Alright, so in Job 28 there, one of my favorite chapters, this is a chapter that I enjoy reading
quite a bit.
Sometimes, you know, I just want to read a great chapter in the Bible, other than just
what I'm reading in my own devotions, sometimes I'll just turn over to Job 28, it's always
been one of my favorites.
I think part of the reason that is, you know, it's a real, if I can't say, a gem of a chapter
here in Job 28, forgive the pun, but in Job, you know, there's a lot of real, some heavy
reading when we start to listen to some of these other guys talk, these miserable counselors
that come to Job in his misery.
And Job 28, I think, is just a great reminder of the greatness of God and the value of wisdom.
And I really just want to go through this chapter real quick and point some things out.
In verses 1-11 here in Job 28, show us that God's ability to see things that are hidden
from physical view, I know we touched on that last week a little bit, when we talked about
how there's nothing hidden from His eyes, that all things are naked and open unto the
eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
But also, you know, showing here again that same concept in Hebrews chapter, excuse me,
in Job 28, where it shows us in verses 1-11 that God can see the things that are hidden
from our eyes.
He can see the things that are way down deep in the earth, that's what He's specifically
talking about.
He's talking in those verses 1-11 about the things that are buried deep beneath the earth.
It says there in 28 verse 3, it says, He set at the end to darkness and searching out all
perfection.
And of course in the Bible the word perfection means completeness or wholeness or something
that is in its entirety.
So God is able to see everything is what it's showing here.
He searches out all perfection, He searches out everything that there is so He can see
all of it.
And not only that, specifically here in Job 28, He's showing us that God sees the elements
that are hidden in the earth.
If you look there in verse 3 it says that He seeth the stones of darkness.
I believe what he's referring to there are the precious things that are the stones that
are hidden deep down in the earth.
The stones of darkness.
That says in verse 1, surely there is a vein for silver, and that's what we see miners
going for.
They look for that vein of silver, a vein running through the rocks and cracks of the
earth.
And He says there is a place for gold.
There's also a place deep down in the earth where people can find gold.
That's where they find it.
It says in verse 2, iron is taken out of the earth and brass is molten out of the stone.
Verse 4, the flood breaketh out from the inhabitant, the water is forgotten of the foot, they are
drawn up, they are gone away from men.
Verse 5, for the earth, as for the earth that cometh out of it cometh bread, and under it
is turned up as it were fire.
So God's saying He sees all these precious things.
He sees the silver, He sees the gold, He sees the iron, all these things that are deep down
in the earth.
And not only that, but He says that He sees that under the earth it is turned up as it
were fire.
And even science will tell us today and we can observe from the volcanoes and things
that the magma and the lava that comes up from the earth, from deep down in the earth
and it comes up in the volcanoes, so we see that deep down in the earth there literally
is a place of fire.
And it just shows here how a book of Job is already, when it was written, there was already
an understanding that God's word was already scientifically correct, that it was ahead
of science and understanding that under the earth it were as it were fire.
And the Bible alludes to that in other places as well.
That's not really the focus of the sermon, but it would be an interesting study to do.
It goes on in verse 6, it says the stones of it were as the place of sapphires and it
hath dust of gold.
Now it's real interesting there, he talks about sapphires and all those precious stones
that are deep down there, but it says specifically it hath dust of gold.
And it's real interesting that today in our modern mining when men are going down, they're
going down not just for, you know we get the idea of miners being the guys on the gold
rushes in California and things like that where they would go out and see the old movies
where they find gold in the mountains and it's always, you know, the rock breaks away
and it's just this, you know, shiny sheer face of solid gold.
And that very well be the case, I don't know, that's probably a possibility, but when you
get deep down in the earth like that, they're not mining for this sheer face of gold.
They're looking for literally microscopic traces of gold.
They're looking for gold that cannot even be seen with an inhuman eye.
You can't even see it.
If you were to find, it would just look like a pile of rock to you.
But on a microscopic level, there is gold in there.
That's why it says there is dust of gold and that's what these men mine for.
They mine for and they bring it to the surface and it goes through this entire process and
they collect all those tiny pieces of gold that we can't see and retrieve billions of
dollars worth of gold out of it.
What Job 28 here is showing us is that the things that are difficult for man to find
and recover are things that are easily seen and obtained by God.
Man searches for these things, man looks for the dust of gold, man looks for the silver
and the sapphires and all these precious stones deep down in the earth and he tries to find
it and there's entire industries that are built around mining things out of the earth.
And the Bible is showing us here that God knows where all those things are.
He's the one to put them there.
And then we see man, you know, endeavoring to retrieve those things from the earth, from
going to great lengths and spending billions and just this giant industry employing thousands
of people taking vast tracts of land on the earth and just tearing it all up in an effort
to retrieve these precious substances.
The Bible shows us that God can retrieve those things very quickly.
Verse 9, it says, He putteth forth his hand upon the rock.
He overturneth the mountains by the roots.
He cutteth out rivers among the rocks.
His eye seeth every precious thing.
He bindeth the floods from overflowing.
The thing that is hidden bringeth hee forth the light.
So God, if He wanted, could easily just rend the earth.
He could turn the mountains over and He could see all these precious things.
God could find them very, very easily.
And man puts a lot of, of course we value those things.
Man puts a lot of value in the gold and things like that and silver and all these precious
stones, the stones of darkness.
Those are the things that man seeks after.
And God is showing us here that these things are hidden and these things are difficult
for man to find and man to get, but he can easily get them.
And that's why God puts the premium elsewhere.
The point of this chapter is not just to show us what a great miner God is, but it's to
show us that God puts the premium, God puts the true value somewhere else.
What God values, what God holds in high esteem is not the precious things.
If you look there in verse 12 it says this, But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
So that's the question that's asked in verse 12 after showing us that God can see all these
things.
God can see all these precious stones, all these things of great value that man would
desire to have.
And God says, but where is wisdom?
But where can you go to find wisdom?
You can dig down in the earth and you can find all these precious stones, but where
can you find wisdom?
Because that's what the true value is.
Because the Bible is showing us here that wisdom and understanding cannot be mined like
a precious metal.
It's not something that we can just, if it would be that easy, if only it were that easy,
that we could become wise by just digging a hole in the earth and finding a pile of
wisdom and making it our own.
But that Bible is showing us here that's just not the case.
The Bible says in Proverbs 20 verse 5, That counsel in the heart of man is like deep water,
but a man of understanding will draw it out.
So having counsel, having wisdom is something that's within a man.
It's something that God gets from God and it's something that if we find in another
it's something that has to be drawn out.
That's the place where we can find wisdom, is in another man who is studying the word
of God, a man who has a walk with God, a man who has experience in living for God.
We can draw the wisdom out of that man.
The Bible says in Proverbs 31, Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above
rubies.
So that's a very precious thing as well, a woman who has virtue, a woman who has wisdom
and knowledge and understanding, a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
The Bible says that her price is far above rubies.
You see, God this morning is not putting the emphasis and the value on carnal and earthly
things, things that we would hold in high esteem, things that are valued for high amounts
of money.
God is not putting the premium on precious jewels and silver and gold, no, He's putting
the premium this morning on wisdom, on knowledge, on understanding.
You see, that which is difficult is valuable.
Why is it that gold and silver and all these things are so valuable?
It's because they're hard to find.
I mean, there's no value in a plain rock, there's no value in dirt, it's everywhere.
There's no value really in air because we just breathe it.
Man can't capture those things and hold them captive and sell them to another.
But he can do that with the precious things, man can do that with gold, man can do that
with silver.
You see, that which is difficult to find is valuable and that's what makes wisdom so valuable.
Because true wisdom and understanding is hard to find.
There's a saying, you know, that fools are a dime a dozen.
And that's very true.
You know, any of us that have gone on YouTube know that to be true.
You know, there's a lot of fools out there today that can just spout off and express
themselves and have people listen to what they have to say and they're fools and they're
a dime a dozen.
But the man that has true understanding, the man that has real wisdom, the man that has
the knowledge of God, that is a man who has something truly valuable and he's rare.
You see, man can readily mine precious metals.
It'd be easiest for us to go do that.
And you know, as I've said, you know, we could go, we could talk about all the huge mines
and the pits that are dug and all the, just the amazing facts.
Just the numbers that they do, the amount of land they take up, the tons and tons of
earth that are moved.
And man, you know, can do that stuff.
You know, he makes these huge, you know, just gigantic pieces of machinery that make it
very easy for man to go and mine.
And man would look at that, man would look at these crushers and these trucks that are
two stories tall, just huge.
Tires as big as, you know, taller than the ceiling here this morning.
Just giant trucks and huge excavators that can, you know, fit entire marching bands inside
of the bucket.
I mean, I used to work with heavy equipment so I get kind of excited about this stuff.
But I'm saying, man would look at that, he would look at all this impressive machinery
that man has built.
He would look at man's ability to dig down hundreds, even a thousand or plus more feet
down into the earth from the surface and he'd say, wow, that's really something.
And man makes the mistake of thinking ingenuity and inventiveness is wisdom.
Man would look at that and say, well, man must be very wise.
But that's not the case.
And if we need any proof of that, just look at the world around us.
Look at the foolishness that we see going around in the world.
That people can't even figure out, you know, which bathroom to go in more or what clothes
to put on or what it means to be a man or what it means to be a woman or how to raise
their children.
All these things that man has understood for centuries, it seems like today have just gone
by the wayside and they just don't even understand even the most simple and basic things from
the Word of God.
Because man has become more and more foolish despite the fact that he's been able to achieve
greater and greater technological advances.
You see, man mistakes ingenuity for wisdom.
The Bible asks the question in verse 12,
But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
A man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of the living.
It says, where shall wisdom be found?
Where is the place of understanding?
You see, man doesn't even know where to begin to look for wisdom today.
He doesn't even know where to begin.
It's not that wisdom is hidden away.
It's very easy to find as we'll see here shortly.
But man doesn't even know where to begin to look.
That's what makes it so rare, because man has lost wisdom.
He doesn't know where to look.
Where shall wisdom be found?
The death saith it is not in me, and the sea saith it is not with me.
Look at verse 20,
Whence then cometh wisdom, and where is the place of understanding?
Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept closed from the fowls of the air.
Destruction and death say, we have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
Man doesn't understand the true value of wisdom.
Not only can man not know where to look for it, not does man only not understand where
to find wisdom,
but he doesn't even understand the true value of wisdom.
That's why he can't find it.
Because he doesn't understand the value of it.
If man understood the value of wisdom, then he would look for it.
But man doesn't understand the value of wisdom.
Therefore he does not look for it.
Therefore he does not find it, and that is why wisdom today is so rare.
That's why wisdom is more valuable than gold, or silver, or precious stones.
Look at verse 15, it says,
It cannot be gotten for gold.
Verse 16,
It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir.
Verse 17,
The gold and the crystal cannot equal it.
No mention shall be made of coral.
Verse 17,
Verse 19,
The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
You see, wisdom isn't something you can put a price on.
It's that rare, that even the most precious things in the world, even the most precious
metals that we can find in the world today, even the most rare stones that a man can dig
at and mine out of the earth and discover, those things cannot even begin to be valued
compared to the value of wisdom.
And this would explain all the rich fools we see in the world today.
And isn't that what the Bible teaches in 1 Timothy, verse 6, it says,
They that will be rich fall into temptation and into a snare and into many foolish and
hurtful lusts.
So we can say that they that will be rich, those that would desire great gain, those
that would desire to have abundance of wealth, they're the ones that fall into what kind
of lusts?
Foolish lusts.
They're the ones that go after the most foolish things.
You know, a great example of this, I saw last night Pastor Anderson released that documentary
in Japan, Kamikaze Nation, and it showed you how Japan, a country that experienced great
prosperity, they were one of the leading manufacturers in the world, they produced all these great
vehicles and motors and engines and all these microprocessors, all these technologically
advanced things, and they were one of the great exporters of the world, Japan.
And they experienced great wealth.
But if you look at them today, that country is falling apart from within.
The Bible says that the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
That's exactly what we see happening in a nation like Japan, and yet even to some degree
in the nation of America.
Our prosperity, our wealth, our abundance of the things that we have, those things are
going to be the things that destroy us if we take them for granted and don't understand
that all the good things, every perfect thing coming down from the Father of Lights, that
every good thing we receive is from God.
The Bible says they that will be rich fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts.
You see, the rich despise wisdom.
Why?
Why is it that the rich fall into foolish lusts?
Why is it that the rich despise wisdom?
Because they can't purchase it.
It's the one thing that they can't go out and buy.
Bible says that money answereth all things.
Bible says that, but the Bible is showing us that they cannot just go out and buy wisdom.
That's why they despise it.
They can go out and they can buy any number of things.
They can have whatever the world has to offer.
As the saying goes, everything's for sale.
Right?
That's what they say.
Everything is for sale.
Just take them in the back and sit back there, please.
It's getting distracting.
Bible says that they fall into foolish and hurtful lusts because they can't purchase
wisdom.
That's why they're fools.
You see, the rich despise God because He is the source of wisdom.
They can't go to God and buy wisdom.
That's why they despise God.
Bible says in James 2, ye have despised the poor.
Do not rich men oppress you and trod you before the judgment seat?
Do they not blaspheme that worthy dame by which ye are called?
It isn't the most rich, the most wealthiest people in the world, aren't they the ones
that we see despising and blaspheming God?
We think of people like George Soros, you know, a multi-millionaire, a guy that just
blasphemes God, hates the things of God, hates anything that would resemble the teaching
of the word of God.
Hates it.
And we could go on and on.
Bill Gates is another man who would mock the things of God, who would despise the things
of the Bible, who would teach and practice things contrary to the word of God.
It's the rich that do that.
Because they know that despite all their billions, despite all the money that they have, they
cannot obtain the wisdom of God because God is the source of true wisdom.
You see, only God can impart true wisdom.
As it says there in verse 23, God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place
thereof.
God knows where wisdom is, God understands where it is, he knows where it's to be found.
For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth unto the whole heaven, to make the way
for the winds, and he weigheth the waters by measure, when he made a decree through
the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder.
Then did he see it, and declare it, and he prepared it, yay, and searched it out.
And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord.
That is wisdom.
And apart from evil is understanding.
You see, in this chapter of Job 28, God shows us the true value of wisdom.
And there he asks the question, Where shall wisdom be found?
Where shall wisdom be found?
That's the title of the sermon this morning.
Where shall wisdom be found?
We've seen how valuable it is, we've seen how rare it is.
So then the question is, well where shall wisdom be found?
Where can we find it?
That's the question we ought to ask.
And I love when God asks this question in his Word.
Where shall wisdom be found?
Because it's not a rhetorical question.
It's not a question he asks for a dramatic effect.
It's not something he just puts out there to try and prove a point.
No, he answers the question.
He asks us.
He shows us the value, and then he asks us the question, Well where are you going to
find it?
Now that you see how valuable wisdom is, where will you find it?
And we will see the answer, as it says there in verse 28, it says, The fear of the Lord,
that is wisdom, and it apart from evil is understanding.
So we see, first of all, that wisdom.
If we want wisdom in our lives, if we want to attain wisdom, if we want that which is
more valuable than anything else that can be found in the earth, we would desire wisdom.
And that wisdom is found in the fear of the Lord.
Bible says the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.
Now that phrase right there, the beginning of wisdom, is the fear of the Lord.
That phrase alone can be worn on the entire sermon.
It's used multiple times throughout the Scriptures, and it shows us the results of the fear of
the Lord.
I'll just touch on it this morning, but it says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom.
What does that mean that it's the beginning of wisdom?
Meaning it's the basics, it's the fundamentals.
Fearing God is the beginning of wisdom.
It's not the end of wisdom, it's the very beginning of it.
See if we ever hope to be wise, we need to start with the fact that God is one who is
to be feared.
And there's this misunderstanding out there today of what fear is, and I've heard people
say this, that fear is just this godly reverence.
But it says, Come before the Lord with fear and trembling.
Explain to me how the apostle John, when he saw the glorified Christ in the book of Revelation,
he didn't just say, I stood and saluted the Lord with great respect and reverence.
No, the Bible says he fell down on his face as one dead, and that God had to cut to him
and say, Fear not, and stand him upon his feet.
And many times we see that in the Scriptures where one encounters God, the Lord of Hosts,
as Joshua did when he was about to cross into the Promised Land, the River Jordan, and he
saw the captain of the Lord's Hosts on the other side with his sword drawn, the Bible
says he fell down on his face as one in worship, and out of fear.
Not just as God, not just as reverence and respect.
That's something that children show their parents is respect and honor, right?
But I guarantee you that to some degree, there is an element of fear involved.
Trust me, I know.
We see that wisdom, if we want it, it begins with the fear of the Lord.
God is not going to give wisdom to those who don't have even enough sense to fear Him.
And how hard could that really be when we begin to understand who God is and we read
the Word of God and start to see the nature and character of God, that God is a righteous
and holy God, one who will punish iniquity.
I mean, the Bible says that God is the one who kindled fire, the fires of hell.
The Bible says that God is even present there.
David said, If I make my bed in hell, lo, thou art there.
The Bible says that those that go to hell will be tormented in the presence of the Lord
and of His angels, and they have no rest day or night.
And we see it as God that has not only created hell for the devil and his angels, but it's
also a God that sends the people to hell.
God is a God that is to be feared, and if we want to understand and have the knowledge
and wisdom of God, we need to understand that we must fear God.
The Bible says in Proverbs 1-7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, and
it says this, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
As we saw earlier, it's the rich, they're the ones that fall into foolish lusts and
hurtful lusts.
The rich are the ones that despise wisdom and understanding because it cannot be bought
with gold.
You see, the fear of the Lord is essential for wisdom, it's something we must have.
God is not going to give it to those that despise Him.
And who is it?
Who is the biggest fool of them all?
Isn't it the one who denies the very existence of God?
Isn't it the one who says there is no God?
The Bible says in Psalm 14, the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.
Obviously this isn't a God who fears God, if he denies the very existence of Him, then
he would say that he is the one that is the biggest fool of all.
And really, as I said, this concept, this idea of fearing the Lord, it deserves an entire
sermon.
But we're going to move on because the question we're asking ourselves this morning is where
is wisdom to be found?
We've seen the value of it, we've seen that God puts great value on wisdom, and it's God
that knows where wisdom is to be found, and it's God that can give the wisdom that we
need in our life.
And we need that wisdom.
We need wisdom in every aspect of our life, we need wisdom in our marriages.
We need wisdom in raising our children, we need wisdom in how to perform our daily tasks
at work, and how to raise a family, and how to just conduct ourselves and have a good
and upright conversation in the world.
We need to have the wisdom of God, and in order to have that, we must have the fear
of God.
The question this morning we're asking is where is wisdom?
Where shall wisdom be found?
We see that wisdom is found in the fear of the Lord also.
Number two, wisdom is found in the Word of God.
That's a great place to find wisdom.
In fact, that's where we're going to find the wisdom of God, is yes, in fearing God.
And as we fear God, and serve God, and love God, and read His Word, He will begin to give
us the wisdom out of the Word of God.
It's not that we fear God and then when we go to bed at night, God's going to come down
like some kind of tooth fairy and put wisdom behind our ear or under our pillow and we're
going to wake up.
You've been very good, you've feared me.
He's not some kind of spiritual Santa Claus that if we behave ourselves that we're going
to go out one morning and find wisdom wrapped up in a nice little package.
Wisdom is something that's given spiritually, it's something that's given to us supernaturally
even.
But it's something that we find in the reading of the Word of God.
And when we begin to delight ourselves in the things of God, and God will begin to open
up His Word and allow us to behold wondrous things out of His law.
You see, the reading of the Word of God is what will make us wise.
The Bible truly does have the answer for every problem of life.
There is no conflict or difficulty or problem that we can encounter in life that the Bible
does not address and give a solution for.
The Bible says, and if you would turn to the book of Proverbs chapter 22.
Proverbs chapter 22.
While you're turning to Proverbs 22, I'll read to you from 2 Timothy.
The Bible says,
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and been assured of, knowing
of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
So Paul here is reminding Timothy that it is the holy scriptures that are able to make
one wise.
We see then that wisdom is found in the reading of the Word of God.
Here in Proverbs 22, look at verse 17.
The Bible says in Proverbs 22 verse 17,
Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
For it is a pleasant thing if thou wilt keep them with thee.
They shall withal be fitted in thy lips, that thy trust may be in the Lord.
I have made thee known to know this day, even to thee.
Have not I written unto thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, that I might make
thee to know the certainty of the words of truth?
So if we're going to hear the words of the wise, if we're going to have wisdom, we're
going to listen to the writings of the Bible.
The words of the wise are found in the things that are written in counsel and knowledge.
They're written in the words of truth.
You see, we find wisdom in the fear of the Lord this morning.
Where is wisdom found?
It's found in the fear of the Lord.
Where is wisdom?
Where shall we find wisdom?
Where shall it be found?
It will be found in the reading of the Word of God.
It will also be found in meditating upon the words of God that will make us wise.
The Bible says in Psalm 119,
O how loved by thy law it is by meditation all the day!
Thou through thy commandments had made me wiser than mine enemies.
I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the ages, because I keep thy precepts.
So we see that meditating upon the Word of God, not only just reading it but dwelling
on it, thinking about the things that we have read, trying to understand the deeper meanings
of the things that we have read, and the memorization and the meditating of the Word of God, those
are the things that are going to make us wiser than our enemies.
Those are the things that are going to give us more understanding than any of our teachers.
Those are the things that are going to help us to understand more than the ancients.
When we read the Word of God, but then we don't just close the Bible and don't think
about it for another 24 hours.
No, we read about it and then we begin to dwell on it.
We think about it.
We recall things.
I mean, I can't tell you how many times that happens to me at work.
Just the simplest tasks of keeping a right attitude at work and having the verses that
can come to mind of telling us what kind of employees we ought to be.
And children, they also probably should have these kind of things come to mind.
It would be helpful for a child throughout the day, yes they have heard it said, children
obey your parents, but does that come to mind?
Do you meditate upon that throughout the day?
When you're at home with your mother and she's asking you to do something, does that verse
come to mind?
Do you meditate upon it?
Are you mindful to keep a correct attitude of understanding that the Word of God commands
you to obey your parents?
You see the Bible is showing us here that if we want to know where wisdom is to be found
we must understand it is found in the reading of the Word of God and it's found in meditating
upon the Word of God.
So if we see that reading and meditating upon the Word of God is what gives us wisdom, then
let me ask you the question, why don't we see more wise people?
I mean, is the King James Bible hard to find today, especially in 2017 America?
It's in every dollar store, practically, that I would assume.
It's easy to find.
You could go to a church and get one for free, if you come to Faithful Word.
We could find the King James Bible.
Many people have the Bible just sitting on their shelf and they never crack it open.
That's why we don't see more wise people.
People would actually open the Bible and read it and understand it and meditate upon it.
People would become wise.
You see wisdom this morning, where shall wisdom be found?
It's not buried thousands of feet below the earth somewhere, under tons and tons of rock.
You know, the Bible says, is showing us that the wisdom is accessible.
The only reason that it's rare is because it's not sought after.
We don't see a lot of wise people because they don't bother to read, they don't bother
to meditate.
And why is that?
Why is it that though the Bible is there to give us wisdom, though the Bible is there
to give us knowledge and understanding, though it's easily accessible today, why is it that
it's still so much more rare?
Why is the wisdom of God so much more rare than even precious things of the earth?
It's because being wise, reading, it takes work.
It still takes effort.
It takes time and energy has to be put forth.
Just as a man has to pick up a pick and shovel and a cart and go into a mountain and spend
hours and years digging and digging and searching in hopes of finding some kind of precious
stone, gold and silver.
Even so, a man, if we hope to be wise, we must open and mind the word of God.
We must be found in it daily, going through it, sifting through the pages of the word
of God and letting Him show us these jewels, these veins of wisdom and understanding.
Proverbs 26, the reason we don't see many wise people today is because they do not want
to take the time to work at reading the word of God.
The Bible says in Proverbs 26 verse 16, the sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than
seven men that can render a reason.
You see, it's the sluggard who is wiser in his own conceit.
That's what we see today.
A lot of people, they're conceited, they think they know everything, and they're sluggards,
especially when it comes to the reading of the word of God.
Professing themselves to be wise, they have become fools.
They have denied God.
They've turned Him, the Creator, into a creature.
And we see that it is the sluggard, that he who is wise in his own conceit, the one man
who is too lazy to open up the Bible and read.
That's why we see so many foolish people, because wisdom takes work.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12, the words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened
by the master of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
And further, by these, my son, be admonished of making many books there is no end, and
much study is a weariness of the flesh.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
You see, the Bible is showing us here in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 that weariness of study is a fact
of life.
That if we are going to be wise, if we are going to endeavor to understand the words
of God, and especially those that would endeavor to teach and preach the word of God, even
those that would desire to go out and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, that would desire
to take the Bible and open their mouths boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, its
soul winning and going door to door and confronting others about the condition of their soul.
Even those will have to take the time to study and understand and know the word of God.
And that's a weariness of the flesh, as it says there.
Much study is a weariness of the flesh.
It's a fact that if you're going to want to know the word of God, if you want to be made
wise by the word of God, that you are going to experience weariness, because weariness
and study is a fact.
It will happen.
But that's not an excuse.
Just because it's a fact is not an excuse.
It says there in verse 13, keep His commandments.
It says if we keep, fear God and keep His commandments, that's the conclusion of the
whole matter.
He didn't say, you know, much weariness is a study of the flesh, therefore do as much
as you can can.
You know, it's okay if you don't get everything you should.
It's okay if you let some things slip.
No, He says, He still says at the end there, keep His commandments.
And how are you going to keep His commandments if you don't know what those commandments
are?
To understand, to be able to keep God's commandments, you have to understand what God's commandments
are and therefore you're still going to have to study and you're going to have to experience
the weariness of the flesh.
There's going to be days where you don't want to read your Bible.
There's going to be days where you're going to understand, why do I have to read nine
chapters of chronologies?
Why do I have to go through all these names?
But there's jewels in there.
There's gems.
There's things that if we understood and studied out, we would see great things on the Word
of God.
You see, mining the metals of Job 28, it takes great effort.
We see these men going after the vein of silver.
We see the men going after the dust of gold.
We see the men going after the topaz of Ethiopia and the fine gold and the pure gold and all
these precious jewels that are in the earth.
And it is accomplished by those men through desire.
It's not because it's easy.
It's not because it's all sitting there right on the surface and all they have to do is
walk by and pick it up.
They have to dig these huge pits.
They have to tunnel under the earth thousands of feet.
They have to put their lives in peril.
They have to endanger themselves searching for these things.
But they still do it, don't they?
It's because they desire those minerals.
And the same goes for wisdom, doesn't it?
It says through desire, in Proverbs 18, if you're there, turn to Proverbs 18, the Bible
says in Proverbs 18, through desire, a man having separated himself, seeketh and intermetalleth
with all wisdom.
So it's through desire.
It's not because it's easy.
It's because that's what we want to do.
That's why these men, you know, go and dig in the earth after all these gold and precious
substances because that's what they want.
So the question is, where shall wisdom be found?
Well, maybe another question we ought to ask ourselves this morning, do you really want
to be wise?
Because maybe we don't like the answer thus far.
Maybe you're hoping, you know, we could just download wisdom like some kind of app on our
phone.
Maybe we're, you know, today in this society, this culture that we live in, in this world
where everything's just on demand all the time, you know, we can have it in an instant.
We got drive-thru, right?
We don't want to wait more than a few minutes for our food anymore.
We were inconvenienced that the Wi-Fi goes out.
You know, it's a tragedy these days.
But the Bible says that if we want to be wise, it's good that we're experiencing weariness
of the flesh.
We're going to have to study the Word of God and where it's only going to be accomplished
through desire.
Do you want to be wise this morning?
The Bible asks, where is wisdom?
God's showing us where it's found.
So the next question we need to ask is, do you want to be wise?
Through desire, a man having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.
You see, we do what we want in spite of difficulty.
We do what we want.
For example, a man, if he's right with God, desires to take care of his family.
You know, he wants to, he wants to feed his family, you know, if you're trying to live
it by a biblical model in your home, you know, you want your wife to stay home, as the Bible
says that the woman should be keepers at home, and that the man is the one who should go
out and work by the sweat of his brow that he can provide for his own.
So if we want to do that, if that's our desire to be right with God in that area, you know,
then obviously what we need to do is go out and find the easiest job we can, right, where
we work as little as we can and we get as paid as much as we can, right?
Is that what we look for?
No.
If that's our desire, if our desire is to provide for our family, we don't care what
the job is.
We don't care how many hours we're going to have to work, we're going to go do it.
In spite of the difficulty, see, you do what you want.
That's the whole point of this verse here, that through desire, a man having separated
himself, seeketh an inner metallithal wisdom.
You see, we do what we desire in spite of difficulty.
You do what you want.
Do you want to be wise?
Then you're going to be prepared to endure the difficulty, and we think about people
endure great difficulty and trials and tribulations to accomplish things that are far less meaningful
than biblical wisdom.
They labor in things that don't profit in eternity.
You think of these great sporting events and the men that, you know, these professional
athletes that just go through the training camps and the regiments and the physical exercise
and the dietary restrictions and all these things that they put their bodies through
so they can get a Super Bowl ring.
So they can get some gold rings so they can hold a trophy and have some fleeting moment
of vainglory for man.
But do we desire to have the wisdom of God?
The Bible says that God has said that is far more precious than any substance on the earth.
Even if you were to mine every ounce of gold out of the earth and pile it, that you could
not give that in exchange for the wisdom of God.
Because wisdom, if we remember, it's the scripture that makes us wise unto salvation.
What shall a man give in exchange for his own soul?
What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?
And I want to conclude my last point by saying this, if we desire wisdom and the Word of
God, we will mine for it.
We will.
We'll get in the Word of God and we'll start digging.
We'll get out that pickaxe of prayer and we'll start chipping away.
We'll get the ore cart out and we'll start hauling out the things of God.
We'll get the rock crusher.
We'll start crushing those rocks.
We'll start doing those word studies.
We'll start writing down things and taking those notes.
We'll start to mine the Word of God for the wisdom that's in it.
Turn to Proverbs chapter 2, if you would, turn to Proverbs chapter 2 and see if we desire
wisdom from the Word of God, we will mine for it.
Just as those men who desire gold, you know I was watching this documentary last night
after I wrote this because I like mining, I think it's fascinating, I think it's really
interesting.
I think it's an interesting industry and it's interesting work to me.
And there's this mine in South Africa, I mean this will just show you the great lengths
that man is willing to go for for something like gold.
They have literally gone down over 2,000 feet, it is the lowest point man has ever been.
It's 2,000 feet below the surface of the earth.
It's deeper than the Grand Canyon.
Now I've never been to the Grand Canyon but they tell me it's pretty deep, right?
If you were to fall off the cliff of the Grand Canyon, you're not going to make it.
They've dug this hole and they have this elevator that travels at 40 miles an hour and it goes
down.
They have 350 men down there every day, they have three shifts of 350 men and they're digging
and they're blasting their way 2,000 feet below the surface of the earth towards this
vane where they believe there is this vane of gold and it's there, they're beginning
to find it.
And then they're hauling it all out through this laborious process, blasting.
They have these earthquakes down there, these seismic shifts, they say that happens dozens
of times a day.
You're down there at 2,000 feet, you have tons and tons and tons of the earth's material
above your head and the rocks are shifting.
I mean they have to blast and they have to dry these rods and try to hold the ceiling
up so they can continue to drill more holes in the face of the rock and put in this explosive
and they say that whenever they blast they go 12 to 18 feet, 12 to 18 feet, 12 to 18
feet and they're going down these caverns and making these caverns below the earth in
the hopes of finding this gold.
And what I thought was really interesting is that they're so far down there that when
they get to the face blast or the face of the tunnel where it's ended, that that rock
just from the geological forces that are there, if you were to touch that rock it's 120 degrees.
Just by being there, just by from all the stress of the earth and the pressure compounding
on it, that it's hot, it's dangerous, it's sweaty, it's difficult work but they desire
that gold because there's billions of dollars worth of gold and they're going to blast until
they find it.
And people die in mines and mining is an extremely dangerous job and has been throughout its
existence but it just shows you that if a man desires something bad enough he's willing
to go to great lengths.
And the question you know is where is wisdom to be found but the other question we need
to ask is do we really want to be wise?
Do we desire biblical wisdom?
Do we desire to be wise in our lives that we can live a life that's honoring and pleasing
to God?
Well if we do then we have to be willing to go to great lengths in the Word of God, reading
and studying and experiencing even that weariness of the flesh.
We need to be disciplined and have the character to read the Bible.
Bible says in Proverbs chapter 2 verse 1, my son if thou wilt receive my words and hide
my commandments with thee so that thou incline thy ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart
to understanding.
Yea if thou cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest
her as silver and searchest for her as for hit treasures, then shalt thou understand
the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
You see the true riches in this world they're never on the surface.
They're never right there easily accessible unless of course others have robbed them here.
We can glean a certain degree of wisdom from the preaching of the Word of God.
We can go to church two or three times a week and hear the man of God get up and give us
some nugget, some kernel.
We can go down to the jewelry store today and buy a few ounces of gold in the form of
a ring or an earring or a bracelet or a necklace but we're never going to get those big nuggets.
We're never going to get those, you know, just huge heavy bricks of wisdom and gold
unless we're the ones that are going to actually do the mining.
We can find the stuff down at the store, we can go to the preaching and get a little bit
of wisdom and we can glean from it and there are certain things that we ought to.
We ought to be trying to get every sliver of wisdom we can find.
Their true riches, the true wisdom, it's never found right there on the surface unless others
have brought them there.
You see, the preacher can only give you so much at a time.
You can only afford so much of your time to give to the preaching of the Word of God.
You know, no one's going to go down to the jewelry store and take all the money they
have and buy every bit of gold and silver that they have in that place.
It's the same way with wisdom, you know, we can't spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
expecting the man of God to get up and teach us everything out of the Word of God.
We must dig for ourselves.
We need the mining tools of reading and study, we need to get those things and we need to
start mining in the Word of God.
You see, some people, they dig for earthly treasures and they never find them.
Don't we ever, don't we see, or they find them and they exhaust all of them in there.
You know, when we come from Michigan, there was a great deal of copper that was taken
out of the Upper Peninsula and there was just abandoned mines everywhere.
Even here in Arizona, you can go to these ghost mining towns that are just completely
abandoned and you can find these old mines where men have dug down and they have found
them and they've taken everything there is.
And some people will dig for those earthly treasures and they'll never find them.
There's this thing called gold fever that people get and it's wasted the time and money
of many people that get it.
They get this bug.
And I've personally known people that have decided, you know what, I'm going to go up
to these old abandoned mines and we're going to start breaking up these rocks and they
go on and they buy all this equipment and they go up there and they spend days, they
travel to these distant mines and they try to go through this process.
But I'm telling you, if there was any gold in our hills there, you know, if you was really
sitting on a gold mine, it had already been dug up.
Someone's already been there.
Someone's already dug all the wealth out of it.
There's nothing you find, but people will waste their entire lives and all their substance
chasing after gold fever.
It's a bug.
And that'd be a real shame for us to go through our entire life and never have real wisdom.
Never have the understanding and the knowledge and the wisdom of God simply because we didn't
know where to look or simply because we were too lazy to do it or we thought it would be
something that would be easily found.
You see, God's riches are sure to be found.
Bible says in Job 28 verse 6, the Lord giveth wisdom.
He giveth wisdom.
Out of his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
It's not that God doesn't have it, it's not that God doesn't want to give it.
He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous.
I'm sorry, this is in Proverbs chapter 2.
He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous.
He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
He keepeth the path of judgments and preserveth the way of his saints.
Bible says in verse 9, then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity in every
good path.
You see, it's not that wisdom is hard to find.
That's not why it's rare today.
It's just because so few people have it.
And if we want the wisdom of God, it's at our fingertips.
The knowledge and understanding of God are right here within these pages.
But it's up to us to start mining the things, the word of God, out of it.
Yes we will have, we will have, you know, weariness of the flesh.
Yes it will require discipline.
Yes it will require duty and having to put ourselves, perhaps the weird, you know, there
will be times when we don't want to read but we have to do it anyway.
We should never completely stop.
We should be in it every day as much as we can.
And that's where we're going to find the true wisdom.
That's where we're going to find the true riches of God are in his word.
So where is wisdom to be found today?
That's the title of the sermon.
Where shall wisdom be found?
It's right here.
And it's of great value.
It's more precious than anything on the face of this earth and we have it at our fingertips.
So my challenge is, let's be found in it.
Let's be found in the word of God.
Let's be wise people.
Let's know our God and let's do exploits for him.
And let's pray, Jesus.
Heavenly Father, I thank you that you would, we thank you that you have given us your word.
We thank you that, Lord, we can open it every day that we live in a country where Bibles
abound, Lord, where many of us have multiple copies of the word of God just lying about.
We wear out one book and we purchase another.
Lord that we even have many options, Lord, to buy very nice Bibles.
We can buy different types of skins on our Bibles, Lord, different fonts and sizes.
And Lord, I pray that you would help us to take advantage of that opportunity that we
have to read the word of God.
Because truly, Lord, that is where wisdom will be found.
I pray that you would help us, Lord, throughout this coming week that as we read the word
of God, as we study the word of God, that you would make us wiser for it, that you would
show us, Lord, the great gems of your word, the great veins of wisdom and truth, Lord,
that we can mine out and make a part of our life, Lord, that we can adorn ourselves with
godliness.
And Father, we just pray that you would bless now as we go our own way and keep us safe
and bring us again back next week.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.