So we're going to be in Proverbs 24, so if you want to just bookmark something right
now because we'll be coming back.
We're going to be in Proverbs quite a bit tonight, so I'll have you move it around,
but I want to preach it on there where it begins in verse 13.
It says, My son, eat thou honey because it is good, and the honeycomb which is sweet
to thy taste, so shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul, when thou hast found it.
And there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.
And I want to preach a sermon entitled, The Sweetness of Wisdom.
The Bible here, especially the book of Proverbs, it talks a lot about wisdom, it has a lot
of great things to say about it.
And one of the things that often we'll find when we go through the Bible and read about
wisdom is that it likens and unto honey specifically, you'll see that several times throughout the
scripture.
And really that just kind of got me thinking, why is that?
Why is the Bible liken wisdom and knowledge and understanding unto something like honey?
And I'm just going to go through some points tonight and just try to draw some parallels.
How is it that wisdom is like honey?
How is it that, what qualities do they share that are similar?
And we'll see that wisdom truly is sweet.
So of course the first reference we got here and there in verse 13 where it says, So shall
knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul.
We say it's going to be like wisdom, or excuse me, it's going to be like honey, which is
sweet to thy taste.
So one of the first things we can learn about wisdom, it's like honey in the sense that
it's something that ought to be desired, it ought to be something that we want.
You know, we probably all in here would say we like honey, right, we would say that's
a good thing.
I mean, if you're one of those people that doesn't like it, then you know, probably just
keep that to yourself.
It makes you a little odd, right?
But most people like honey.
I don't know that I've ever met anybody that doesn't like honey.
I've met people who don't like fruit.
I married her.
So, is that too much?
Too much information?
I'm like, you've got to be careful about doing that, but you know.
Now you know in the future if you ever want to do anything nice for my wife, don't do
the fruit basket.
It'll all end up me, I'll be eating it, so.
But as far as I know, she likes honey, so maybe you can get her some of that, but that's
just one of those things that wisdom is like honey because it's something that we should
desire and because it is good there, we would say honey is a good thing, we like honey.
You know, some of our favorite cereals, you know, honey bunches of oats, we ate that growing
up.
We like honey.
I mean, who's going to turn up their nose and say honey and just be like, ugh, you know,
and not want anything to do with it.
Well, it's the same way with wisdom and who would find the source of wisdom, who would,
just like a person would walk by a jar of honey and say, oh, that's disgusting, I don't
want anything to do with it.
Well, who would do that with wisdom?
I mean, what if we could set out wisdom in a pot or a bowl and say, here is wisdom.
I mean, who would turn up their nose at it?
Who would say, oh, no, thank you, and refuse it?
Well, there are people out there that do it, in Proverbs chapter one, Oredia says, the
fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom.
So there are people out there that would turn up their nose at wisdom, and the Bible says
that those people are fools.
I mean, wouldn't you say that about somebody that would turn up their nose to honey?
I mean, if we were to just set out a big, delicious pot of honey, I remember when I
was a kid, the honey that we always had had that wooden thing in it, you know what I'm
talking about, it had the little ball at the end.
Is there an official name for that?
Because I don't know what it is.
That's one utensil that I've never heard described with a proper name.
But I remember as a kid, you'd take that out, you'd put it on something, and before that
thing got put in the sink, man, nobody's looking, I mean, you're looking clean, right?
Because honey is good.
Who would turn that up?
Well, fools, you know, they would turn down, they would be just as foolish as somebody
turning down a taste of honey, and a fool would turn down wisdom.
They'd say, no thanks.
And why is it?
Because there's no fear of the Lord.
See, honey, it's like wisdom because it makes things better.
And really, that's what wisdom will do for us in our life, and that's why we should desire
wisdom, that's why we should seek the source of wisdom, that's why we should pray and ask
God for wisdom.
Because if we have wisdom in our life, it's going to make life better.
Just like if you had that plain bowl of oatmeal.
I mean, who likes to just sit down and eat a plain bowl of oatmeal?
No flavor in it.
I mean, again, if you do, keep that to yourself, don't ruin my illustration, please.
But that same plain bowl of oatmeal, we'll take it, we'll put that big dollop of honey
in there.
Now it's something that we'd actually just enjoy eating.
Well, it's the same way with wisdom in life, you know, life is better when we have wisdom.
The Bible says, who despises the word shall be destroyed, but he that feareth the commandment
shall be rewarded.
The law of the wise is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death.
Good understanding giveth favor, but the way of transgressors is hard.
So when we have wisdom, when we have understanding, you know, that gives favor.
But when we decide, when we turn up our nose at wisdom, we say, I don't need the wisdom
of the Lord, I don't need the Bible, we go in the way of the transgressor, and the Bible
says that the way of the transgressor is hard.
And that's very true.
You don't have to look very far to find somebody who's lived their life without wisdom.
And you would not say they're living a sweet life, a life that, you know, you would say
what substance can I compare their life to?
Honey would not be what comes to mind.
You know, they are living a very bitter life.
You know, and they have that look like they've been sucking on a lemon.
That's what the way of the transgressor does, it makes bitter, angry people, because it's
hard life to live like that.
To live a life without wisdom.
Bible says in Ecclesiastes 10, if the iron be blunt and he do not wet the edge, then
he must put two more strength, but wisdom is profitable to direct.
So a lot of times people, you know, the way of the transgressor is hard and they find
themselves just having to plow through life, just get through life, just one heart knock
after another.
It's always things coming against them, it's because they've been living their life without
wisdom.
But when we have wisdom, when we have the sweetness of wisdom in our life, the Bible
says it's profitable to direct and we're able to see our path more clearly and understand
how to, you know, get around certain obstacles or to avoid them altogether and certain hardships
that come into our lives.
So we see first of all that wisdom is like honey because it's something to be desired
and because it's something that makes life better.
So wisdom is also like honey because it has to be found.
You say, well that's great, I think, you know, what you're saying about wisdom, I want some
of that.
Or you know, honey you can just go down to any store today and buy it off the shelf.
But back in the day it wasn't always like that.
You know, a lot of times it grew in the wild, you would stumble upon it or it would be something
you'd have to go and find.
And you know, the point is that honey didn't just fall into your lap.
You know, it was something, I mean we all saw Winnie the Pooh growing up, right?
I mean eventually it ran out and you had to go climb a tree and climb in there and get
stuck and have the bees buzzing around and everything.
It doesn't just fall into your lap.
It's not, you know, Pooh Bear didn't just call up Amazon, promise, bring me some more
honey.
It wasn't always like that, you know?
And that's the same way with wisdom.
Wisdom isn't just going to come along one day and smack you upside the head and all
of a sudden you're going to be wise.
You're not just going to wake up one morning and suddenly have wisdom in your life.
It's something that you're going to have to work at.
If you want to keep something in Proverbs 24, go over to Proverbs chapter 2.
So wisdom is like honey because wisdom has to be found.
It says in Proverbs 18, you're going to Proverbs 2, but it says in 18, through desire a man
having separated himself, seeketh an inner metallith with all wisdom.
So you have to desire, if you want to seek an inner metallith with all wisdom, if you
want to become a wise person, you're going to have to desire it.
It's going to be something that you want.
It's going to be something that you have to pursue and go after.
It's not going to just happen in and of itself.
Put it there in Proverbs chapter 2 verse 1, it says, my son, if thou wilt receive my
words.
Now there's a little word there that a lot hangs on that, those two little letters, if.
My son, if thou wilt receive wisdom and hide my commandments with thee so that thou shalt
incline thine ear.
I mean that gives you the idea of somebody having to bend their ear and listen.
Have you ever noticed anybody who's really trying to listen sometimes, they'll turn their
ear and they'll actually do that.
So somebody will have to actually make an effort to direct their ear to the source that
they're trying to hear.
You have to incline your ear unto wisdom.
You have to apply thine heart to understanding.
Look at verse 3.
Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, if thy liftest up thy voice for understanding, if
thou seekest her as silver and searchest her as for hid treasures, then thou shalt understand
the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
If you want to have wisdom tonight, we're going to have to look for it.
We're going to have to search for it.
We're going to have to apply ourselves.
We're going to have to incline our ear.
We're going to have to cry after it.
We're going to have to lift up our voice.
It's going to have to be something that we really want in our lives and if we're willing
to do that, then it will come, but it's not going to come easy.
That's kind of how honey is, isn't it?
To us, we think honey comes so easy because we just went on a storm bike, but there's
a lot of work that went into that honey.
Somebody had to, I don't know the entire process behind honey making, but there's a lot of
work that goes into those involved.
Somebody has to move those bees around to different areas for them to collect the pollen
and bring it back and they have to do a lot of work just from the human element, harvesting
it and putting it in the jars.
It takes real patience and understanding to extract honey from a hive.
It's not something everybody knows how to do and it's something that has to be done
delicately and it takes a lot of effort.
If you would, turn over to Proverbs chapter 20.
You see, because sometimes just knowing where honey is to be found, that doesn't necessarily
mean it's going to be easy to get.
You might take some real discernment and ability in how to extract that honey.
We would say that in the physical world, but it's the same way with wisdom.
Just because we know where wisdom is, that doesn't necessarily mean that we're going
to be able to extract it and apply it to our lives.
Look at Proverbs chapter 20 verse 5.
The Bible says,
Council in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.
I always loved that proverb.
It's always made me think about a well.
The Bible says there,
Council in the heart of man is like deep water.
I believe it's referring to water that's down deep.
It's way down in the earth.
It's very deep.
Because it goes on and says,
but a man of understanding will what?
Draw it out.
I mean, we might find somebody who has wisdom, but you know, people who have wisdom, they're
wise enough to know that they're just not going to utter it to everybody.
They're not just going to pour out their mouth and give it to, you're not going to waste
their words on somebody who's going to not take that wisdom and use it.
They keep it within.
That's why it says there, it's like in the heart of man, it's like deep water.
And it takes a man of understanding to do what?
To draw it out.
That requires effort to lower down the bucket, you know, fill it with water, bring it up
and then to drink it.
So the point I'm trying to make here is that just because we find the source of wisdom
doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to become wise.
That we actually have to apply our hearts under this and incline our ears.
We have to be like that man who finds the deep water, but then is willing to also lower
the bucket and patiently draw that water back up.
And of course we all know the greatest source of wisdom is found right here in this book.
And yet today so many people, it's like there's this big pot of honey just sitting there.
I mean it's just oozing wisdom.
It's like, you know, how to go to heaven, how to live a good life, how to live a pleasant
life, how to have a good marriage, how to raise children, how to have a good church,
how to win souls, how to do all the works of God, I mean it's just dripping wisdom.
And they're like that fool who would just turn up his nose at honey and say, no thank
you.
And we all know the source is there, but how often do we find ourselves drawing the wisdom
out of it that's there for us?
That's because it takes effort.
It takes effort to open up your Bible day in and day out and to read it.
It takes effort to be faithful to church, to hear the preaching of the word of God.
It takes effort to draw out the wisdom from the source.
The Bible says in Psalms 119, how sweet are thy words unto my taste, sweener than honey
to my mouth.
So there again we're seeing how the word of God itself is likened unto honey, something
that is desirable, something that has to be found, something that has to be worked for
to be attained.
If you would, turn over to Psalms chapter 19, Psalms chapter 19.
The Bible says in Psalms 19 verse 7, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
So that sounds like some great things that the word of God can do for you.
I mean the word of God, the law of the Lord can convert the soul.
I mean that's such a great place to start right there.
That the word of God can save you.
The testimony of the Lord is sure, it's something that we can count on.
It's not going to disappoint us, it's not going to let us down.
And what can it do?
It can make wise the simple.
I certainly don't claim to be the wisest man around, I'm sure you'd all agree with that.
You don't have to aim in that.
I like to think that I've attained some level of wisdom in my life, to at least I can say
to the point where I'm not just being a complete mess out of my life.
Where I'm still profitable to some degree to God, where I can still accomplish something
for the Lord.
And I have to remind myself, we all do that, whatever we have is that which we have received.
All the wisdom that I might have has come from this book.
It's come from the preaching.
It's come from other men of God who have spent time reading and studying and taken the time
to preach that word unto us.
That's what the testimony of the Lord can do, it can make wise the simple.
Because let me tell you, I started out pretty simple, and you know in a lot of ways I still
got a ways to go in that area.
But the word of God can make us wiser than when we started.
It says that the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart, and that the commandment
of the Lord is pure.
And what does it do?
It says enlightening the eyes.
And again here it's lightening it unto honey, because if you recall the story of Jonathan,
when he found honey, what did it say it did to him?
That it enlightened his eyes as well, when he had tasted just a little of the honey.
Sometimes we get busy in life, and we try to read our Bibles, we have a plan, we try
to stick to it, we do the best we can, but sometimes life just gets a little busy, doesn't
it?
And we can't get the ten pages, or the X amount of chapters, or spend the full hour in the
word of God, we just feel like we got up late, maybe we didn't get a good start on
the day, and we're behind, and we feel like we don't have time to sit down and read the
word of God.
But you know if you just sit down and maybe just read today's Proverb, and that's where
this sermon came from, was just from sitting down and saying I'm going to read the Proverb
of the day today.
If you just taste a little of that honey, just that little bit, that Proverb could enlighten
your eyes for that day.
You could go out a little bit wiser than when you went to sleep the night before.
And really if you think about it, that's how you take in honey.
We were always telling you, you don't want the kids to just, that's why mom puts the
honey way up in the pantry, puts the sugar way far away, puts the candy sprinkles way
up in that, remember that little cupboard above mom's stove, you know that one that's
way up there is only that big, you had to scoot the chair over, and she'd hear the legs
brrrrr, like what are you doing?
Ah, bust it again, how does she know?
It's because they don't want you just gorging yourself on that stuff.
And really that's how honey is, that's how sweet things are, and that's how wisdom is.
Wisdom has to be taken in doses.
That's why it takes a lifetime of reading, a lifetime of listening to the word of God,
obeying the word of God, and letting life teach you, and seeing where you can apply
the things that you're learning, and meaning from it.
And honey is taken in small doses just as God's word is given in small doses.
And the Bible says here a little, there a little, you know, precept upon precept, line
upon line, it's not just all at once.
And that's why we have to work at it, that's why wisdom is something that has to be found,
it's not something that's just going to fall in your lap, it's something that has to be
worked for, just like you would honey.
The Bible says in Proverbs 25,
Hast thou found honey?
Eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith and vomited.
Now that's a good practical wisdom right there, isn't it?
That's just good practical knowledge from the word of God.
You know, if you can't stumble across some honey, be careful, you don't eat too much,
you might throw up.
It is not good to eat much honey.
So for men to search their own glory is not glory.
So wisdom is something that has to come to us in doses, it's something that has to come
us here a little, there a little, just like you would any sweet thing.
Look at verse 9 there, Psalm 19.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
And what does it say in verse 10?
More to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than the honey and
the honeycomb.
So again, throughout the scriptures we see wisdom being God's word being likened under
the honey.
So wisdom is like honey because it's something to be desired and it's something that has
to be found and it's something that has to be worked for and it's something that has
to come to you in small doses and it takes a while to finish it.
I mean, if you were to sit down and try to eat that whole bag of sugar, you know, it
would take you a while.
You'd have to stop for a while and you'd have to wait.
Some of you are nodding your head, I wonder if you've actually tried this.
You know, you'd have to stop, you know, put it aside for a while, come back.
It's the same way with God's word, it's not something you're just going to sit down and
read at one time and suddenly have all the knowledge of all the ages of God himself just
in your mind ready to just dispense wisdom to everybody that asks.
You have to keep reading it, keep reading it, keep reading it, taking it all in a little
bit at a time.
So we see also that wisdom is like honey because it is intended that it should be consumed.
The Bible says, if you would, well I'll just read you, Psalm 34, it says,
O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
The Bible says in Jeremiah 15, thy words were found and I did eat them, and thy word was
unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart, for I am called by thy name, O Lord of God
of hosts.
I love that verse.
Why was it that the word of God was a rejoicing of Jeremiah's heart?
Because he said, I am called by thy name.
That's one of the great things about the word of God, if you're born again and you're a
child of God, you know this book was written for you.
I mean this marvelous, miraculous, amazing book that can make you wise and can give you
instruction in life and can help you in so many areas was written for you who have been
called by name.
So we know that this is the source and this is sweet and this is what we need in our lives
and this is what we need to consume to make us better and to help us increase in wisdom
and knowledge.
But once we've found the source of wisdom, that's when the work begins of actually extracting
it and applying it, right?
Like scooping that honey out and putting it on the piece of bread or on the toast.
That takes effort, it takes ability.
So if you would, just turn over to James chapter 1, James chapter 1.
You say we found the source of wisdom, God wrote me a book that's going to make me wise.
You know where it's at, you know where to find the wisdom, you know where the honey
is.
And now it's time to extract it, to do the work.
The Bible said, you're going to James 1, but Jesus said, if you know these things, happy
are ye if you do them.
It's not enough, just know where honey is.
You know, you can't just walk down the grocery aisle at the supermarket and look at the honey
jar and go, oh that tastes good.
You actually have to buy it, you know, open the jar and put some in your mouth to know
how good it is.
It's the same thing with the word of God, it's the same thing with wisdom.
Just knowing that this is God's word and believing that it's God's word is not enough.
He said, you're happy if you do these things.
You have to actually start to do the things that are written in the Bible.
If you want to glean from the wisdom that's in here, you actually have to start doing
what it says.
Look there in James chapter 1 verse 22, be but be doers of the word, and not hearers
only deceiving your own selves.
For if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his
face in a natural glass, for he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway
forgetteth what manner of man he was.
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he may not
have forgetful here but what?
A doer of the word.
This man shall be blessed in his need.
It's not enough to just open the book of the Bible, read it and say, yeah, that's what
it says.
I'm going to walk away and not do what it says.
If you want the wisdom that's in it, you actually have to begin to apply this to your life.
You're there, James, flip over to chapter 3.
See, there's a lot of people, they go through life and they know exactly what it is they
should do, but they never bother doing it.
They never bother applying what they know to do to their life.
And you know what?
They don't live a sweet life.
They don't live a life that's blessed.
They don't live a life of wisdom and instruction.
They live a life that's hard and difficult.
Yes, they know what the wisdom is, they know what God's word says, but they never bother
to apply it.
It's like the person who opens up that honey jar and looks at it and goes, man, that looks
good and just sets it aside.
Never bothers to stick their finger in and have a bite.
That's the way it is with some people and God's word.
They know what it says, but they never want to really see what it's like by living it
out.
Look there in James chapter 3 verse 13.
Who is a wise man and a dude with knowledge among you?
There's a lot of people that would like to just raise their hand and say, oh, it's me.
Oh, over here, I'm the wise one.
Let me instruct you, he babes, and starts to just pour out everything that they know.
Let him show out of a good conversation his works.
I mean, how do you know who's really wise?
Watch their life.
Watch how their kids turn out.
Watch what their marriage is like.
Watch how they are on the job.
Watch how they treat other people around them.
Watch what their soul winning is like.
Watch what they do with their life.
That's how you're going to know who the really wise person is.
It's not me, the guy who just stands up and pontificates and just says all the right things
and can just recite everything to you.
You have to be able to observe their life.
Let him show, not let him speak, not let him talk a big talk.
Let him show out of a good conversation what his works with meekness of wisdom.
Some people, they seem to know what everyone else should do, but they don't bother proving
on themselves.
I mean, a lot of people say, who is a wise man, oh me, and let me tell you how you can
do things better.
You know, the person who's willing to give you a marriage advice that has a terrible
marriage.
That marriage has completely fallen apart.
Here's a bit of advice, here's some wisdom for you.
Don't take marriage advice from people who failed at marriage.
Don't take parenting advice from people who failed as parents.
I mean, that sounds common sense and we've heard it over and over, but yet, people do.
They'll give ear to people who are just ready to just fill their ear with nonsense.
Because why?
Because a fool uttereth all his mind.
You know the guy who's doing the most talking, he probably is lacking the most wisdom.
He says, a wise man keepeth it in until afterwards.
Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding, but that which is in the midst
of fools is made known.
Why is it?
Because they just, they speak and they speak, but we can all, what, we can observe their
lives and say, well what you're saying is a match up of what you're doing.
So wisdom is like an unhoney, why?
Because it's something that we desire, it's something that we should want, it's something
that will make life better.
But it's also something that has to be found, and once it's found it has to be worked to
attain, it has to be applied to our lives.
And I want us to understand one other thing here before we close in a moment, but honey
isn't made in a day.
I mean honey takes a lot of effort that goes into it.
I mean, who makes the honey?
It's the bees, right?
You know what they call the bees that make the honey?
They call them worker bees.
They don't call them leisure bees, they don't call them take it easy bees, they're worker
bees.
Why?
Because it gets a lot of work that goes into it.
It's not made in a day.
Now I did look into this part, you know, praise God for YouTube, I figured out a little bit
more about honey than anything.
How's that made?
That's one of my favorite things, you know, how do they make popsicles?
It's amazing how many times I find myself like, how did they make that?
And now I'm looking it up.
Anyway, I'm starting to birdwalk here, but honey has a source, doesn't it?
And what is that source?
It's pollen.
That's where honey comes from.
So you're getting a science lesson tonight, too.
If you don't get anything else, you're going to understand that, well, now I know how honey
is made.
And pollen has to be collected, right?
The bees, they have to fly out there, they have to find the flowers, and they have to
collect it.
And it's really interesting how they do it, how they collect it.
But then they collect it, and then they have to store it, and then it has to be extracted
from the hive by another person.
Honey's not made in a day.
It takes a lot of work.
It takes a lot of time.
It takes a lot of effort to have good honey.
And the way these bees do it, they go out and they have millions, I think the biggest
thing is they have over three million hairs on their body, on this tiny little insect
with three million hairs on it.
And they even have hair, somebody was joking about this before the service, I didn't even
know what it was until now, but about that statement that's been coined, I believe by
Pastor Anderson, that somebody needs to have hair on their teeth, right?
Yeah, we need some men with hair on their teeth.
Well bees have hair on their eyes, you didn't know that.
They have so many hairs that even their eyes are covered with hairs.
And they go out and they collect all that pollen, and they just roll around in it, and
it all gets in, and then they take their legs and they just move it all back, and they move
it onto the back of those.
Those back legs just get loaded down with honey.
And they carry one third of their own body weight in pollen.
And they do that multiple times, back and forth, back and forth.
I mean one third of their body weight, you know I'm not going to ask how much you weigh,
but I don't know what one third of my body weight is, you know, and that's, it's not
light.
I mean if I was asked to carry one third of my body weight back and forth these distances,
I'd collapse, I couldn't do it, but I'd have these bees do it, don't they?
And what do we learn from that?
Is that God doesn't give wisdom to lazy people.
God isn't just going to give you wisdom just because you're tired of your life not being
good.
Because you're tired of living like a transgressor, saying my life is hard and I want wisdom.
God give it to me.
It's still going to take work.
God's not just going to say, oh I feel sorry for you, you're so pitiful, let me just give
you some wisdom.
I mean it's too good, I mean when you just throw your honey out to every bum that asked
it?
No you wouldn't.
You know, we don't do that.
And lazy people, they don't get wisdom.
They have to work for it.
And why is that?
Because lazy people won't do anything with wisdom.
Why would you give them wisdom?
They're not going to do anything with it.
They're just going to continue to be lazy.
Now if you would, turn over to Exodus chapter 31.
Exodus chapter 31.
This is I think a great example of this, the fact that God doesn't just give wisdom to
lazy people, but He actually gives it to people who are going to use it for His glory, for
His honor.
Look here in Exodus chapter 31, verse 1, the Bible says in Exodus 31, 1, And the Lord spake
unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of her
of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God and wisdom and understanding
and knowledge and all manner of workmanship, to devise cutting works, to work in gold and
in silver and in brass and in cutting of stones, to set them and in carving of timber, to work
in all manner of workmanship.
And I, behold, I have given with him a holy abda, the son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of
Dan.
And in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted have I put wisdom, that they may make all
the things that I have commanded thee, the tabernacle of the congregation and the ark
of the testimony and the mercy seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle
and the table and the furniture and the pure candlestick with all his furniture and the
altar of incense and the altar of burnt offering, with all his furniture, with the laver in
his foot, and the clothes of service and the holy garments for Aaron the priest and
the garments for his sons, the minister and the priest's office, and the anointing oil
and the sweet incense for the holy place, according to all that I have commanded thee
shall they do.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou unto the children of Israel, saying,
Fairly my Sabbath ye shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your
generations.
So we see that God has a lot of work for these people to do.
Did you catch all the furniture, all the instruments, all the oil, all the garments, the tabernacle,
the tables, the cutting, the timber, everything that God had somebody to do, he had a lot
of work.
And who does he give the wisdom to?
He gives it to, in verse 2, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, and I have
filled him with the spirit and wisdom of God.
So he gives wisdom unto this guy, Bezalel, to make all these things, to do all this work.
And I'll guarantee you one thing right now about Bezalel, he wasn't a lazy guy.
Bezalel was a guy, we know for a fact, at the very least, was following Moses, that
he was, I'm missing a page, can you bring that up here, thank you, boy this almost took
a major dive up here, so anyway, sorry about that, but Bezalel, we know for a fact that
he was a guy that was following Moses, right, and he was working, he was traveling, I guarantee
you this was a guy who was already getting his hands dirty.
And what does God do?
He gives him wisdom to do what?
Sit around and let everybody know how wise he is, and just tell everybody else how to
get the job done?
No, he gave him wisdom to devise, to work, to cut stone, to set stone, to carve timber,
to work, and all manner of workmanship, and he said, I'm going to give you wisdom, Bezalel,
and then I'm going to put you to work.
So God isn't going to give wisdom to a lazy person, God's going to give wisdom to people
he knows that are going to get the job done.
Bezalel was a guy who went out and he got his hands dirty, and I, you know, and if there's
anybody that desires to be in ministry at any length, at any sort of, I know there's
guys that do, and this is something that I learned from my pastor back in Michigan told
me was that getting in the ministry is getting your hands dirty, and I remember he always
kind of, these traveling evangelists that would come through in their RV, you know,
they're retired, they got the RV, they're all slicked back, and they've got their pocket
full of messages that they preach, and they just go from church to church, and he didn't
say ever say anything bad about him, but sometimes he confided me a little bit, and he kind of
let on that it irritated him a little bit, these guys.
And he explained to me why, and he said it's because they never get their hands dirty.
They just go from church to church, and just preach a nice message, a nice polished message,
and get a love offering, and drive across the country and take in the sights, and go
to the next one, and so on and so forth.
They never sit down and get involved, and you know what, get their hands dirty.
Doing what?
Getting in the yoke with God, getting in the yoke with other people, going out and
doing the work, and you know, getting in there and getting it done.
And that's who God gives wisdom to, is the people that are going to get their hands dirty,
they're going to be like Bezalel, and actually accomplish something for God.
And really that should tell us this, that wisdom is something that's earned, it's something
that God gives to us.
You know, just like we would reward our children if they do the right thing with maybe some
honey or something sweet like that, it's the same way with wisdom, God isn't just going
to dole it out with no questions asked, He's going to see who's actually going to do something
with it.
I should have had you stay in James, so I'll just read it to you.
It says in James 1, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations.
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience ever perfect
work that ye may be perfect, and entire wanting none eat nothing.
Now everyone knows verse 5, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth
to all men liberally, and abraith not, and it shall be given him.
Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavers is like a wave of the sea,
driven with the wind and tossed, for let not that man think that he shall receive anything
of the Lord.
And people all know verse 5, they know, oh yeah, if you need wisdom, you just ask God
and He gives it to you.
But here's the thing about verse 5, it follows verse 4, and you have to get it, it's connected
to the preceding verses.
And what goes on in those preceding verses, verse 2, My brethren, count it all joy when
what?
When you fall into diverse temptations.
Like this, that the trying of your faith, but let patience have her perfect work.
You get wisdom as you need it, you get wisdom when you're in a position where it's required.
Wisdom is being given to those who ask yes, but are also in a position to put it into
practice.
It's not just people who just want to be wise so they can feel like they're wise, or sound
wise, or appear wise, it's people who are actually going through temptations.
People who are actually having their faith tried.
People who are actually letting patience have her perfect work in their life, and actually
have a sincere need for wisdom in their life.
That's where wisdom, who wisdom is going to be given to when that person asks.
Not just every guy who asks, but the people who are actually in a position where it's
needed.
Wisdom isn't given to lazy people who just want sound wisdom, and it's just sound wise.
If you would, turn over to Proverbs chapter 16, and we'll close there.
Proverbs chapter 16, the very beginning of verse 21.
Proverbs 16 verse 21, the Bible says,
The wise in heart shall be called prudent, and the sweetness of thy lips increaseth learning.
Or any of you in verse 21.
The wise in heart shall be called prudent, and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.
So it says there that the wise in heart shall be called prudent.
What does it mean to be prudent?
Well it means to be discreet.
It's somebody who has, you know, they're a little mean, they're discreet people.
They're not people that are just going to make a big noise or make a big fuss.
You know, it's the type of people that don't need to prove anything.
They don't need to prove that they're wise.
They don't need to go out and prove to everybody, convince everyone that they're the wisest,
or that they have wisdom.
And yet, they shall be called prudent.
The wise in heart shall be called prudent.
They'll say, well that person's very prudent, and he's wise in heart.
Because of the fact that it's their life that shows it, as we discussed earlier.
People can sit back and observe an individual's life and say that person has wisdom.
And you know what else that person doesn't do is go around and just try to convince everybody
else how wise they are.
Verse 22, it says this, understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it.
But the instructions of fools is folly.
You know what's interesting about that is it says that fools give instruction.
The instructions of fools is folly.
There's plenty of people out there that are fools that will just tell you exactly what
to do.
That will give you all the advice that you want.
They're more than happy.
I mean, just get on social media and start asking questions.
You know, go into some group somewhere and ask a question and just, you just want, I'm
not saying everybody that's on there's a fool, but there's a lot of people that just jump
on and just start giving out their two cents.
And a lot of times you hear what they say and you're like, whew, you know, I mean, what's
one area?
But you just pick any area of life.
I mean, child rearing is a big one.
I mean, child rearing takes wisdom.
You're going to need help from God in child rearing.
It takes discernment and how to raise a child right and when to chastise and when to be
gentle and all of these things.
And even, even to, even to do the chastising.
Some people are such fools today, they don't even, they don't even believe the Bible that
says thou shalt beat him with the rod, you know, they don't even think that you should
spank your children.
What do they, what do they promote today?
You know, time out.
Just put them in time out.
Time out doesn't work, friend.
It doesn't work.
And I know because I've had relatives who tried it, you know, and remember that my old,
I alluded to the illustration of the candy sprinkles and that little cover, little, little
junior, I know someone, got the chair over and mom didn't hear it, got up there and she
came down and, and, and he's standing on top of a gas stove and he had taken all the oil
out and poured all the oil around him, diaper full, all just inches, they had to get a new
stove when they were done.
There was so much oil, flammable oil on a stove with the child standing in the center
of it.
And what was he after?
The sprinkles.
Right.
And you know what he got?
Time out.
I said, why don't you spank him?
Oh, I tried that once he just laughed at me.
You're not doing it right.
So that's it.
That's the wisdom of the world.
But they'll there.
But you know what?
I guarantee you that person had somebody saying, oh, you're right to have done it that way.
You're perfect.
I mean, I mean, thank goodness your son didn't, you know, trip on, turn the stove on on the
way up.
Right.
And what a tragedy that would have been.
There was somebody out there that said, no, time out's the way to go.
And that's why you come home and the dog, he's taken all of the condiments out of the
fridge and poured them on the dog.
I know we put ketchup on a hot dog.
You don't put them on a literal dog.
But that's the type of thing.
And this is just one area in life, child room, where there's a lot of fools out there that
will give you all the instruction you want.
They'll sell you all the books, you know, about money, about child rearing, about marriage,
about any area of life.
There's the instruction of fools.
And they'll instruct others just as much and more so than the wise people.
Like as it says here in verse 23, the heart of the wise teacheth his mouth and addeth
learning to his lips.
You know, the wise person is more concerned about making himself wise than everybody else.
And the wise have learned things from themselves before they go out and teach it to others.
That's how they know it's good.
That's how they know it's right.
They read the Bible, they say that's what the Bible says, let me make that a part of
my life.
And once they see that it works and they know it's good and they know how to do these things,
then they go and tell somebody else.
They're not just uttering everything that they think is wise.
They learn it for themselves before they teach others.
Look there in verse 24, the Bible says, pleasant words are as in honeycomb, sweet to the soul
and health to the bones.
There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
You know, there's the way that sounds right, but it's not going to end at anything good.
So just to conclude, what is the sermon about?
It's the fact that wisdom is pleasant.
Wisdom is to be desired.
Wisdom is like honey in all these different ways.
And really what we need to do is just consider the source, really is what the last point
I really want us to understand is that when you're looking for wisdom, you know, if you're
somebody who's willing to put in the word, to do something with the wisdom that's given
you and you're going to God for it and you know where the wisdom is to be found, you
need to consider the source you're seeking it from.
Because we can find it.
There's a lot of bad sources of wisdom out there.
I mean, you think about honey and you think about bees, right?
There's bees and then there's wasps.
As far as I know, wasps don't make honey.
You know, a wasp lives in a nest and what does a bee live, it lives in a hive.
But they both make the same buzzing sound, don't they?
And you can look at them in the distance and say, you can't really tell which one's which.
So we need to really understand which one's which, which source are we going to?
Because if you get in a nest, you're not going to find honey.
You're going to find, you're going to get stung and it's going to hurt.
You know, the interesting thing about wasps is they can sting repeatedly.
And whereas a bee can only do it once and then he dies.
You know, the wasps out there, the fools that are just going to pour out all their wisdom,
at the end of the day, all they can give you is a life of pain.
And if we want real wisdom, if we want the sweetness that's found in real wisdom, we
have to find it from this source right here.
And we have to understand that God's not just going to give it to anybody, but it's going
to be something that we sincerely want, something that we're sincerely going to work for and
something that we're actually going to apply to our lives.
Let's quit and pray.