Proverbs chapter 1, reading verses 1 through 7. The Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. To know wisdom and instruction. To understand words of insight. To receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity. To give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth. Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance. To understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. May God help us to hear with wisdom and walk with wisdom according to his truth. Amen. Well, there once was a young man who had a very important father. In fact, his father was a great king. And the man loved his father, but the father was getting old and there was confusion as to who was going to replace him as the next king. And the king had another son. And that other son also, he wanted to be king. And that son was not very kind to his father. He didn't really take to heart the wishes and concerns of his father. So that son, one day, as His father the king was getting old. That son one day gathered some of the leaders of the people together and he tried to drum up a lot of the people and he attempted to anoint himself as the new king. But when the real king heard of the plan, he himself then quickly gathered leaders who stayed loyal to him. And he called for an assembly of the people and then anointed and declared his other son as the new king. So now the young man was the new king. And a short while after doing this, his father did die. Now the new king wanted to do what was right, the right thing, to help lead the people and for the sake of the people. He also wanted to do the right thing for the sake of God. And God appeared to him one night and said the new king could ask whatever he wanted. And the young king said to God that the one thing he wanted above all else was wisdom. And of course, that man was Solomon. We heard a little bit of the background of his story. God indeed granted him an extra measure of wisdom beyond what he had already attained and gained through his life. God said he would add riches and security for his kingdom if he would continue to follow God. Now let's be honest and think about Solomon. He was far from perfect and yet God was faithful. God gave him that that wisdom. God also helped Solomon through that wisdom provide a secure kingdom for the people. It was Solomon and wisdom who built the temple. Solomon established the walls around the city of Jerusalem and Solomon, get this, Solomon wrote songs and he wrote poetry and he wrote something called Proverbs. In our opening verse from Proverbs 1, the Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. The Proverbs of Solomon, what we're going to read as we study this book, the Proverbs of Solomon are the primary means that he passes on the wisdom that he gained. So when you open the book of Proverbs, you're reading the answer to a prayer, aren't you? You're reading God's faithfulness. There was a lot of drama behind that, but that is what God provided to us through the book of Proverbs. It is a collection of His wise insight. And even in the brief opening we read today to the book, those first seven verses. We see already important highlights about wisdom. I know this is all things that are going to be developed and you'll learn more of them as we study this book together, but notice just already in this introduction about wisdom. There is first the nature of wisdom. There is the scope of wisdom. There is the purpose of wisdom and there is the source of wisdom. So we're going to start with the nature of wisdom but first you have to pause, we have to pause and think about just like what is this thing? What's this vehicle that wisdom is coming to us through called a proverb? And the first thing to know about a proverb is it's a type of communication. Proverbs can be written or spoken. You probably know in the ancient world, a lot of communication was spoken. In fact, what makes Proverbs effective, and by the way, they can be shorter or longer, mostly we think of them as shorter, but there's some longer addresses and lectures even in the book of Proverbs. But what makes them able to be spoken and remembered is Proverbs are memorable. And how do Proverbs become memorable for us? They have rich imagery. There's symbolism. There's even tempo and rhythm to them. So you see, that's kind of the style of Proverbs. And because they're memorable, we're able to retain the message. It shouldn't be a total surprise to us. Proverbs really aren't foreign to us. There's all kinds of Proverbs through history. Egyptians were famous for their Proverbs. But also Americans are famous for their proverbs, right? Did you know that? You're a master of proverbs. A penny saved is a, there you go, right? Some of these proverbs date us. Waste not, want not, right? What goes around, comes around. Yeah, and there's some more colorful ways to say that, but we're not gonna say that in church, right? And my favorite, I heard many times growing up, I'll give you something to cry about. You heard that one. So one of the styles, common styles, communicating proverbs that we're going to see in the Bible, and it's really true of all cultures of their proverbs, of the ancient proverbs, it's something called parallelism. Try saying that, right? Parallelism. And it just means parallels. And parallelism is when you make a statement, and when you read the Bible, statements aren't typically in verses. So parallelism is there's a statement, but then there's another statement. And the second statement parallels it, right? It either parallels it by emphasizing what was said in the first statement in a similar kind of way, or sometimes it emphasizes what was said in the first statement by kind of saying the opposite. And that is very cleverly called a contrasting parallel. So similar and contrasting parallels. And we see that as we see the very next verse, verse two of Proverbs chapter one. to know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight. This verse is a similar parallel. Know in the first line, parallels, but understand in the second line. The same is true with instruction in the first line. It's paralleled with the word insight in the second line. And the parallels, you know, why talk like this? Well, because it provides a richer meaning. But also, don't forget, it helps make it memorable. And that's one of the great natures of proverbs. It's to know. In fact, that word know, very first word that Solomon recorded there, to know wisdom. Know is to recognize or acknowledge something. But it's also to be connected to that thing. It's relational. Know is a relational word. It's the term that's used for the husband-wife relationship in the Bible. Adam knew Eve, his wife. Instruction. We are to know wisdom and instruction. Instruction can also be translated to discipline. So it too is a relational kind of term. It's more than mere information. The word understand means to pay attention to. At the heart of all these words is wisdom. And when we put the words, these words, these truths together, you see already something of the nature of wisdom. What is the nature of wisdom? Wisdom is for living. Wisdom is God's truth. but it's God's truth applied and lived out. It's a path. We'll see over and over again in Proverbs. Wisdom is a path to follow and to walk, and that path is based on truth, God's truth. So that's why we hear already in these opening verses things like knowing, understanding, instruction, and insight. Wisdom is based on truth, and God's truth is woven On the one hand, throughout creation, so you want to think of it like this, it says, what broad is creation? All this general revelation, right? All of God's world declares His glory and says something to us about our great God. But it's also like this, right? Because God's truth is located explicitly in the scriptures. Again, we're going to see this and throughout Proverbs, it's both. It's what we understand and see around us of God's truth, but it's also in the scriptures. You know, let me ask, when you need wisdom, and how many people need wisdom today, by the way? When you need wisdom and you know you need wisdom, where do you tend to look? Think about that this week. When you're seeking God's guidance for life, where do you turn? Now think about this, Solomon, he believed in God. But Solomon never tells us when we're seeking wisdom to ask for or search out a special revelation of God. Think about that. This book's about wisdom, right? It's gonna give us guidance. What's the nature of wisdom? It is God's truth applied. So where are we going to turn? Where are you going to turn when you need guidance? And the first place is the Bible. Notice the last words of David to Solomon. This is what the men are memorizing this week in the men's study. It's 1 Kings chapter 2, verses 2 and 3. Last words of David before he died to his son. Be strong and show yourself a man. and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in His ways, keeping His statutes, His commandments, His rules, and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you turn. David knew that his son Solomon needed to walk in the ways of the Lord, and he wasn't vague about where to find that guidance. He said explicitly to follow the commandments and the statutes and so on, written where? In the law of Moses. That's where to turn. Walk in those ways, what God has explicitly made known, that you may prosper, that you may get a heart of wisdom and walk in the path of wisdom. I remember one time years back seeing a study called, How to Know God's Will for Your Life. And I thought maybe you would say same thing. That sounds like a good thing, right? How to know God's will. So I ordered the material. I had teaching, had studied helps and things like that. So it arrived. You can tell this was a long time ago, right? It arrived in the mail kind of thing. And so the study arrived, and I look at it, and guess what it was? It was a study on the Ten Commandments. And I literally thought, this has got to be some mistake. And I thought, well, is this like a bait and switch? Like, you know, I want to know God's will for my life. Oh, but by the way, we've got a few extra of these Ten Commandments studies we need to move and get rid of. What does studying the Ten Commandments have to do with knowing God's will for your life? And the answer is everything, literally everything. And that's what that's what David was getting at in his last words to Solomon. Right. Don't go out here listening. Do I get like a voice? You know, is there going to be some kind of message from afar? David said, look to the word and start with the word. So the nature of wisdom, as we begin, it is what? It is God's truth applied. And that brings us to the scope of wisdom. Where do we apply God's truth? Are you with me? Wisdom, what is it? God's truth applied. So the next question is where is that gonna be? And that's gonna be the scope of wisdom. I'll just cut to the chase. Wisdom is God's truth applied to all of life. That's the second leg of this journey. Verse 3 says, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity. That word receive can mean to take or to connect. It is the word, thinking of Adam and Eve, it's the word used at the creation of the woman Eve in the garden. God took a rib from Adam. That's that word. And then even in the summary of what happened, it's repeated that Eve was taken from man. Once again, what are we seeing? That God's wisdom is relational. It's for living. It's applied. And what follows next in verse three? A rainbow, you know, opening the faucet of what flows from wisdom. And again, these are ideas and principles that we'll pursue throughout the book, but there's immediately, right? You open the spigot, here comes wisdom. Where's it gonna lead? Righteousness, justice, equity. So the scope of Solomon's wisdom is described in the history books of the Bible. Also in 1 Kings chapter 4, starting at verse 32, notice this. Speaking of Solomon, he spoke 3,000 proverbs. Maybe we should add up all the proverbs in the book of Proverbs. I think 3,000 is more than what's in the book, right? So Solomon spoke proverbs more than what was in the book of Proverbs. and his songs were 1,005. Someone actually counted all the songs that Solomon wrote. Now get this, get this, it's important. He spoke, the wise man, right? The one that prayed for wisdom, the one that sought wisdom, the one whose heart was open to God to give him wisdom, but also grounded in the scriptures. He spoke of trees. From the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke of beasts and of birds and of reptiles and of fish. And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom. Do you see the scope? Wisdom is God's truth applied, but where is it applied? It's everywhere. Solomon's talking about all kinds of different types of trees, all kinds of different animals. It's not just God things, nothing wrong with spiritual or God things, but wisdom is for living in all of life. Real wisdom touches all of life, or God is concerned with all of life, and all of life is connected in him. So wisdom is truth applied to all of life. As the passage continues we see now the purpose of wisdom. If it's God's truth applied to all of life, but what is the purpose of that? Now to understand that we continue in the verse and we see really the focus of the recipient of the book of Proverbs. Solomon's the author, right? Who are these Proverbs addressed to? Verse 4, to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth. Again we have parallelism in this verse and the word simple corresponds to youth. The purpose of wisdom that's being conveyed by these proverbs is so that the simple and the young can grow in wisdom as they what apply God's truth to all of life. Who are the young? One hand are the young in age. The age of adulthood in ancient Israel was 20. Men could not serve in the temple until they were 30. But the young can also be the inexperienced and the naive, which is why the parallelism helps. That's why we approach the structure and want to understand the structure. Simple corresponds to, I mean, young corresponds to simple. And simple is sometimes translated simple-minded. Doesn't sound very flattering, does it? We think, OK, is the Bible for me? Does this apply to me? Are you simple-minded? OK, you fit. And actually, we do. We all fit. So it may not sound flattering, but there's hope for the simple and the simple-minded. There's hope for the young in experience. Because they're not the same as the fools or the scoffers mentioned in Proverbs, the simple The good news is they are potentially teachable. That's what makes them ready and ripe. And here's the good news. If they're willing to receive, to seek, to learn, to know, to understand, they will grow to become wise. They will gain the very thing said in verse four. They will gain prudence. They will gain discretion. They are on the path. walking in the way that God intends. So the Proverbs are intended to give direction at this very critical season of life when it's most important to follow the right path. So, when is that? When is the season right? When is the critical moment for you, for me, to follow the right path? And the answer is now, right? The answer is today. Every day is a formative moment for the rest of our life. And so the context that we're given in the book of Proverbs is that whether you see yourself as young, naive, simple, the context is so that we see the urgency of this, right? Wisdom is God's truth applied to all of life, and it starts now. It starts now because now there's the possibility of being built up, of going from the young and naive to the more mature, from going to the simple to the rooted and the grounded, even from going to a fool to the wise. Wisdom is for building up. That's the purpose. We see that in the next verse. Wisdom's not only for the young or simple. This could be a little confusing, but it's important. Verse five, let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance. Wisdom is not just for the simple, wisdom is for the wise. You know, I think, well, that's kind of redundant, isn't it? Why, why do the wise need wisdom? Because wisdom is a path. And if you're not growing and moving along the path, you are no longer wise. We're going to see this in Solomon's life, aren't we? The one who was given the gift of the greatest wisdom. But even now, for you, wisdom doesn't stop. The question to ask even yourself, am I wise, would be, am I growing? Am I growing? Because if I'm not growing and understanding God's truth, if I'm not seeking how to apply God's truth, maybe I was wise in the past, but today, right now, I'm no longer wise. Wisdom is God's truth applied to all of life for the building up of his people. And then finally, we want to look at the source of wisdom. How do we really get it? Verse 7, really many people look at this as a summary of the whole book of Proverbs. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. And again, when you understand parallelism, and it's not complicated, you just see that, you realize why we often cut to the chase and say, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That's what's going on in the parallel structure there. And Proverbs 9.10 spells it out and says that directly, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But even here at the introduction, that's what we want to understand. Now when we hear the fear of the Lord, It's the beginning of wisdom. Quick to think, well, what does that mean? What is the fear of the Lord? And throughout your life, throughout my life, we've heard many times, well, fear isn't really like kind of like being scared. You know, fear is not shaking in your boots kind of fear. There's a problem with that because if you think about what happens every time or almost every time a person in the Bible encounters God, what do they do? They shake in their boots, don't they? Or shake in their sandals, or whatever it is they're wearing. And they actually fall down flat on their face. Even if an angel appears, it's the same kind of response. Think of the Christmas story. Every time an angel appears in the Christmas story, what's the first thing they have to say? Do not be afraid. Because fear is a pretty appropriate response. God or God's representative appears. So let's not shortchange this, right? There's a place for a genuine type of fear. Now, it is not the kind of fear that paralyzes us. In fact, as we understand that, look at that phrase, it's the kind of fear that motivates us and orients our life. The fear of the Lord is what? The beginning of wisdom. This is the starting point of wisdom for your life. How are you going to apply God's truth in all of life to be built up? Beginning is a foundation. It's the root out of which all else flows. It's the root and foundation which causes us to start with thinking, how am I going to honor God? How am I going to enjoy God? How am I going to base my life on God and the Lord? Isn't that what a foundation is? We build on it. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So how are we going to base our life on loving God, serving God according to his truth? Here's the thing. You may not like this. Wisdom is not about how to be happy. Wisdom in the Bible is not how to make more money. Wisdom according to God's word is not about how to have an easier life. Wisdom according to God's word is not how to be content. Wisdom isn't about how to get people to like you or to be more impressive. Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord means we start by asking, is this consistent with God's truth? I want to align with God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, so the first thing we ask in seeking wisdom is, is this consistent with what God has made known? For He has already shown you what is good and right. Remember, that's what David was telling to Solomon. Fearing the Lord means living for Him and for His honor. So the question's not only is this, whatever this is, a place I'm seeking wisdom, is this consistent with what God has revealed, but in what way will this bring glory to God? In what way will this serve God's purpose? In what way will this help God's people, my fellow believers? That is how you know what job to take. That is how you know where to live. That is how you know when it is time to retire. That is how you know whether or not to buy a new car, whether or not to take a vacation. Do you fear the Lord? Are you willing to ask, is what I'm thinking about, where I'm seeking God's direction in my life, is it consistent? If it's not consistent, it's already the answer is no. But even if it's not off the chart inconsistent, The fear of the Lord is saying, does this serve the Lord? This choice, this action. Does it build his kingdom? Does it support his people, his church? So are you living with the fear of the Lord to walk according to what God has said and striving to serve and honor him? Wisdom is like the law in the Bible. We read God's law, and it points us in the right direction. But really, wisdom, what we see in Proverbs, is also like the law because it not only points in the right direction, but it points how far we have fallen short. But there's good news, right? The grace we need for forgiveness and the power we need for living is there. Don't miss what Jesus said and how it relates to wisdom. I am the way and the truth and the life. Jesus is the way. He is the path. He is our wisdom. He doesn't take away what God has said throughout the scriptures. He fulfills them. And his path is true, right? Because he helps us see what God teaches. Actually makes it greater. In some ways makes it harder, but he makes it richer. And he is life. And him is life. For he is the one who is with us as we walk in his way. Walking with the Lord is that living dynamic relationship day by day as we follow Him, as we learn together with Him, as we lean on Him and His strength, first to forgive us and then to renew us. God's wisdom is His truth applied to all of life for our being built up by His grace and for His glory. And let's go for it as we walk in and through the Proverbs in these weeks ahead. Amen.