The Fountain of Blessing

Take your Bible and turn back with me to chapter 3, Proverbs chapter 3. Last week we divided verses 1 to 12, a smaller portion of the chapter. And I know the title might have thrown some of you off, it might have seemed odd, but I titled those verses that message, "Don't Trust Yourself." Now, I remind you of where that came from. These are some very familiar verses. Most of us know Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. But I go on down to verse 7. Notice what Solomon is saying. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart." Now what does he say? "Do not lean on your own understanding." Don't trust yourself.

In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. Verse 7, "Do not be wise in your own eyes." Don't trust yourself. And I thought that that was very, very fitting, the message and how we divided those verses. And if you missed that, I encourage you to go back and get the message, maybe get my notes so that you can just move along with us through this series. Now tonight we're going to finish up the chapter. It's quite a lot of scripture. We're going to cover a lot more verses than we did last week. Now, I will not cover all of the verses in the message. I'm going to leave you some room to study on your own.

It's not my desire to skip passages. I know sometimes some pastors do that. I at least want to touch them, explain them, and move on. But tonight I'm going to give you some responsibility at the end of the message. I'm going to give you an assignment. I don't want to use the word "homework." That doesn't really sound very nice. But I'm going to give you an assignment and I'll talk about that a little later on in the message. Now, I want you to use your imagination with me. I think everyone here has heard of the fabled Fountain of Youth.

The legend of the Fountain of Youth has been around in many cultures really and truly for thousands of years. Basically, the Fountain of Youth is supposed to be a spring of magical water which restores one's youth and youthful vitality. If they will just drink the water from the fountain or even just get into the water or dip into the water. The legend of the Fountain of Youth was popular even up into the 1500s and 1600s, believe it or not. And this was during the time of a lot of exploration in the new world which we would call the Americas. Now, this legend hits closer to home than you might think.

The belief in the legend was so great that in the early 1500s, the famed Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon came to Florida searching for the Fountain of Youth. Of course, this was a legend and that legend was fueled by the indigenous people in the Caribbean who were telling him about the legend. Well, it really was a legend, no reality to it at all. Now, I don't think any of us here believe in the Fountain of Youth, but we do have access to another fountain. We have access to a fountain of blessing right here in the Proverbs. Now, this leads me to go back to a question I posed for us last week. Does Proverbs teach a prosperity gospel?

Now, we understand there's this prosperity gospel around. Proverbs does not teach that type of prosperity gospel, but we will see great promises of blessing and they're found in the Proverbs. We're going to continue to see that as we move along. Now, that brings me to the title of what I'm going to share tonight. I'm calling this the Fountain of Blessing, not the Fountain of Youth, but the Fountain of Blessing. Now, I'm going to divide the verses in four ways, four observations. Sometimes I call them major truths. I'm not going to read any of the verses on the front end. I'll read them as we progress through the message.

And again, I've said this numerous times. If I partially read over a verse, maybe you go back and read that on your own. Let's don't leave any stone unturned. So we're going to divide this portion of scripture in four ways and I will give you that information as we move along in the message. Now, first, our number one, our first observation, I want us to see what I'm calling Seeking Wisdom Brings Blessing. Seeking Wisdom Brings Blessing. This is from verse 13 on over to verse 18. I want to read these verses. He starts off in the first verse, verse 13.

Blessed, blessed is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her hand and in her hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Those who hold her hold her fast are called. And here's this other word again. Blessed. Now, in the original language, this block of scripture verses 13 to 18 is in the style of a hymn, a hymn or a praise, a hymn of praise.

But it's also bracketed by the word blessed. Look back at verse 13. Blessed is the one who finds wisdom. Go to the end of verse 18. She, this is wisdom, is the tree of life. Those who hold her fast are called what? Blessed. This is bracketed, this portion of scripture, by that word. What Solomon is saying is the one that attains all that is written within that block of scripture are blessed. This is the same word that is behind what Jesus is teaching in the Beatitudes. So this should sound familiar to us because we have really gotten started really well in our study in the Beatitudes. Now, also notice how Solomon presents this teaching.

He presents wisdom as a woman and he uses feminine pronouns all throughout the verses. We see in verse 14, for the gain from her is better than gold and silver. Verse at the end of verse 14, her profit is better than gold. She, verse 15, long life is in her hand in verse 16 and so on. So what am I showing you? Solomon is presenting wisdom as a woman. So we have this great teaching where Solomon promises blessings and Solomon portrays this teaching as an attractive lady. One commentator that I read this week called this lady a good lady of wisdom. I like that. I will continue to use that phrase as we continue.

Now, I want to break these verses down. There's a lot that we need to see here. Notice what's here first. Notice wisdom brings the richest treasure. Wisdom, it brings the richest treasure in verse 13 and verse 14 and then in verse 15. We see language about silver and gold and precious jewels. Now, again in verse 13, we see the one finding wisdom and understanding. Solomon says blessed or blessed, happy is the man or the woman of the young person who finds wisdom and understanding. Now, I will remind you of what chapter 2 verses 2 to 3 say.

In chapter 2, in those verses 2 to 3, it says that wisdom and understanding, it does not come from within. This wisdom and understanding comes from God's word and as we see in a few moments as we continue, this comes from God himself. But notice Solomon goes on in verse 14 to say that wisdom and understanding are more valuable. They're more profitable than silver or gold. Now, I said this earlier with our children. This would have been the most precious, the most valuable metals on the face of the earth in that day. And then Solomon goes on in verse 15 to say that wisdom is more precious than jewels.

Jewels were also highly sought after just like silver and gold. And notice the blessing here. Wisdom and understanding bring more gain and more profit than silver and gold. There's the blessing. Wisdom and understanding are more precious than jewels. He caps this off by saying that nothing that we can desire can compare with her. Now, who's her? The good lady of wisdom. So wisdom brings the richest treasure. And then notice verses 16 to 18, wisdom brings the gain of long life. We see that starting in verse 16. Long life is in her right hand. Here Solomon changes. I think that's obvious.

Now he says that wisdom and understanding provide long life. The ways of wisdom and understanding provide pleasantness in life as well as peace in life. Solomon goes on to use the term tree of life in verse 18. And we will see this phrase tree of life three more times in Chapter 11, Chapter 13, and Chapter 15. It'll be sometime before we get there. Now, some scholars say that this is a reference to the tree of life in Genesis 2 and 3. But that poses a question for me. Is Solomon saying that the teaching and proverbs will provide eternal life? No, that's not the case because that would turn into a work salvation.

What Solomon is saying is that wisdom and understanding gain through a personal relationship with God in Christ is life. Any other life is not life. Again, this brings blessing. This brings happiness. Isn't that what he says at the end of the verse? Those who hold her fast are called blessed. So in summary, what are we seeing here in verses 13 on down to verse 18? Blessing, this inner happiness, it comes from wisdom. It comes from this understanding. The one who finds it is blessed. They are the ones who have life. But notice how Solomon teaches. He contrasts and he calls. There's a contrast and a call.

He contrasts wisdom and understanding with silver and gold and precious metals. And then he calls his son to see wisdom and understanding as a beautiful good woman. I like that. Now an application. I want us to see what we look at as attractive. See some of you here tonight. You might look at that new car as attractive. We might look at that credit card that will allow us to make purchases as attractive. We might look at that new house as attractive. Those new clothes as attractive. The new job as attractive. The new fishing gear or the new deer rifle as attractive. The list can just go on and on and on.

And I'm not saying that anything is wrong with those things. But what about wisdom and understanding? Are those things attractive? Wisdom and discernment and understanding of God's word and God's ways. Are those things attractive? What are our hearts eyes attracted to? This reminds me of a man I used to work with. His eyes were always on physical new things. He was always talking about the new truck down at the car lot. I said it like this. He had a good warner. He always wanted a lot. He was attracted to those new things. Again, there's nothing wrong with a new car or a new truck. But what am I trying to show you?

Solomon is saying, listen, wisdom and understanding is more profitable than that silver and that gold than that new car in that new house. So I ask you, what are we attracted to? What are our eyes fixed on? What are the things that we see as valuable in our life? I ran across a good quotation. I like it. Warren Wiersby, the Bible commentator. He just has a way of putting things and I want to read this and I think this will bless you and help you and help us see this teaching. And I'm quoting. It's good to have things money can buy provided you don't lose the things money can't buy.

What good is an expensive house if there's no happy home within it? Happiness, pleasantness and peace aren't the guaranteed byproducts of financial success. But they are guaranteed to the person who lives by God's wisdom. Wisdom becomes a tree of life to the believer who takes cold of her and this is a foretaste of heaven. That's really good. So what are we seeing in these first few verses? Seeking wisdom brings blessing in life. I think that is obvious for us to see. So let's move on. I want us to look at verses 9 to 20 and I'm calling this seeking the source of wisdom. Our second major truth seeking the source of wisdom.

Notice that Solomon changes again in verse 19. The Lord by wisdom founded the earth. He's going back to creation by understanding he established the heavens and by his knowledge the deeps broke open and the clouds drop down the dew. Now before we get into the source of wisdom. I want to show you what we've been seeing for two and a half chapters. I say two and a half because we've looked at chapter 1 chapter 2 and we're going through chapter 3. Solomon is making some great and mighty claims. He is saying that the very best life the most rewarding the most successful life it is found in God's Word God's ways and God's wisdom.

Now these are great. These are even audacious claims. He's really saying because remember he uses contrasts. He is saying that any other way is foolish. Isn't he not? He's saying any other way is foolish. Now this leads me to a question and think about this. How credible is Solomon's teaching? How credible is Solomon's teaching? I was reminded of an event that took place in my life from these verses. I remember years ago when my father-in-law was having open heart surgery.

We were in a very prominent hospital with all of the family and the medical team was in the room and they were explaining to the family what was going to take place during that very serious operation, multiple bypasses. I'll never forget as the lead physician, the lead surgeon was speaking and talking. My mother-in-law stepped up and said, "Where did you go to school and where did you get your education?" He got tense real quick. But what was she saying? How credible are you? How credible are you for this very critical time? So again, that question, how credible is Solomon's teaching? Solomon's credibility is only as good as the source.

It is only as good as his source. This teaching is not from Solomon's mind. It's not from Solomon's heart. This is from God. I don't know if you know the story of how Solomon attained his great wisdom. In 1 Kings 3, God said to Solomon in a dream, "Ask whatever you want and I'll give it to you." Of course, I'm prayer phrasing in verse 5. Solomon then asked for wisdom and understanding so that he could govern God's people. God then told Solomon that because he asked for wisdom to govern God's people and not for wealth, God went on to say, "I'll give you the wisdom to govern my people and I'll give you the wealth." He got both.

And so this wisdom that Solomon has, it comes from God. And so Solomon was really just a messenger boy of all of this great wisdom. Now you might say, "What does this have to do with verse 19 and verse 20?" I'll show you. So Solomon in these verses, he is saying that by God's infinite wisdom, he created the entire universe. There is an interesting detail here in the language. Solomon purposely states extremes. He uses the word "earth" and he uses the word "heavens." What is he saying? The very ground and the very skies. And then he goes on in these extremes to emphasize the entirety of creation. That was the purpose.

These extremes are to emphasize the entire creation, that which is seen and that which is unseen. Solomon is saying that God created all that you see and all that you don't see by his infinite, all-powerful wisdom. Now another question. Is Pluto a planet? I learned in school that it was a planet. But I've seen on the news, you know, the past year or so, they debate if it's a planet or not. You know, is it a planet? Is it not a planet? It just depends on who you ask. Well, whatever it is, God created it by his infinite, all-powerful wisdom. That's what Solomon is saying here. He's saying the Lord by wisdom founded the earth.

And what am I trying to show you? God is the one who's given Solomon this great wisdom. God is the source of the wisdom. I think of another example that really struck me funny this summer. I think a lot of you probably know this was the 50th anniversary of the man landing on the moon. I don't know all of the details. I watched a few documentaries. It was interesting to me. And they were interviewing one of those original astronauts. And he was with a group of young astronauts. And he's talking about when he was traveling through space, and they had gone into deep space. And he looked out the window, and there's earth.

For the very first time, there is earth seen from thousands and thousands of miles away. And he talked about how perfect it was. He talked about how it was a life capsule for mankind. And then he went on to talk about evolution. And I thought, what a fool. What is he denying? He's denying what verses 19 and 20 say. God created all of that. That which is seen and that which is unseen. And so for us, we must see the credibility of this teaching. This is God speaking through wisdom. It's not just words of wisdom from Solomon to his son. So this isn't just the Bible that we have in our hands. This is God's written word to us and for us.

This isn't just a book of Proverbs. These are God's Proverbs to you and to me and to us. This isn't just Solomon's words to his son. These are specific instructions to you, to me, and for us in this day and this time. Now, I'll even get a little more personal. What about me as your pastor as I stand here night after night, morning after morning? I'm not just giving you a message or a sermon or a lesson. I'm seeking to understand God's truth. I'm spending time and study and praying over God's word. I don't want to just come give you a sermon. I want God to use me to explain God's word. I've said this before.

I'm either a man of God, called of God, or I'm a fool. I don't think it's the latter. And so what am I trying to show you? This is the source of this wisdom. Every word, every phrase comes from God and God has ordained it to be that way. And it should sober us up. And I hope it calls us to take these things a little more serious. So let's move on. I want us to look at verses 21 to 26. And this is seeking security in God's wisdom. Seeking security in God's wisdom. Verse 21, "My son." There's that familiar language. Don't lose sight of these. Keep sound wisdom and discretion.

And they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck or your life. Then you will walk on your way securely and your foot will not stumble. If you lie down, you will not be afraid. When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. And he goes on, "Do not be afraid of sudden terror or the ruin of the wicked when it comes. For the Lord will be your confidence and he will keep your foot from being caught." And then I will reference the other verses as we continue. Now again, we see this familiar language. Solomon goes back to this loving language. He is a loving, knowledgeable father writing to a precious son saying, "Don't forget.

Don't forget. Don't forget." We see that in verse 21. Now notice what he's doing in the verse. He's loving his son. The loving father says, "Don't forget. I love you. Don't forget." And then he's reminding his son, "Don't forget." He does this out of love. He says, "Keep sound, wisdom, and discretion." Solomon goes on to explain what wisdom does in one's life. He is showing his son what will take place in his life if he remembers, if he holds true to these teachings, and that is the teaching of wisdom and understanding of discretion. Now there are several observations I want to make here or specifics.

Verse 22 shows us that wisdom beautifies the life. Wisdom beautifies the life. Solomon is stating that if wisdom and understanding and discretion are part of the life, then life is beautifully adorned. That's what that language means. Life is beautifully adorned or decorated. Now I want to pause from the teaching and I want to ask you to engage in an exercise with me. Think about two different types of people that you know. Some of you know the foolish one, the one that has squandered things in life. Bad choice after bad choice. Done things the wrong way in life.

Think about the foolish man or the foolish woman, and think about how their life is adorned. Think about the bad decisions that they've made. Maybe they've been slaves to alcohol or drugs, or maybe they've made bad choices with their family and their places of employment. You just use your imagination. And I'm telling you, every one of you have a picture and a name of someone who's been foolish. But think about the wise one who's done things right. They've made good choices. And I want you to see, how is their life decorated? How is it adorned? I think you can see that. That's what Solomon is saying to his son.

Wisdom will decorate and beautify the life. And then the second observation here, notice wisdom protects the life. We see the language change again in verse 23. "Then you will walk on your way securely. Your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid. When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet." In these two verses, verses 23 and 24, we see wisdom's direction. Now remember what I've said several times. In chapter 2, we saw wisdom's protection. Protection from the evil gang, the peer pressure, even that adulterous woman. Well, in chapter 3, we see wisdom's direction.

Solomon is showing his son that wisdom protects and directs in two ways. He uses two illustrations to help him see this reality. Verse 23, Solomon is saying, "Son, as you walk in life, wisdom will protect you from the unseen dangers. Wisdom will enable you to walk through life securely." Then in verse 24, Solomon says that, "Son, when you sleep, you'll have no worries. You may sleep well knowing that you're protected by wisdom. Wisdom will enable you to sleep securely." So Solomon is saying that wisdom gives life security. This is both protection and direction. And then wisdom calms the fears of life.

"Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught." Here Solomon is telling his son that living with wisdom and discretion provides a peace of mind and heart. He does not have to fear sudden ruin like the wicked and the foolish fear. He can have confidence that God will keep his path secure and solid. So Solomon is telling his son that embracing this wisdom, embracing this understanding, it dispels fear and it brings peace and security to the heart and the mind and the life. So what do we see here?

This is rather simple, but it's really big if you think about it. Solomon is teaching that acquiring and maintaining and holding on to wisdom and understanding provides great security. Wisdom protects and directs. It directs and protects. Wisdom calms fears. It brings security to the heart and the mind and the life. It even makes the life beautiful. So in application, I want to ask you three questions centering around three words. The word beauty, protection and security. What beautifies your life? Now we have makeup to decorate the face. We have hair dye to change the color. You know, we have weight loss plans and we exercise.

You know, there's a lot of different ways we buy clothes and more clothes. Think about all the ways that we decorate the body and beautify the life even with jewelry. So my question is how do you decorate your life and listen? Are you decorating your life with wisdom and understanding and godliness? Is the teaching of God's word adorning your life and your conversation and really who you are? And then the second word, protection. You know, we have guns to protect ourselves. Cell phones to help protect us when we're in dangerous circumstances. Safe cars when we get out on the road and that's just a few.

There are all types of ways that we protect ourselves. We lock our windows and lock our doors and we try to make good choices when we're in the right neighborhood or the wrong neighborhood. There's all kinds of ways we want to protect ourselves. But think about this. Solomon is saying that wisdom and understanding and discretion will protect us. It will protect us and security. You know, we're all about security these days. We'll have those signs in our yards. What do they do? They tell us we have a security system. Isn't that right? We live in an unsafe day, an insecure day and we want security, financial security, all types of security.

But what is Solomon saying, if we allow the teaching of God's word to give us and grant us wisdom and understanding and discretion and we hold on to it, we will lay down at night with peace and security. So this is a protection as we walk in life and this is security from dangers and the fear of ruin. Listen, God is God. I go back to verse 19 and 20. If God can create whatever Pluto is, then he can protect me. If God can scoop out the oceans and keep the earth perfectly on its axis, then he can take care of me. So look back at these words, beauty and protection and security, beauty and protection and security, seeking security in wisdom.

Really, you could say more than security because I have beauty and protection and security. Now, let's move on. I want us to see the fourth truth or observation in our outline. Notice seeking to bless others. I call this seeking to bless others. We're going to see a big shift in the language here. I've said that several times, but this is a bigger shift. Notice what happens in verse 27. "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due. When it is your power to do it." Scholars talk about this being procrastination. "Do not say to your neighbor, 'Go and come again tomorrow.

I will give it when you have it to give.' Do not plan evil against your neighbor. Do not contend with a man for no reason." And that just keeps going on all the way down to the end of the verse. This is a big shift in the language. Now, a question, what's taking place here? Truthfully, commentators speculate. One of the resources I looked at even today said it's unclear as to what's going on in Solomon's mind because the teaching just changes drastically. So what do we have here? Really simply, all of these other verses up into verse 27, they've been exhortations from the father to the son, the father to the son, loving exhortations.

But now Solomon changes and these are just general truths. One after the other, general truths. Now, I'll go back to the introduction of the message. I said I will not cover all the verses. I said I will give you some responsibilities. Well, here are your responsibilities. I want to challenge you to go and read these statements. I want to challenge you to take your time and read these statements with two questions on a piece of paper. The first question, what does this mean? And then the second question, how may I live this out? The first question, what does this mean? What does this verse mean? What does verse 27, 28, 29?

What does this mean? And then the second question, how may I live this out? Again, I'm called to teach you and yes, and teach you and explain these things to you. But sometimes I need to say you go dig it up on your own and that's what I'm doing. I'll show you how I have dealt with these verses. Monday morning, I was reading over these passages. I was in the middle of my Monday morning routine. My routine is this. I look through what we're going to study and what we're going to go through on Wednesday night.

I look through what we're going to look at on Sunday morning and I try to do that so I can get my mind and my heart around it and then also so I can give direction for Brother Keith because he starts working on worship on Monday evening. And we talk back and forth in that process all the way through. So Monday morning, I was in my routine and I was up very, very early and I was reading verses 27 to 28. Let me go back to the verses. "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, "Go and come again tomorrow. I will give it when you have it to give." Well, I got a phone call.

It was Brother Keith. Now, he was on holiday, had a holiday from his work and he asked if he could borrow something. He said, "I need to borrow a chain. I've got to pull up some bushes that are in my yard." And then he went on to say, "I need a truck attached to that chain so I can pull up bushes in my yard." And then he said, "I also need a chainsaw at the back of that truck because I also have some other bushes and some trees that I want to cut down in my yard." Now, what was I going to do? First thing I said was just come get it because of what the text says. But also because of what God had taught me years and years and years ago.

Anything that I have doesn't belong to me. It came from the Lord. I have possession of it because God has given it to me. Of course he came. He got my saw and the chain and the truck and it all came back in one piece. Well, I hadn't gotten my saw back yet sooner or later. But what am I trying to show you? I had to answer those two questions. And the question is, what does this mean? And how may I live this out? So I want to encourage you. This is seeking to bless others. These verses 27 to 35. And I'd love to hear from you how this speaks to you. Now, as I want to close the message, I want to ask you a question.

What have we looked at tonight? Now, I like titles. I do think titles to lessons and messages are very important. Really to me, the title helps us get our mind around the major thought that's running throughout the passages. I've called this the Fountain of Blessing. The Fountain of Blessing. Now, we sure do not believe in the fountain of youth. If we did believe in the fountain of youth, I think that we would be there. I would. Today's my birthday. September the 4th, 1969, 8.30 in the morning. At 8.30 this morning, I turned 40 years old. And if I had ability to go to the fountain of youth, I'd go. I'm really not 40, I think you called that.

But what do we see? This is not a fountain of youth. This is a fountain of blessing. Now, I want to add to this. We have a fountain of wisdom. We have a fountain of understanding. We have a fountain of discernment. Oh, there's so much that Solomon is giving. If we really get into the verses, this is a fountain of wisdom and understanding. And listen, blessing in life. But I don't think we can stop right there. You know me, sometimes I'll give you a title and then I'll just add to it. And you might think, "Brother Chris, you've given me the title.

Why do you want to add to it or alter it?" What we have here, this is the fountain of God because it is God who works in his people to bring about this work. Listen, people, this is not academic. This is not information stored in the mind. Now, I'm not against information. I'm not against scripture memory. It's more than that. This is not an academic exercise or an exercise of storing information. This is personal. Because this is God desiring to work in us.

And this truly is a fountain of blessing when we take God's word and we are working hard and we are seeking and we're asking for understanding and the Holy Spirit of God little by little teaches us and instructs us. And we meditate and we pray and we question and we ask and we study and we read and we go back over and we pray even more. And then wisdom and understanding and discretion begins to come about in our life and it is God working within us. And then this becomes this fountain of blessing.

And our life is blessed here, our life is blessed there, our ability is blessed here, the way we live, the decisions we make, who we are, and all of a sudden we start being a completely new person. Why? Because we're drinking from this fountain. We're drinking from this fountain. We're drinking from this fountain. And not just these verses. But all of God's word, all of God's word. So what have we looked at tonight? We've looked at the fountain of blessing. We've wrapped up chapter three because I'm leaving verses 27 to 35 with you.