The Good Lady of Wisdom

Well take your Bible and turn back with me to Proverbs chapter 8. Proverbs chapter 8, I'm sure you were there from our scripture reading earlier. It is my desire just to take a portion of scripture and read in our opening assembly time to just get our minds started. Also I think it's good for our little ones who are dismissed to hear a portion of what we're learning. We're going to cover all of the chapter tonight. It's a shorter chapter. Now just like chapter 7 covered one subject, chapter 8 covers one subject. Chapter 7 was all about the adulterous woman and immorality.

Now the subject changes and tonight we're going to be looking at the subject of wisdom. Now to get our minds going in a particular direction, I want to throw a phrase out there for you and just see what comes to your mind when I say this phrase. The phrase "Lady Liberty." Now those of us who are adults probably think about the Statue of Liberty. I don't know how many of you have ever seen the Statue of Liberty, but years ago I was on a mission trip in New York and I had the privilege of going to see the Statue of Liberty. I did not go inside. I've heard my dad talk about years ago.

He went on a tour back when you could go up into the hand, up into the portion of the the statue that you can't even go into these days. But the Statue of Liberty is one of the most famous of our American landmarks. I think most of you know that. I don't know if you know what the statue really is, but the statue it is a rendition of the Roman goddess of liberty.

Simplistically in her right hand, the right hand of the statue, she is holding a torch high above her head and in her left hand, some of you might not know this, on the tablet that she is carrying, it's the the date of the the Declaration, the United States Declaration of Independence, and at her feet is a broken chain and shackle that commemorates the abolition of slavery. And that statue is situated at the entrance of New York Harbor. Now the Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French. You might not know that. It took quite a bit of time for the statue to be built and then brought over and that all took place roughly in the 1880s.

And it has become a great symbol not just for America and Americans, but really around the world. It is a symbol of opportunity and freedom and liberty, those things that are found in the United States. And we know there are a lot of people that do a lot of things to get here to our country for freedom and opportunity and liberty. Now for many immigrants who came to America through the port of New York, specifically Ellis Island, it's a wonderful place to tour. I've been there. The Statue of Liberty was a great welcoming site to give you an idea of how many people viewed the Statue of Liberty in this way.

I'm speaking of the days of of Ellis Island. From the early 1890s until the middle 1950s, I believe it was 12 million immigrants that came through Ellis Island and their first site, one of their first sites, would have been the Statue of Liberty. And I'm sure seeing what we would call Lady Liberty, the Statue of Liberty, was an unbelievable site. How do you describe that? I never forget I used to go to church with an individual. He was Italian and he said that his descendants came through Ellis Island in the early portion of the 1900s. And I'm sure that that was one of the first things they saw, which was Lady Liberty.

Now Proverbs chapter 8 is not about the Statue of Liberty. That's not what I'm saying, but we do see this lady of wisdom. We were introduced to this lady of wisdom back in chapter one. Remember, wisdom is personified. Solomon personifies this wisdom, this lady of wisdom, all throughout the book of Proverbs. She's pictured as a woman. She's given human attributes. Now we covered this lady of wisdom back in Proverbs chapter 1 starting in verse 8. And we saw her as the beautiful woman of wisdom, specifically the title of the message from those verses. I called her a beautiful woman, cries our name.

And the beautiful, this was the beautiful voice of wisdom. Now here in chapter 8, we see this continued personification of wisdom. We have lady wisdom, the good lady of wisdom. Now look at verse 8, or excuse me, look at verse 1 and then on down to verse 8. Look at verse 1, does not wisdom call? Here's the question. Does not understanding raise her voice? See the personification? Giving human attributes to wisdom. Look at verse 8, all of the words of my mouth are righteous. There is nothing twisted or crooked in them. They are all straight to him who understands and right to those who find knowledge.

Take my instruction instead of silver and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than jewels and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. See this lady of wisdom, and this is what I'm calling her. Not just the lady of wisdom, but the good lady of wisdom. And we're going to see how good she is in so many ways in all of these verses. Now we need to see again what's taking place here. You probably can guess it. We have Solomon and he's writing. Now we know who he's writing to. He's writing to his son and he's using this language to engage his son. This would have been attractive to his ear. He was a good teacher.

He was a good teacher and he was a good communicator of truth and he's calling his son to listen to the voice of wisdom and to listen to this good lady of wisdom. Wisdom. Now for us, before we step off into the message, I'll say this to you. I strongly encourage you to pay attention. I strongly encourage you don't tune it out. Maybe maybe don't say to yourself, well we learned that back in chapter one. Remember what I've said numerous times. Solomon teaches a subject. He revisits a subject. He goes a little further with that subject. He may even say the same thing in a different way.

We are a lot like our disciple friends from the gospel of john. We need to hear things over and over and over. So I encourage you to listen well, to study well, and to try and retain all that you can retain. Now in our outline, I'm going to use these feminine personal pronouns that we do see all throughout the chapter. I've already given you the title, the good lady of wisdom, but we're going to divide all of this in two ways. Two major truths. We're going to see wisdom. She makes her case. It's quite a bit of scripture verses one to 21. And then wisdom. She explains her works and this is from verse 22 to verse 36.

Now as always, we will not read the verses. I'm going to read them as we go along. And again, if I do not read a verse thoroughly, you mark that, note that, go back and read it on your own. It's been a while since I've said this. You can read ahead. You can read Proverbs chapter eight this week. You can begin to read Proverbs chapter nine this week before next Wednesday. And if you do that, read ahead and read behind, then you can read these Proverbs multiple, multiple times and that will be good for us all. So let's look at our first division, our first major truth in our outline. Wisdom. You have this information in front of you.

Wisdom, she makes her case. Now here we see wisdom calling aloud in the streets, just like she did back in chapter one. Look back at verse one all the way down to verse five with me. Does not wisdom call? Does not wisdom raise her voice on the heights beside her way or beside the way at the crossroads she takes her stand beside the gates in front of the town at the entrance of the portals. She cries aloud and here's how what she cries. To you, O men, I call and my cry is to the children of men. Verse five, O simple ones learn prudence, O fools learn sense.

So here we have wisdom calling aloud in the streets, calling aloud there at the city gates. This would have been very much in the public arena. Verse four and five tells us that wisdom is not only calling out in a general sense. Look at verse one, does not wisdom call? Does not wisdom, does not understanding raise her voice? That's a general call. We not only see the general call, but we see a specific call to a specific people. Look back at verse four, to you, O men, I call and my cry is to the children of men. And then verse five, O simple ones. And then verse five again, O fools.

So we see a specific call to a specific people, to you, O men. It's sad to the simple ones, to the fools, to the, we learned about the stupid one. Did we not? That's who she is calling to. Now one more observation before we get into some specifics here. If we read the verses more than once, there seems to be an urgency. Now you might not see it at first. I had to read it several times to to get a feel of urgency. The text does not say it in any way, but it's as if Solomon is calling his son to a serious crossroads in life. This seems like there's a critical decision that needs to be made.

Now we have to have some background to see this and we're going to revisit this when we wrap up these verses. So I'm kind of teasing you. We're going to come back to the urgency. So let's see how wisdom is making her case here. And there are four specifics or four observations I want us to see here. Notice her words starting in verse six on down to verse nine. "Here for I will speak noble things and from my lips will come what is right. For my mouth will utter truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are righteous. There is nothing twisted or crooked in them.

They are all straight to him who understands and right to those who find knowledge." Now just like last week we examined the sinful seductive words of that wayward wife. Remember the adulterous woman? We heard her the sinful speech of this seductive sleep around. There is a great contrast here between the words of the adulterous woman and this good lady, the good lady of wisdom. Notice from the lips of the good lady of wisdom what comes. Verse six says noble things. The second part of verse six says things that are right. Verse seven, she utters truth. Verse eight, things that are righteous.

So those words just kind of pile on top of one another. Out of her lips come noble things. She says things that are right. She says things that are that are truth and that are righteous. Now I go back again to our memory. Remember the evil gang that we studied? The peer pressure for the young person? The evil gang? Then the adulterous woman? Their speech was much different, was it not? Their speech was portrayed as deceptive, perverse, even duplicitous, but not the good lady of wisdom. We see that her words are excellent. They are right. They are true. Her speech is straightforward and it is full of godliness.

So notice the words of this good lady of wisdom compared to the words of the evil gang and the adulterous woman. They are a lot different. But let's move on. Notice second, her value. Notice her value. Just two verses here. Verse 10 and 11. Take my instruction instead of silver and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than jewels and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. Here we see the obvious value of wisdom. She is more valuable than silver and gold, even precious jewels. Now these things would have been seen as the most precious things to a man in that day. Now we've seen this teaching already.

We saw it back in chapter three. Verse 11 is almost identical to verse 15 from chapter three. And this is extremely simple. But notice the value of her words. The words of the good lady of wisdom. They have great, great value. But then notice third, her high honor. Notice her high honor. We see a transition starting in verse 12, all the way down to verse 16. I, I wisdom dwell with prudence and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil, pride and arrogance in the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. I have counsel and sound wisdom and I have insight and I have strength. And then notice, notice verse 15.

By me kings reign and rule, rulers decree what is right. By me princes rule and nobles are noblemen. They all who govern justly. Now these verses really can be divided in two sections. They're still under the heading of high honor. First verses 12 to 14. Now this is familiar teaching again. Again we see that wisdom gives prudence. It gives discretion. Simply this means good sense, good judgment, good sense, good judgment come from the good lady of wisdom. We saw this teaching back in chapter one verses two to seven. We examine these verses in our first message, the very first message in the series that I called the call to God's wisdom.

And then verses 13 to 14 reveal that wisdom enables one to hate evil ways and even evil speech. Getting wisdom enables one to keep them from pride and arrogance. We're familiar with that. But notice the second section. The second section is in a new setting. Verses 15 to 16 put wisdom in a high and honorable circumstance. We see wisdom with kings. We see wisdom with princes and wisdom with noblemen. We see wisdom in the rule and reign of godly kings, godly princes, and godly noblemen. Wisdom enables them to govern properly to do what is right, to do what is just and fair.

This would enable them to do right by their kingdoms and the people within their kingdoms. Now question which of us want godly rulers to do what is right, just, and fair? That's rare today, is it not? When we look at politicians today, I'm sad to say it's really depressing because it seems like none of them do what is right and just and fair. But that's what we see here. Those who do what is right and just and fair, they have wisdom. So notice that wisdom is elevated to a high place, a high place of honor. So notice how all this is progressing. We have one more observation. We see her words.

Her words are noble words, right words, truth, and righteousness. They are of great value and her words are honorable and they are found in honorable places. And then fourth, notice her fruit. Notice her fruit. Starting in verse 17, down to verse 21. "I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently find me. Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver. I walk in the ways of righteousness in the paths of justice, granting an inheritance to those who love me and filling their treasuries." Again, wisdom is seen as a person here.

Wisdom is seen as talking through Solomon to the young son. Look how personal verse 17 is. "I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently find me." Wisdom is saying, "I love the ones who love me." But as we keep going through the verses, we see fruits. Let me quickly share these with you. With wisdom comes riches, honor, enduring wealth, and righteousness in verse 18. With wisdom comes fruitfulness, that which is more fruitful than even gold and silver. Verse 19, "With wisdom comes the right path." In life, verse 20, remember there are only two paths in life, the path of the righteous and the path of the wicked.

And so with wisdom comes the right path or path in life. And with wisdom comes an inheritance in verse 21. So notice that the one who attains wisdom, the one who gets wisdom, what does verse 17 say? "I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently." When they get wisdom, they possess honor, the right paths in life, and an inheritance. Another question, what type of inheritance is this? Is this monies, lands, and possessions? No, this is a godly heritage. This is a godly heritage. Now in summarizing all of these verses, really verses 1 to 21, what do we see here? Wisdom is calling to the young man. Wisdom is making her case.

She is elevating herself to the young man. She is calling him to see the value of her words, her value which is far above things that are of earthly value. She is calling to him to see great and high honor that he can have in her. If she is valuable to kings and princes and noblemen, then she should be valuable to the young man. If she can enable kings and princes and noblemen to rule and reign with righteousness and justice and truth, then she can enable the young man to live with righteousness, justice, and truth as well. She is helping him to see that great fruitfulness come from life with her.

Now remember the urgency that I spoke about earlier? Why would Solomon be calling his son to a great level of seriousness? Why would he be very urgent? Remember this young man is hearing many voices. There are competing voices, and I alluded to them all along, competing voices for his attention, the attention of the young man. There is the cry of the evil gang. Remember the peer pressure? Those who call to the young man to get involved in evil? And then there is the cry of the wayward wife, that seductive, sinful speech from the loose living woman. So Solomon knows how serious this is. This is urgent.

He knows that the young son is hearing all types of voices, and he knows that he must hear the voice of wisdom. I'll go back to a message that I heard quite a few years ago. Most of you know that we do a student camp every year, quite a few churches that are involved, and Brother Keith and I have been involved for quite a few years, glory day student summer camp, but I'll never forget a few years ago our friend Luke Johnson preached the opening message of the camp, and in that message he talked about the two voices of history, and if you go into the garden of Eden we see that there are two voices all along in the creation.

It's God said, God said, God said, God said, God said, God said. Well then when Adam and Eve are there in the garden and everything is perfect, then enters another voice in the garden, and notice what the other voice was. Did God say? Satan comes along and questions God's voice, and it competes in the hearts of Adam and Eve between what God said and what Satan said, and so what we have here is the voice of wisdom is competing against the many voices that are out there, and we must ask ourselves, what do we do? What do we do whether we're an adult or a teenager? We can't hide, we cannot get away from all of the voices.

No, there are many voices out there, and what we must do is recognize and know the voice of God. That's why Solomon keeps saying over and over and over to his son, so he won't forget, so it'll be ingrained in his mind and in his thinking and in his heart, and it just comes out of him. He knows that he must know this one voice, the voice of God, the voice of wisdom, and we must get to a place where we must recognize the voice of God, know the voice of God, know what God's word says, know what God's ways are.

We must know from adult all the way down to children, and we do this by being in God's word, by being in God's word personally, by studying God's word together just like this, and then second, we must know that the other voices are sinful. Now, are we ever going to know all of the other voices? No, we just must know the one true voice, and then when anything comes along that questions God's voice, we know it's sinful.

All Adam and Eve had to do was say, "That's not what God said." All they had to do, no matter what Satan said, all they had to do was say, "That's not what God said." So the challenge for us is this, we must know the voice of God, and then if we know the voice of God, we will recognize all of the other voices as illegitimate. We will recognize all of those other voices as competing voices, but I revisit this urgency. How urgent should we be? Listen, it doesn't matter how old we are, we need wisdom for daily living. Do we not? What's the title of the series to study through the book? Wisdom for Christian Living. Wisdom for Christian Living.

When are we living the Christian life? Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday, on the weekend, on vacation, when we're at a family reunion, when things are tough and when things are not tough, we need wisdom for daily living, and so we must be equipped to live the Christian life as adults, and that's by being in God's word, and we're going to talk a little more about that, but listen, teenagers, you need wisdom as well, but you need wisdom in a different way. Now, I want us to be honest here. I've got a little exercise for us, all right? So whether we're an adult or a teenager, I want us to really pay attention.

We're going to use our imagination. I'm going to ask you some rhetorical questions, but here's my first question. As adults, how many of you, if you could go back and change some things when you were a young person or a teenager, how many things that went on or or choices you made or things that you did, or how many things would you change? It can be sad. Now, you know, we say, well, if I knew then what I know now, that can be indicting. If you could go and go back and choose wisdom rather than foolishness, how much different would your life be? Let's just get specific.

If you could go back and choose God's way, God's wisdom, God's word, rather than foolishness, how much different would your life be? Now, I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but teenagers listen to you pastor. There would be many adults, if they were honest, they would raise their hand and say, if I could go back, I could change a lot of things in my life if I chose wisdom. So the way this applies to you is this. You've got your life in front of you. You're not looking back on a lot of regret like some can. So what I want you to see is the value in these days, young people, the value in these times.

You have your whole life ahead of you. And so what you must do is this. See that wisdom is making her case for you. Whether we're studying Matthew, whether we're studying Proverbs, no matter if you're in a Bible study, no matter what, all the time that God's word is taught you in your home and in the church is wisdom making her case. And she is extremely valuable. One more thing I'll say to you teenagers, you get to know some of the adults in our church and you ask them, ask them, ask them these questions.

And I think some of our adults would say, listen son, listen young lady, if you will adhere to the teaching that's being put out before you, you won't have some of the heartache that I've had. So wisdom is making her case. And it's a great case. It's a wonderful case. So let's move on. I want us to see our second major division in all of these verses. We're looking at verses 22 to verse 36. Verse 22 on down to verse 36. And we're looking at wisdom. She explains her works.

Now just as the teaching from verses 1 to 21 can be found in previous teaching in Proverbs, we see this teaching, verses 22 to 36 in chapter 3 as well, specifically verse 19 to 20. One of the commentator that I was studying this week calls chapter 3, verse 19 to 20, a tantalizing glimpse of what we see in these verses in chapter 8. So what I'm showing you with that is this. We have a glimpse in chapter 3, but we have the door wide open in chapter 8, verses 22 to 36. Here we will see this good lady of wisdom explain more. She will give more details concerning her relationship to God and in her place in creation.

Now we have three observations that I want to make here. I want us to see this good lady of wisdom, her relationship to God and to creation, and then how she blesses those who attain her. So first notice her relationship to God. The good lady of wisdom, her relationship to God. Look at verse 22 and we're going to read down to verse 26. "The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up at the first before the beginning of the earth.

When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water, before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills I was brought forth, before he had made the earth with its fields, are the first of the dust of the world." Now if we know the creation account, if we go back to Genesis chapter 1 and we know the Genesis account, the creation account, we will see a familiar ring. If we took the time to read Genesis 1 and then jump over to chapter 8 verses 22 to 26, we would see a lot of similarities. Yes, there are similarities but I want you to see there are some differences.

Now we will get to those in just a few moments, but notice wisdom's relationship to God. In verses 22 to 26, the good lady of wisdom describes her beginnings as before the creation of the universe. We see that from verse 22 to verse 26. It's there. "The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work in the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up," verse 24, "when there was no depths I was brought forth." Now a question, what does this mean? There is some debate as to the meaning of these verses. As a matter of fact, scholars go back and forth. Does this mean that God possessed wisdom before the creation?

Does this mean that God created wisdom before the creation? There are some scholars that debate this word possessed in verse 22, what it really means. In the original, that word possessed, it can mean possessed or created or born, but this language is meant to be poetic. It's, he's using metaphors. The point here is simple. The point here is that wisdom comes from God. Wisdom is a part of of who God is. Therefore wisdom precedes God's creation. The good lady of wisdom was before creation because God was before creation. This is the case because wisdom is of God and from God. Now with that in mind, go back to the verses.

"The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old." How did he possess her or the lady of wisdom? Because wisdom proceeds from God. Verse 24, "When there was no depths I was brought forth, wisdom was there before God because wisdom is of God and from God." So notice that wisdom is from God. The good lady of wisdom is from God and of God. Therefore this wisdom existed before the creation. Now I know that's a lot, but we need to see that. Her relationship to God is this. She was with God because she is from God and of God. And then second, notice her relationship to creation.

Verse 27, "When he established the heavens, I was there. When he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limits so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him like a master workman and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always." And then one more verse, "Rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man." Now earlier I said there were a lot of similarities between Genesis 1 and these verses and Proverbs, but I went on to say that there were some differences.

Now there are differences, but there are no contradictions. These verses give some information that Genesis 1 does not. You need to hear that. These verses in Proverbs give us information that's not found in Genesis 1. Let me give you an example. Earlier we saw that this good lady of wisdom was before the creation. Here we see that the good lady of wisdom was there at the creation. Look at verse 27, "When he established the heavens, I was there." Wisdom was there. Look at verse 30, "Then I was beside him like a master workman." So wisdom was there. Wisdom was beside him. Now a question. What's going on? She's personified. What is she doing?

What does this mean? Now I want us to see some details that we really need to see. Notice who was doing the creating. It was God. But notice where wisdom is during the creation. Wisdom is with God. So another question. What is, what do we make of this? What's going on here? Earlier we saw that wisdom is from God and of God. Because wisdom is of God, wisdom was there before the creation. So here we see that wisdom was there during the great work of creation. One commentator said it like this, "We might picture her," that's wisdom, "rolling up her sleeves and helping God to create the world as his agent and craftsman.

Much like those, when they were commissioned by God, they built the tabernacle and its furniture." That's a good example. So notice what is going on. Wisdom is not disconnected from God. Wisdom is of God and from God. And by his perfect and infinite wisdom, God created the universe. And then third, notice her relationship to happiness. Notice how this progresses. Notice her relationship to God. Notice her relationship to creation. And notice her relationship to happiness. This is the last of the verses starting in verse 32. "And now, O sons, listen to me. Blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.

Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. But he who fails to find me endures himself, and all who hate me love death." Here we see a transition. Solomon moves from lady wisdom and creation to the results of wisdom in life. He gets practical. Again, Solomon is addressing the son. We see that in verse 32. Again, we see him directly address or teach the son. But to me, these verses are all about blessing and happiness in life. That's what we see here. This is the internal blessing.

This is that internal happiness, just like we're studying in Matthew chapter 5 in the Beatitudes. Notice the phrases that speak to happiness and blessing. Lady wisdom brings blessing. We see that in verse 32 to verse 34. Lady wisdom brings favor. We see that in verse 35. Lady wisdom brings safety in life. We see that in verse 36. So notice Solomon is urging his son to hear his instruction. He is calling his son to embrace this good lady of wisdom so as to have blessing and favor and happiness and safety in life. So in summarizing these verses, verses 22 to 36, what do we see here? Wisdom's relationship to God in creation and man's happiness.

Wisdom is of God and from God. That is the only way wisdom could be before creation. Therefore, wisdom was there at creation. It was through God's perfect and infinite wisdom that he created. And for us, the practical, acquiring and possessing and keeping wisdom surely will bring happiness and blessedness. Now, in applying these verses, again, I want to go back to the two voices there at creation. Remember what took place in the garden? It was God saying. It was God speaking. It was God declaring. And then we get personal because what did he do? He commanded Adam and Eve certain things to do and certain things not to do. We know the story.

And then we have that second voice that questions what God said. Well, here we don't see two voices. We see two works. Now we see two works. First, the work of wisdom in creation and now the work of wisdom in man. But what we need to see is this. This wisdom is not just a good way to live. No, this wisdom is from God and of God. And this is the same wisdom that was there at the creation. And in studying that, it elevates wisdom to its proper place. We see the wisdom of God in creation. Remember lady wisdom? She's personified. What is she saying? I was there. I was with God before the creation.

And she is saying because I am from God and of God. I was there in creation the whole time. And we see that same voice crying out to the young man. Embrace me. Love me. I love you. And then when we see wisdom embraced, we see the work of wisdom in man. We see blessedness and happiness and favor and safety. Remember we talked about that question. Is proverbs about the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel? No. But we can't escape the blessing and the honor and the favor that comes with wisdom in the life. So again, we see two works. The work of wisdom in creation and then the work of wisdom within a man.

Now I have us another exercise for us adults and teenagers. For us adults, we've lived a few years and let's look back on life and let's be honest. Haven't we seen people reject wisdom? Haven't we seen people reject wisdom and embrace foolishness and embrace folly and sin and unrighteousness in so many ways? We've seen that and it's sad. We have to watch many times people live their life and see if they have a godly inheritance or not. But if we're honest and we look at this teaching, we can see where they're going. So let's look back. Let's be honest. But let's look forward.

Whether we have three years or five years or 10 years or 50 years, we can embrace wisdom and have a life of blessing and honor and godliness. Yes. But see, for us who are older, we can look back. But for those of you who are teenagers, you can't look back like we can. But listen young person, you can look around. Listen to your pastor. Look around you. Parents, help your teenagers. Look around. Be honest with them. Look around and look at how people are living. Are they embracing wisdom or are they embracing foolishness? And look teenagers, you look around and you look to God's Word and then you look forward.

Because without the good lady wisdom, you're going to go the way of the fool. Without this good lady wisdom, you're going to go the way of immorality. You're going to go the way of the fool. You're going to go the way of foolishness and you will be the foolish one that we are studying about in Proverbs. So which work will it be? Which work will it be? Now let's move on to the conclusion. I want to push back from the verses. There's been really a lot I know in the message and and I want us to make some application. Now I want to make application here at the end first with a warning and then I want to make application with a key. All right.

There's a key to the whole thing. Now I use that illustration quite a bit but this really needs to be visited. First the warning. Now we can't make this kind of teaching external. We can't make it external religion. Now let me give you some hypotheticals or examples that'll help you see what I mean. We can't make this something that we put on and we take off. You know a lot of people have that kind of life. They have their Sunday morning church life and then they have their work life and then they have their hobby life and they have their family life. They're one way at the church house. And different when they're at the house themselves.

They're one way at work and then they're different at church. See this is not some type of external religion that we put on and we take off. And then also this can't be a list of rules. Christianity can never be a list of rules. And then this can't be and this will be easy for us adults to understand. Tougher for our young people. We can't make this religious moralism. We've all been victims of this religious system religious moralism. Now let me show you what I mean. We've been taught this. Come to church, read your bible, pray, tithe and witness. Is there anything wrong with all that? No. But you can do that in the flesh.

Those can be externals and many times it's hyper moralism. It's religious moralism. Come to church, read your bible, pray, tithe and witness. So anything that's external we must push back from. That's my warning. Don't let anything that's taught in the Proverbs be external. If you ask Brother Keith this testimony, he will tell you that he was born of God, born again, and he was a Pharisee and he is a recovering Pharisee. Because he fell prey to making these things externals. And that's not what it is. And there's so many in the lives of our churches, even in our families today, it's all about externals. But what's the key?

Let me share with you the key to the whole thing. The key to the whole thing is knowing Christ. The key to the whole thing is being born of God, being born of the Spirit, being a bible Christian. That you've come to a place in time when God has revealed himself to you. He has shown you your sin and you know Christ. You've been born of God. You've not just made a decision or a promise or a commitment. No, it's about knowing Christ. This is relational. This is relational. And then a part of that key is walking with Christ and walking with God in His Word. And then we walk in obedience to Christ. Again, this is relational.

Young people, how do you relate to your parents? It's relational. They're not just pictures on the wall. No. You know your mom. You know your dad. You relate to them. Either you're in obedience to your parents or you're in disobedience. And so we know Christ and we walk with Christ in His Word and we walk in obedience. And listen, that's the Christian life. Now as we walk with God in the Christian life, there's work. There's effort. It takes time. We come to church. We study our bibles. Yes, we pray. We tithe. We witness. But that's all relational. We don't just come to faith in Christ and just sit there and grow. No.

We are involved in body life with brothers and sisters in Christ. We study God's Word. This is sanctification. It's growth, not just in knowledge, but it's relational. God takes what we learn and we pray over it and we digest it and we we struggle over it and we know God and walk with God. So the key to the whole thing is knowing Christ and then what just explodes out of that is this walking with God and this all becomes relational. I'll give you a good example of how this is fleshed out for one particular person in the life of our church.

One person said to us, "Yes, I've been memorizing scripture, but that had become mechanical." But as I begin to take the Proverbs, I talk about meditating over it, letting it be, letting it marinate over our hearts and minds, as they begin to make it relational and not mechanical, they begin to say how it just revolutionized how they related to the text. So this can't be external. It's knowing Christ. It's relational. And listen, when that's the case, you'll run to the good lady of wisdom. Yeah, you'll run to the good lady of wisdom. Remember the verse? What did she say?

"Those who love me, I love them." Verse 17, "I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently, find me." So here's what I say to you as we close. The way you find the good lady of wisdom is in Christ. Listen, if you're not born of God, I urge you to pursue Christ, to seek Christ, will help you in any way. Listen, the way the good lady of wisdom becomes your companion in life is through Christ. Now I close with our illustration that I opened this up with. Lady Liberty. What's she a symbol of? Freedom. Opportunity. Liberty. Those who came from oppressed circumstances, difficulties. They journeyed to America. Why?

They journeyed to America because America is a land of freedom and opportunity and liberty. And the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of that which they attained. And so in Christ Jesus, listen, we get the good lady of wisdom.