that can deliver our city. They didn't see anything, though the Lord, in his humility, had his garments stripped from him, and they gambled for them. Bloodied garments, like those folded in the garden tomb. Luke 24 verse 6 says, He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered His words and returned from the sepulcher and told all these things unto the eleven and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales and they believed them not. Then arose Peter and ran into the sepulcher and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves and departing, wondering himself at that which was come to pass. You know, are you able to recognize the wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, as our world is looking at their life, they don't see the danger, they don't see the adversary that's laid siege to their city, and they certainly don't recognize the man that's there, and yet I wonder, are they willing to sit at the feet of that poor wise man? to come to him and open a Bible, you know, and begin to go through those pages. Maybe they've sought help elsewhere. Maybe they're understanding that city's under siege and they're trying to find help and they've sought all these different glamorous type things, but just to open up the Bible and say, show me the poor wise man, humble enough to confess their sin, to receive Jesus and be baptized, to listen to that wise man say, you need to get saved. You need to follow the Lord and believers baptism. You need to join with a good local church. Humble enough to then tell others about the poor man that has the great wisdom and say, he answered the need of my life and he set my city free and he's able to meet your needs as well. Humble enough to listen to Jesus. Isaiah 53 verse two says, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Wisdom is often cloaked in humility. I mean, we understand today that the Son of Man is there, that the Savior is present. And for us as well, that we recognize, you know what? Jesus is the answer for our city. And so as we consider that, wisdom should have been a first resort. Wisdom should have been the principle thing that they had established already in that city. It should have been the first resort, but it says in verse 15, now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. The city's under siege, they begin to recognize, oh, we got a problem, and they begin to seek after an answer, and they must have sought very diligently for an answer. And in this crisis, praise God, they found a man that could set their city free, the poor wise man. But as you think about the story, they should have found wisdom before the hour of crisis. Right? They should have recognized this man and his talents and his ability that he was a savior, that he was deliverer. They should have found it before. Yet, praise God, again, they found it, but it's better to find wisdom before the crisis. It's better to find wisdom before things get so bad that there is a desperate search, I've got to find wisdom. There are things in life that are principle things, things that have first place. If somebody's going diving, to a diver, the principle thing is oxygen, right? You got to check the oxygen level in that tank. The last thing you want to do is dive and, oh, I forgot to check the oxygen. A parachutist doesn't jump without checking his parachute, right? He's going to make sure it's packed just right. He's going to make sure he's got his strap done before he jumps out of that plane, because it's a principal thing. A soldier doesn't go to battle without examining his weapons. They teach him to break down their weapons, clean their weapons, so that they're ready, because that's a principle thing in battle. If the principle things are not done, what happens? Your life is in peril, right? So I mean, you got to think ahead and think, well, I don't want to get to a place where I'm jumping out of a plane without a chute. I don't want to get into battle without my weapons. So I put that principle thing in so that when I face that peril, I'm ready. The Bible says about wisdom, it says in Proverbs 4, 7, wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom. And with all that getting, get understanding, put wisdom in first. I understand this morning that I'm preaching to save people as far as I know, but the first thing somebody needs is to get saved. The first thing somebody needs is to find Jesus Christ as their personal savior. 1 John 5, 4 says, for whatsoever is born of God, overcome at the world. Okay, we're talking about victory. We're talking about your city being established. He that is born of God, saved, overcome at the world, praise God. That's where the victory begins for somebody is in salvation. And this is the victory that overcome at the world, even our faith. Wisdom is trusting God, just staying there, resting in God. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 57 says, but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. For us as believers, where's our city going to stand? It's going to stand as we keep our feet anchored on Jesus, as we let wisdom have its way. Wisdom sets us free from the enemy's power. In Acts 26 verse 18, Jesus said to Paul, I'm going to send you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." Paul, I'm gonna send you those people that are under siege by Satan. I'm gonna show them through you that Satan's power can be defeated through Christ. that he is the answer to the need of their city. Now, praise God, when somebody comes to the end of their rope, they might be addicted to something, or facing a divorce, or some crisis in their life that's horrible, praise God if they come to Christ at that point, but wouldn't it have been better not to go there? It would have been better in their youth, or as in young adulthood, or as early as possible to say, you know what, the first thing is, I need Jesus Christ, I need wisdom. The poor man should have been found long before the enemy laid siege. Make wisdom your first resort. And then the fourth thing that we can consider about our story this morning is that wisdom is easily forgotten when it seems like the calamity has passed. Wisdom can easily be set aside when it seems like, okay, everything's fine now, you know, things are going well now, the enemy's kind of gone, and so we can just forget about wisdom. You know the cup bearer for Pharaoh, when he found himself in prison with the baker, you got the story there with Joseph in the prison and you've got the cup bearer and the baker that were put into prison. He found wisdom in Joseph. He was imprisoned and his life was in jeopardy and he had a great need and Joseph would help him. Genesis 40 verse nine. Says the chief butler told the dream to Joseph and said to him, in my dream, behold a vine was before me. And in the vine were three branches and it was as though it budded and her blossoms shot forth and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes. And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand. I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. And Joseph said unto him, this is the interpretation of it, the three branches are three days, yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head and restore thee unto thy place, and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand after the former manner when thou wast his butler. But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house. Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph but forget him. And so his life is in crisis. He needs help. Joseph comes along. God uses Joseph to express the dream to him that it's all gonna be okay. He's gonna get out of that place. And Joseph was wisdom to this man. This man should have gotten out of that place of danger and desired Joseph's comfort, right? I wanna exalt Joseph. I wanna bring Joseph out. He should have spoken to Pharaoh in Joseph's behalf and stood up for Joseph. but he no longer valued Joseph because the crisis was past. Later he's gonna feel bad about that, that he forgot about Joseph, but because the crisis wasn't there anymore, everything's okay, he forgot about Joseph. There's a problem. for those who only turn to God in a pinch. And that is that when the problem's gone, they quickly forget God. Ecclesiastes 5 verse 4 says, when thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it, for he hath no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. In a time of crisis, it's easy to say, God, you get me out of this, I'll do whatever, and people say that, and they go to the poor man, and they exalt him at that point, take his wisdom, get delivered, and then very quickly, forget him. It's an easy thing to vow to God and say, God, I'm gonna live for you, I'm gonna be faithful, I'm gonna get back at it. But then the crisis has passed, and wisdom is forgotten. You know, Moses warned Israel about this when they came into the promised land. In verse 10 he says, Deuteronomy 6, it shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities which thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things which thou fillest not, and wells digged which thou diggest not, and vineyards and olive trees which thou plantest not. When thou should have eaten and be full, then beware, lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. You know, in the trial and testing, oftentimes that brought them back to God, brought them back to God. But when you get into the place where you got your house, you got your land, the enemies are all gone. Remember this, there's a God that has blessed you with all this. and stay close to God in that time. And so the warning to us this morning, we need wisdom to live our city, but wisdom can be easily forgotten when the calamity is past. And so what do we do about that? Well, wisdom ought to be given control over the city. Wisdom ought to be exalted in that city and given first place in that city. It says in verse 16, then said I, Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless, the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. They should have stopped and looked at this man and said, you know what guys, that guy helped us out. We're in an incredible crisis. It looked like there was no way out. The enemy had us surrounded. The enemy was great. And this man, by whatever he said, somehow, somehow, he delivered us. Do you know what? This other mayor, he hasn't done that well. Let's take the poor man, let's put him in that place because he will help us every single time we face a crisis like that. He's gonna get us out of that. Let's bring him up to a position of lordship over the city. But they discarded him. The only way for us to have wisdom in our lives as a principal thing is to exalt wisdom to the position of Lord. God has to be the mayor over our city. It's what Jenny Husey said in her hymn. She said, king of my life, I crown thee now. "'Thine shall the glory be. "'Lest I forget thy thorn-crowned brow, "'lead me to Calvary.'" It's us saying to God, God, you've got first place, and you've shown me what you could do. You've taught me salvation, sanctification, guidance, and grace, and strength, and wisdom. God, you've got first place. I'm not Lord of my life, I'm deposing him. God, you are Lord of my life. Romans 12 one says, I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And the truth is this today, if my life is in that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, then I'm rock solid on God. And guess what? My city will stand. There is strength in that, but that strength comes through surrender to God and saying, God, you've got everything. I'm going to put you on the throne of my life and you've got a first place. You know, there's going to be other people that might look at us and say, you're a fool to put the Lord over your life when it comes to your city. 1 Peter 4 says this, In verse one, for as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind, for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excess of wines, reveling, banquetings, and abominable idolatries." And it lists all these things that the cities under siege are defeated by by Satan, right? That was you, Paul says, before you got saved. But now that you're saved, wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you. They look at your city and say, your city, you're not having any fun, you're not having any parties, you're not having this revelry. The Lord's in control of your city. They mock that, but guess what? Their city's destroyed. Their city's defeated. And your city, by the grace of God, if wisdom is the principal thing there, your city is going to stand. And so wisdom, for wisdom to maintain our city, wisdom has to be given first place in our city. And then we find as well that wisdom must be sought away from the noise of foolishness. Wisdom must be sought away from the noise of foolishness. Verse 17 says, the words of wise men are heard in quiet more than him that ruleth among fools. There'll be times where we're out and about, we get a phone call, and you'll say, I'm sorry, I can't hear you, right? I've got to go find a quiet place. And you get away to somewhere, away from the loudspeakers, away from the noise and the hustle and bustle, and you get on that phone and you say, okay, now I can hear you. Go ahead and say what you need to say, because you've got to hear it in a place of quietness. You know, everybody today can hear the noise of folly. Think about how noisy our world is. The government is putting its legislative powers behind it. Woke and atheism and the attack against marriage and the abortion regulations and things, it's pumping out loudly its ideas. Advertising is getting behind it. We've got buses that are in the rainbow colors and other things like that are just promoting what the world is all about. The news is shouting it out to the point where people are afraid to speak about it. Benson shared a story of somebody just saying what we would say about manliness and men and women. And you think, hey, that's great that somebody that's not a believer thinks like that. But the thing is, a lot of people are intimidated to speak up. Because the voice of the world is so loud against those that would stand up, they're scared to say anything because that noise is so great. Our schools are indoctrinating our children in it. We've got transgender guidance being put out into the schools this year. You've seen maybe some of that on the news. Again, it's very loud saying this is the way and this is the truth. And so what? Somebody that needs to hear God needs to get to a quiet place, a place where they can listen. James 3.17 says, but the wisdom that's from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. For us to get away from that and to listen to God, you know it's gonna be a quiet place in an open Bible. It's gonna be sitting in the house of God and taking in the truth of God away from the world, away from the hustle and bustle. One of the great things about Christian camp, and I wish that we could do more as far as Christian camp for our church, is that you get isolated away from the world in a place that you could listen to God and hear from God, because why, the world is just pumping it out so loudly. Could be a meek savior that speaks in a still, small voice in a place of prayer. In that quiet time with God, just seeking God and saying, you know what, I wanna hear from heaven today, and I want to listen to wisdom. The Handel's Messiah is playing at Usher Hall. Pastor Dillman, every year, he'll be speaking about it. Their church does it as an annual pilgrimage to go and listen to Handel's Messiah, and that's a great thing. But you know, Usher Hall has many other things taking place. Many wicked things, and so they got good things, they got wicked things. You gotta decide what audience am I gonna be a part of that I'm gonna sit and what am I gonna listen to? It's the same with us today, isn't it? We've got to decide to turn off the telly and get in the word of God. We got to decide to tune down the world and say, I'm going to tune in to Christ. Why? Because I want to listen to wisdom. Wisdom is heard and quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. Got to get to that quiet place to hear wisdom. But then lastly, this morning, the presence or absence of wisdom determines whether your city will stand or whether your city will fall. It says here in our last verse, it says, wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. Wisdom is better than weapons of war. I'll say this about life. There are some great weapons that we have to protect our city, to protect our family, to protect what Satan desires to do against us. There's some great weapons that are just practical weapons. A moral home is a great thing. A loving home. where children's needs are being met, a committed marriage. I mean, an unbeliever could have that in their home. They could have that commitment, that strength in their family that's there. A good education and instruction for the children so that children are growing up, they're learning to seek employment and get into employment. And that's, again, a great weapon of war for that life. A foundation in God's word. and a knowledge of God. Again, I'm just speaking morally, not knowing God in a personal way through Jesus Christ and salvation. but knowing about God and believing in God and understanding the Bible is the word of God. Those are great things, but those things of themselves are not great. Wisdom is great. Wisdom is knowing the Savior. Why? Because one sinner destroyeth much good. And the fact is all have sinned, right? We know Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That city is gonna be destroyed by that sin and that sinner without what? Grace. without Christ and without salvation. 1 John 5 verse 12 says, He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Praise God, if we've got wisdom, if we've got Christ, our city is protected. Cavalina is a city that I wouldn't wanna live there. They've got a great adversary. If they don't have somebody that's wise to do something in that village there in Alaska, by 2025, just three years, that city's gonna be destroyed. There's people today that may not have till 2025, right? Their city is being attacked and we need to recognize the adversary that's against us today. Praise God, greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world. But the fact is, Satan is seeking to destroy our city. But wisdom is to be found in humility, right? Our Savior. Wisdom should be a first resort. Wisdom should not be forgotten. When calamity has passed, we might have it pretty well as a believer. Things might be going pretty well, but to maintain that close walk with God. to give wisdom control over our city. It might be us today saying, all right, Lord, king of my life, I crown thee now. I've deposed you. I'm gonna depose myself and put you back in that position of first place. We gotta seek wisdom in quiet places. And if we have wisdom, our city will stand. Without it, our city will fall. And so may God help us to learn a lesson. I read this in our devotions. You might have remembered it if you saw it in our study of Ecclesiastes. But I read that and I thought, that's interesting. Solomon looked at that and said, you know, I had to make a note of that. And so it's good for us to consider what wisdom could do for our city. Let's pray. Father, I praise you for the grace that you give. And Father, we know that Satan is a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour. And Father, I pray that we would get wisdom if there's somebody that listens to this message and thinks, you know, I don't have wisdom. Father, maybe they despise the poor old man. They've looked at the scripture, they've looked at church, they've looked at the cross and what the Savior has done, and they despised it. Father, I pray that they'd understand their city is under siege, their city is being destroyed, that their city's gonna fall. And Father, I pray in your mercy that the city would be spared by them accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior. But Father, those of us that are saved, the calamity has passed. We're not going to go to hell. But Father, I pray that wisdom would be given the position of authority over our city. And Father, that we'd exalt Jesus Christ And Father, I pray that you'd have first place in our life. And so Father, bless us with this lesson. May the Spirit of God anchor it to our hearts and minds. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Let's stand please, we'll sing our final hymn this morning.