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Amen, so if you're here on Sunday, we use Proverbs chapter nine and preach the last half of the chapter. So just real quick before we get started, up until Proverbs chapter nine, God's basically pleading with people and trying to get people to understand the value of wisdom. That's what the first nine chapters of Proverbs really are. By the time you get to chapter nine, you see that you have two choices, right? You have the house which wisdom has built in the beginning of the chapter, and then you have the house that the foolish woman has built, which obviously represents the world, and we talked about that last week. But if you would look at verse number one, it says, wisdom hath builded her house. She hath hewn out her seven pillars. The title of the sermon this evening is the seven pillars of wisdom. So if someone were to ask you, hey, what are the seven pillars of wisdom? Who here would know all of them or what they are, have a place to basically go to, to get started. And if not, that's, you know, that's good. That's why I'm preaching the sermon here. But just a real quick here, if you would go to Proverbs chapter two, we're going to talk about a few things here. So the Bible has a lot to say about knowledge, about understanding and about wisdom. And I'm not undermining knowledge or understanding. I'm simply just focusing mainly on wisdom and we're going to come back to the seven pillars and get into that here momentarily. But just a quick overview of all three knowledge. What is knowledge? Well, knowledge is facts, right? Information that you learn. Understanding is your ability to grasp or comprehend what you have learned, that information. Okay. Now, wisdom is the ability to use knowledge and understanding in a way that common sense prevails, I guess you could say, that makes it so that your choices are beneficial and productive. Okay. It's what we gain from learning, understanding and applying to our lives. And so these types of sermons are hard to write because there's so many verses about wisdom, so many different places you can go to and stories that we can learn from. And so the hardest part is just minimizing it and trying to make it, you know, something that's able to fit within an hour timeframe here. And so for this series, I'm not sure how long it's going to last. We have the pi social tonight, so I'm going to try to keep it, you know, respectable. So we're not here all night. So I may cut it short, but it's going to go probably two or three different sermons. And I think you'll find it a blessing. So let's start off here talking about wisdom, Proverbs chapter two, look at verse number one. It says, my son, if thou will receive my words and hide my commandments with me or with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding. Yea, if thou cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding, you notice the choice here. It's constantly. If you do this, if you listen, then these things will follow. So verse four, if thou seekest her as silver and searches for her as hid treasure, as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Verse six, for the Lord giveth wisdom out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. So you say, how do I get wisdom? Well, if you want the wisdom that's from above, you're going to get it from God. You're not going to get it from anywhere else. You're not going to get it from the NIV. You're not going to get it from the ESV. You're not going to get it from some liberal and you sure aren't going to get it from the public school system. I'll tell you what, there is, there's not an abundance of people today on this planet, saved or lost that are actually actively searching for wisdom. I'll just tell you a quick story here. This time about this, that was about this time last year, but anyways, it was last year, sometime I was, I was working in Folsom, California. I got a task to go install a dishwasher for a lady and I show up to her house and she's on the phone and she's just like, just like, you know, give me the, the, the stop there finger and then she gets off and she's like, people are so stupid. She's like, I almost had to cancel our appointment and I'm like, okay, well what's going on? She's like, I don't know how you're going to be able to install this dishwasher. We have a major problem. I'm like, all right, well, let's just, let me just go take a look at it and see what I can do. So I go over there and she opens it up, it's full of dishes, top and bottom rack, and she points and she's like, that's the problem. So I started looking at the rack, like thinking like, is something broke or, you know, I'm trying, I'm like, so what's the problem here? And she goes, all these dishes are inside of it. I was like, ah, you got me, you know, and she's just looking at me like, I'm, I'm not joking around. She's like, I'm not about to take those out. What if I take them out wrong? I don't even know where they go. I'm like, oh, you don't live here? And she's like, no, I do live here. My maid was supposed to take those out and she didn't do it and now I can't find anybody to come and do it. That hasn't happened to me just once, but multiple times, whether it's a dishwasher, but something on that stupidity level, I don't even know how I finished the job, to be honest with you. Right? This is a person that's wealthy, that has money, she has a career, she has obviously worldly knowledge and some level of understanding to be able to make that kind of money, but yet she's so dumb, she has no wisdom, she couldn't even unload a dishwasher. So I took the bottom rack out and set it aside and she's like, you can do that? I'm like, yeah. I was like, in fact, I'll do the same thing to the top rack and then when you get your new dishwasher in here, you can just have somebody come and reload it. She's like, I, that's why I love you guys. I even got a tip out of that ordeal. So that tells you, I'm not always as harsh as some people may seem. So just keep that in mind. Okay. There's not an abundance of people today searching for wisdom, but real quick, back to Proverbs chapter two, verse seven, he layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. What is that saying? The Bible is saying that God has laid up wisdom for us who are saved, but it's our job to walk through the doors of that house. It's our job to rely on those pillars that we're going to learn about tonight. It's our job to apply these things and learn them in our own lives. Verse eight, he keepeth the paths of judgment and preserveth the way of his saints. Verse nine then says, then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity. Yea, every good path. Verse 10, when wisdom enters into thine heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul. Look at verse 11, discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee. So this, again, you can see what I, why I started off the sermon by saying that the first nine chapters of Proverbs are just God's plea to get you to understand the value of wisdom, right? This is why like every couple of months I try to preach about wisdom, knowledge, understanding in some way, shape or form because the Bible speaks a great deal about it and look, like I said, there's not a whole lot of people out there seeking for it. We need to be the ones that are looking for it. So if you would go back to Proverbs chapter nine again and look at verse number one again, it says wisdom hath build, hath builded her house. This was past tense. This house has already been constructed. It says she hath hewn out her seven pillars. That means that wisdom has decided to carve, to hew, to construct these seven pillars. And what, what's a pillar? What's a structure that holds something, right? That supports something. It's not saying that wisdom supported by these. It's saying the wisdom carved these out. These are for the believer. These are for the Christian that walks through the door of this house that she has built, right? And so I think it's pretty important that we learn what the Bible says regarding these seven pillars. You could leave your place there for now, but if you would go to Proverbs chapter number four and I got, just want to go over one more verse and then we're going to go to James. So Proverbs chapter number four, verse number seven, Proverbs chapter four, verse number seven, it says wisdom is the principle thing. Therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting, get understanding. So it says that wisdom is the principle thing. You know what that means? That means it's the chief thing. You need wisdom. We need wisdom. I need wisdom. All of us do. Not just for soul and for church, but for every area of our life. Look, you want to be a better husband, you need to go to the Bible. You need to listen to preaching. You want to be a better wife. Same thing. A better student. Same thing. A better, a better brother, sister, whatever it is. You need to get your wisdom from God and you need to learn these pillars that I'm going to teach you this evening. Now you can leave your place there in Proverbs. Go to James chapter one, James chapter number one. While you're turning there, I'm just gonna read for you Psalm 111 verse 10, which says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all they that do his commandments, his praise endure forever. The Bible says that the more you decide, listen to me, the more that you decide to do God's commandments, understand this, it doesn't say you get to keep your salvation, right? It says the more understanding that you will get. I mean, think about it. Can you remember your biblical knowledge before you started going soul winning? Is it as strong as it is now? And the answer is no, it's more now. Why? Because you're doing his commandments. You're following what God has said to do. And when you talk to people and you have to flip through pages of the Bible, or someone says something that you don't understand, you go back later and look it up. All of this stuff amounts to more knowledge, more understanding and more wisdom. You're there in James chapter one, look at verse number five, James chapter one, verse five. It says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him. So it says, if any of you lack wisdom, all of us here lack wisdom, every one of us, right? So we need to remember this, that we can go to God and ask for that wisdom. And the Bible says he will give it to you. Now it also says later that we shouldn't ask double minded, like wavering and be like, oh, you know, I did this sin earlier, I don't know if God's gonna give it to me, I think he's mad, you know, and live like that. That's not okay. The Bible says that we need to go to him and ask, and he's not gonna upbraid you, right? He wants to give you that wisdom that he has laid up for the righteous. We just read that in Proverbs chapter two. So if you would go to James chapter number three, now we're gonna take a look at these seven pillars. So it says, wisdom hath built, hath built in her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars. If you read the rest of Proverbs chapter nine, you're not gonna find like a detailed list of exactly seven pillars of wisdom. If you get to Proverbs chapter 10 all the way through the rest of the book, you know, it just starts hitting you hard with just facts, knowledge, truth, understanding, wisdom, things that you need to apply. It's intense, right? So that's kind of like the dividing point of the book of Proverbs is chapter 10. From there on, it just starts just loading you up with all sorts of wisdom and things that you want. I mean, you read Proverbs chapter 10, you've got 100 sermons right there if you really think about it. I mean, there's all sorts of information in there. So this is what I think, and this is what I've come to in my understanding. James chapter three, look at verse number 17. So remember we're looking for seven pillars of wisdom. It says, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. Okay. Now there's seven things listed here, and if you study these out, if you pay attention, you'll see that these really are pillars of wisdom. Now it's kind of crazy. You have to go through the Bible to find these seven things, and there's obviously other things you could pick out of the Bible that would be grouped in seven here. But James is referred to often by most people as the New Testament book of wisdom. It talks a great deal about wisdom. What did we learn in chapter one? If you ask God for wisdom, he'll give it to you. He's not going to abrade you and he gives it to you liberally, right? And so what I believe here is that these are seven pillars and we need to focus on these and understand these so that we can build ourselves up into a strong, mighty force to carry out God's doctrines into this valley. So real quickly, if you would back up to verse number 13, because we just read here, verse 17 talks about the wisdom from above, right? Wisdom that comes from God. But before that, he contrasts that and kind of gives you what the wisdom is from below. And this really lines up with the last part of Proverbs nine. I just want to show you this verse 13 says, who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you. Let him show out of a good conversation, his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter, envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. Verse 15, this wisdom descendeth not from above, but as earthly, sensual and devilish. So if you see somebody coming to church, right, they've got a lot of the Bible memorized. They understand a lot. They have a gift, whatever it is, the Bible saying, Hey, don't envy that. I mean, I mean, don't, don't get mad at that person. Be like, Oh, well, you're, you're, you think, you know, at all, you know, if they're doing it out of verse 13 out of meekness, right? With a humble heart, doing it purely, doing it peaceably, doing it gentle, right? You don't want to ruin that. You don't want to look down on that person because you don't know, look, everybody in here is at a different stage when it comes to knowledge and wisdom, everybody, right? We haven't all had the same experiences. We haven't all read the Bible the same amount of times. We don't all comprehend information at the same rate. So what he's saying here is, Hey, when people do that, when you look at somebody who's trying, when you look at somebody who's got wisdom and you envy that person or you, you, uh, you basically curse that person, you, you, you, um, whether you get, um, angry because you know, they're working hard and you're not, you know, you should be once you do that, the Bible saying that that wisdom is what is from below. That is not from God, right? We're supposed to sharpen each other up. The Bible says not, uh, pit each other against, you know, one another and, and start looking for faults and people because you know, that's a natural human tendency. That's what the old man likes to see. You see somebody getting a lot of people saved and you know, having a great understanding, you know, there could be a temptation if you know your backs and you know, you're not right to be like, Oh, you know, uh, I heard you say this, that's not quite right. And then start telling other people. And before you know it, you've got a catastrophe on your hands and it's just a bad deal. We've had people in our church that have done that kind of stuff before and thank God that they're gone. But real quickly here, look again at verse number 13, it says a foolish woman is clamorous. I'm sorry, not verse 13. You stay right there. I'm gonna read for you Proverbs nine 13, which we've already covered, but it does say this. It says a foolish woman is clamorous. She is simple and knoweth nothing, right? Three things. What did we learn here in James three verse 15 it says this wisdom descendeth not from above, but it's earthly, sensual and devilish. And so you can kind of see how, uh, the Bible's consistent here from Proverbs chapter nine, all the way to James, right? The wisdom that's from below, the wisdom that originates in this world, the wisdom that comes from the foolish woman is made up of three things, earthly, sensual, devilish, or in Proverbs nine, clamorous, right? Being loud, being a simple, being stupid is what that's referring to and knowing nothing. That's why I said, you're not going to get wisdom that comes from above from a scholar. You're not going to get it from the NIV. You're not going to get it from some liberal type preacher. Now you can go ahead and leave your place there in James and go to Genesis chapter, go to Genesis chapter number one, because I just want to show you a couple of things. We're going to flip through some verses here rather quickly. You can see these seven pillars of wisdom in the creation story. In fact, if you type in the word, um, good in Genesis chapter one, it comes up seven times. Now I just want to show you that here. I just thought this was interesting. Genesis chapter one, look at verse number four. It says, in God saw the light that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness. Well, what does that represent? That's pure. Remember, the word of the Lord is pure. You know what pure means? It means unadulterated. It means free of contamination, right? That's the one God set up the world when he said, Hey, let there be light and let it divide the darkness. Guess what? That was good. That was right. That was pure. Jump down to verse number 10. It says, in God called the dry land and the gathering together of the waters called he sees and God saw that it was good, right? There's something peaceable about going to the beach and listening to the waves and the water. Even if you go to a lake on a peaceful day, there's something calming about that, right? Well, what do you think that is? That's peace. That's peaceable. That wisdom comes from God that is built into these verses here. Look at verse number 12 in the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind and the, and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself after his kind and God saw that it was good. Well, what's that? James 3 17 full of mercy and good fruits. You see good fruits there. Jump down to verse number 18 and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness and God saw that it was good. You know, when you see the light, that's good. You know what else that is? That's easy to be in treated. Look, when someone just tells you how it is and you receive clear instruction, you know what that is? That's easy to be in treated, but when someone's just barking, you know, different kinds of opinions or two opposing ideas like, well, maybe God preserved the last part of Mark chapter 16. Maybe he didn't. Others disagree. I don't know. We're not going to read them. Cause the footnote says it wasn't in the original mention. So let's just move on. Look, that's not easy to be in treated. That is satanic. That is the opposite of the wisdom that comes from above. That is not a pillar. That is sinking sand. Jump to verse number 21. It says in God created great whales and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind and every wing foul after his kind and God saw that it was good. Again, there's your fifth one verse 25 and God made the beast of the earth after his kind and the cattle after their kind and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind and God saw that it was good. There's your gentleness in that verse. If you just remember these seven pillars and you read the creation story, you can see the seven pillars of wisdom in these verses. Some of them have multiples. I just wanted to bring this up to you. Last one, verse 31 and God saw everything that he had made. And behold, it was very good and the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Guess what? That's a design without partiality and without hypocrisy. You know what else is missing? The sodomites. Amen. I was talking to Pastor Thompson about that last night, so I figured I'd bring that up. All right, let's move on here. Go to Psalm chapter number 12, Psalm chapter 12. So what we're going to do is just going to talk about the first pillar of wisdom that we read about in James chapter three, which is pure. Remember it says wisdom from above is first pure. If you don't believe that we have God's pure words today, you will not be able to obtain the other six. Let's just make that clear right now. You have got to believe that God is able and has preserved his words, his pure words, like the Bible says, in order to obtain the rest of these pillars, and I'm going to show you that. So while you're turning to Psalm chapter 12, the Bible says in 2 Samuel 22, 27, it says, with the pure that will show thyself pure and with the froward that will show thyself unsavory. So the Bible says, hey, with his saints, with his righteous people, you know, he is going to show himself pure. There's no wonder why we all believe that God's preserved his word today in this building, right? Because we have the new man, that new man was made by the word of God and the word of God is pure. Psalm chapter 12, look at verse number six. It says the words of the Lord are pure words. You know what that means? One more time, free from contamination. That's what that means. As silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Verse number seven, thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. The question I have for Christianity tonight is, do you believe that? In the overwhelming response of Christendom today is no, it's no, we don't believe that. Verse number eight, it says the wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted. Is there any wonder, any question in your mind why these liberal churches today are filled with predators, filled with sodomites, filled with these freaks and these people that are just lying, preaching false gospels, preaching all kinds of heresies. Is it any wonder today why they're doing that and why it continues? The reason why it continues is because they use the wisdom from below. They don't have the first pillar, which is pureness. See the wisdom that comes from above the Bible says is first pure, right? You have to get saved by the word of God. First Peter chapter one, verse 23. You have got to be saved that way. Look, there's no playing games with people. You're not going to go to the fair, set up some little booth and put a scale over here that says good old meter and then put some apples on the table and try to reason with them. The salvation, like, well, obviously I've got these apples here, right? So if I've got these apples, it means there had to be an apple tree, right? So obviously you're here, so there has to be a God. People don't get saved that way. You get saved by the word of God and the word of God is pure. But if you don't believe that you will not get that godly wisdom. So turn to, let's see here, go to Psalm chapter 19, Psalm chapter 19, Psalm chapter 19, verse eight. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Again, another benefit for subscribing to and applying and learning the statutes in the Bible. Look at the rest of the verse. It says the commandment of the Lord is pure. It doesn't say it was pure in the original manuscripts. It says it is pure, enlightening the eyes. You see that? God's words are pure. They're preserved. When you allow them into your mind, guess what? It wakes you up. That's what it does. It wakes you up. It brings darkness to light. It brings the things in your life that you know aren't right. It exposes those things and it makes you want to get rid of them. That's what he's saying here. But it says the commandment of the Lord is pure. It's not bogging. It's not to bog you down and to make you feel this big. That's not what it's about. It's to rejoice your heart. It's to give you health. It's to give you peace. It's to give you a tool to win the lost. So if you would go to, go to Proverbs chapter 15. Proverbs chapter 15. I should have told you to keep your place there, but you're close enough. You can find it. While you're turning there, I'm going to read for you Psalm 119, 140, which says thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it. The Bible says over and over and over and over again, God's words are pure. That means free from contamination. So anytime I hear somebody say anything to the contrary, I know they are a fool. It's not a maybe. Oh, well, no, I think he's got good intentions, brother. I think you're just a little harsh. You're just a little angry. Look, some of that might be true. Okay. We all know that. However, the Bible says thy words are pure and thy servant loveth it. The Bible says that his words are tried as silver and a fire. I mean, it looked over and over and over again. It talks about his words being pure, about him preserving his words, right? So when someone says something to the contrary, it bothers me and it should bother you as well. Proverbs 15, look at verse number 26. This is the thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but the words of the pure are pleasant words. See, when you can learn to accept the pure wisdom that comes from above, the more of this that you can learn, well, guess what? The more pleasant your speech will become. The more teaching, the more knowledge, the more understanding you will be able to pass on to other people, whether you're a husband, a father, a leader, a mother, a sister, right? A soul winner. This is what's going to accelerate your game is understanding the pureness of God's words. Go to Proverbs chapter 20. Yeah, go to Proverbs chapter 20. Look at verse nine. It says, who can say I have made my heart clean? I am pure from my sin. I used to use this verse out soul winning all the time because it really shoots down the Ray Comfort, the Ray Comfortites, right? They say, oh, well, you just got to live a good life and turn from your sins. You know, you got to repent of all your sins and follow the Bible and wash my car and give all the money you have and write that $10,000 check. The problem is the Bible says something extremely contrary. Who could say I have made my heart clean? I mean, every time I show this to somebody, they're like, well, yeah, you still got to turn from sins. You got to at least try. Sometimes they say that, but you know, a lot of times more often than not, this actually helps people. It actually helps people because it's true. Everybody knows it's true. The person that thinks that they've turned from all their sins, I believe that deep down inside their conscience, they know they're ate up and they're lying. They know it. Ray Comfort knows he's a liar. He's just not going to admit it. He is a liar. So are all of his conferences. Who could say I made my heart clean? I am pure from my sin. There's no way you can make yourself pure from sin. You have to be born again with the wisdom from above, which is pure, which is God's word. Verse 11, it says, even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure and whether it be right. So when you do something that is pure, do something that reflects the wisdom of God. Guess what? It becomes known. People just know because it's pure. It divides just like God's pure words speaking this into creation. Turn to Proverbs chapter number 30. The Bible says, I'm going to read for you Proverbs 21 verse eight while you're turning to Proverbs 30. It says this, the way of a man is froward and strange, but as for the pure, his work is right. You see that the works that you do in the new man, those are right. You don't have the new man. You have no works at all. Proverbs 30, look at verse number five. It says every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that put the trust in him. See over and over again in the Bible, you're going to find this teaching. The words of God are pure. They are free from contamination. Matthew chapter five verse eight says, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see the face of God. Think about that. I'm sorry. Why don't you guys turn to Philippians chapter four, Philippians chapter number four. It makes sense why Jesus said that blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God because you can't see God. You're not going to be at the end of the book of revelation if you don't have the new man. If you haven't been born again by the words which are pure, which come from above. So if you would, Philippians four, look at verse eight, Philippians four verse eight says this. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there'd be any virtue and if there'd be any praise, think on these things. So what does that tell you? That tells you that you need to focus on obtaining knowledge and understanding and wisdom so that you can decide what is pure because not every single little detail and facet of life is listed in the Bible. People say, well, you know, is it a sin for me to go to Albertsons, it's owned by the Mormons? It's like, look, you know, memorize this verse and then ask me a month later, okay? You know, the Bible doesn't talk about Albertsons and nobody in here has asked asked me that, but I have been asked that in the past. So back to James, James chapter one, James chapter one, look at verse 27. This is a verse here, we've read it, you know it, it bothers the liberals big time. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the father is this, to visit the fatherless in widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. You think Todd White likes that verse? Lifestyle Christianity boy, man bun preacher, dreadlocks. Yeah, I don't think so. It says, but does the Bible say that religion is a bad thing? It's just a word. No, it doesn't. It says pure religion, right? Pure. What does that describe? That describes the wisdom, right? One of the seven pillars of wisdom. Wisdom hath queued these seven things and the first one is pureness. So we need to obtain this status here where we have a pure religion free from contamination, right? And you can tell that's what it means because it says undefiled before God and the father is this, right? To visit the fathers, I'm sorry, the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, right? To take care of one another, right? You can see all seven things in James 3 17 in this verse, right? You can see the gentleness. You can see the lack of partiality. There's no hypocrisy. You can see the gentleness. This is easy to be entreated unless you're an unsaved non-denominational liberal freak with a man bun on your head, right? So, you know, it's, it's, it, this is what it is, man. It is the lack of God's pure words in a person's heart, in a person's mind that is a result of people like Todd White or Kanye West, right? You think Kanye West is, is going around trying to orchestrate some pure religion today? No, he's trying to take people's money just like Benny Hinn, just like Todd White, just like Sam Gibb, just like the rest of these idiots that are, you know, in our country. First John chapter three, first John chapter number three. We might not make it past the first pillar tonight, but that's all right. First John chapter number three, it says, behold, what manner of love the father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God, right? That's an amazing thing that describes the pureness of God's word. He says this, therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. He's saying, so for these reasons, because we're born of God, the world doesn't understand us. They don't know us. He says, beloved, now are we the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, he shall, oh, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. So now he's talking about the resurrections. Like we don't understand all of the details, but we should have the wisdom to understand that we need to do all that we can do to get that best reward, right? And he's going to go on to explain that here in verse three, he says, then every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Now that's not saying that you're earning your salvation. He's already told you you're a son of God. He's saying, look, if you can have the return of Christ on your conscience, right? Have the fact that you're going to meet Jesus Christ someday. You will stand before him. If you can have that resonate and settle into your heart, guess what? You're going to have some motivation to purify yourself, right? To make sure that you don't have any issues when the day comes. And I'm not saying he's going to put you in front of a white screen and say, this was your life. Like the Chick tract and look at all the stuff that you did. You know, you lied about how many cookies you ate. You lied about how well you're doing on the diet. That's not going to happen. We've talked about this, right? Your works are going to be put on blast and whatever survives the fire, you get to keep whatever doesn't you lose, you lose rewards. And so he's saying, Hey, every man that have this hope, we need to gain this hope. We need to realize here, right? Verse two, beloved. Now are we the sons of God? And it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, right? So when he comes back, what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and says, and every man that has this hope. Well, if you're saved, you have that hope. Okay. At least you delight after the law. You delight in the law after the new man, the Bible says in Romans chapter seven. So if you would go to second Peter chapter number three, second Peter chapter three. So in John or first John and John's telling us, Hey, you need to spend some time and get some wisdom and start focusing on fellowship with Christ so that you don't miss out. This is a pillar. This is the first pillar of wisdom. It goes beyond salvation. A lot of people think, well, I got saved. I'm good. I'm just going to ride the waves. I'm just going to take the faith and bounce. You know, don't be like that. All right. Work hard and you know, try to win that race, you know, obtain all that you can. Second Peter chapter three, look at verse one. This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you in both, which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, verse two, that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles and of the Lord and savior was that talking about, is that talking about reading Alexander or not Alexander. Good night. Um, what's that? Dispose Schofield. It's not talking about reading Schofield's notes. It's not talking about reading some commentary and obtaining knowledge so you can quote facts to somebody and think you're all, all that was that saying that you have a pure mind if you're saved and you need to stir that thing up, you need to be reading this book every single day of your life. That's what it's saying. You have a pure mind because Christ has given that to you and the new man and you need to strengthen that new man. But look at, look at the answer. It always goes back to the word of God. He says that in verse two, that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets. We need to be mindful of the things in the Old Testament, right? I love it when we're out soloing and somebody's like, I've already, I already know, I've already read the whole Bible and you ask him something like, oh, have you read the book of Hezekiah, you know, or something silly like that? And like, oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Did you read Genesis chapter 93? I've read it all. It's like, I don't think so. You know, you got to quote them something that's not in the Apocrypha because some people have in their mind, well, that's Old Testament and that's, you know, obviously false doctrine right there. But, uh, second Timothy chapter two, second Timothy chapter number two. Second Timothy chapter two, look at verse 19 says, nevertheless, the foundation of God stand as sure having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity verse 20, but in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth and some to honor and some to dishonor. Verse 21. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master's use and prepared unto every good work. This is why we spend time learning about wisdom. This is why I think it's important that we understand these seven pillars because the Bible says, Hey, wisdom has carved out seven things. You know what? And I don't know about you, but I want to learn what these are and I want to apply them to my life because I want to be a vessel that is fit for the master's use. And I know that's the same hope that all of you have. Otherwise you would not be here tonight. Verse 22, flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. It doesn't say them that call on the Lord with a heart that's repented from all the wicked thoughts and all the sins that they've done their whole life. That's not what it says, right? You do have to call on God and mean it, right? That's what we, when we, before we pray with somebody out, soul and what are we trying to do? We're asking them questions to make sure that they believe this to the best of our ability, right? Out of a pure heart. Cause we don't want to go around just praying with people that don't believe the Bible because you know what? Someday you're going to come knocking back on the door again or somebody else will go knock on that door again and be like, that person didn't get saved. And look, everybody in here who's given the gospel to somebody, I guarantee you've done a good job and you've prayed with somebody and they didn't believe it. They faked you. But you know what? That's different. That's not on you. That's on them. Shame on them for doing that. People, cause people like to give us a hard time. Oh, you guys just go out there and leave people in person and one, two, three, repeat after me. And it's like, look, shut your mouth. Just shut up. That's my, you say, what do you say to people like that? Shut up. What are you doing for Christ? Probably nothing. What are you doing? Just knocking the Bible all day long, talking about the original manuscripts, which you don't have because you've never been to heaven and seen the word, which is settled in heaven. You don't even have the first pillar of wisdom. You've got nothing. So shut your mouth and go get saved. All right. We can get through the second one here real quick. I know that pie smells good. I know you guys got, you can smell that stuff, right? And you got to just, just bear with me here for this, this next one. We'll just going to get through the second pillar here. It says first is pure, right? You have got to have that pure wisdom. You've got to have the word of God without it. You've got nothing. You cannot build upon anything in your life without it. But it says this in James chapter three, verse 17, it says then peaceable, right? Then peaceable. You say, well, what's that? Turn to Romans chapter 12. Who's peaceable? Somebody who's inclined to try to keep the peace. Okay. Notice I said, try. Why do I say that? It's not always possible to live peaceably with everyone. It's not who like, I think I said this the other day, but who's worked in here with somebody that just can't be placated or who knows somebody in here that just can't be appeased. No matter what you say, no matter what you do, we all have, right. And we understand that. But even in that situation, if you play your cards, right, you can still get by. You can still have success and you can still live life. Romans chapter 12, look at verse 18. It says, if it be possible, as much as life in you, live peaceably with all man. Turn to first Timothy chapter two, first Timothy chapter two. We get a bad rap in this movement, churches like ours, right? For hard preaching. People think they come in here, they're like, oh man, you know, or they hear about our churches and they're like, oh, they just want to yell at people. They probably go out in town and just scream at everyone at the doors. And it's not always like that. Now there are times where we might get a little excited, you know, when some devil's following you around in an apartment complex and yelling and trying to stop the work of Christ. I'm going to get upset. And rightfully so. When we have some bozo coming in here, asking questions about all the kids and sowing doubt about the pure words of God, I'm going to get upset. You know what? And so are you. And so should you, right? But nonetheless, we do try to live peaceably with all men. And so sometimes I think we get in our heads or sometimes people get in their heads, well, you know, they're just not a peaceful group. If you look at some of the, uh, the attacks on us, they'll say they have nothing to do with peace. They don't understand peace. And that's simply not true. And we need to make sure that we do understand that peace is a pillar of wisdom that we do need to understand. So while you're turning to first Timothy two, let me read for you this first Peter three 11 says, let him eschew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and into it. So we should always try to seek peace first, right? So the other, uh, was a couple of weeks ago when that guy started yelling at us, uh, at the door, right? I sought peace by not flipping out at the first, right? We all did. I'll see. And I got two witnesses here, right? You know, but you know, as the situation escalated, I was no longer too able to ensue peace and you know, we just had to tell him how it was first Timothy chapter two, look at verse one. He says, I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of things be made for all men. Why do we want to do this? So we can live a peaceable life, right? If you know what the Bible says, you have not because you ask not. Sometimes we don't have peace at work. We don't have peace in our homes because we don't ask for it or because you neglected the pure words of God and you don't know why you're praying for the things that you're praying for. First two, he says for Kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. And some people say, see, that's why you guys shouldn't say bad stuff about Trump or you shouldn't say bad stuff about Obama. Look, that's a whole nother ball of wax, man. Those people are wicked and we need to call those people out. But does that, you know, does that mean we shouldn't pray for our own peace while they're in authority? No, we should. Right. We should pray. Hey God, please help us to escape the persecution of Obama or Trump or whoever it is that wants to make it illegal for us to go soloing, right? You can pray after that manner. If you know, let's say, let's say the next election, some reprobate gets elected, right? Do you think I'm going to pray for some faggot, some reprobate? Oh, please get saved. No, I'm going to pray that God shields us from them. They protect us and that the word of God may still go on. But if it doesn't, if they want to come down and start lopping heads and so be it. Verse three, he says for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our savior. Verse four, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. This is our goal. We want to understand peace so that we can continue to get people saved. Verse five, for there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Verse six, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. So one more verse here. We're going to stop right here. So I could see that hunger bell going off in all your guys' minds. You guys are out of control. I'm just teasing. Real quick, one more verse, Ecclesiastes chapter seven, Ecclesiastes chapter seven. So next week I'll revisit peace. We'll kind of do another overview and then we'll move forward from there off of James chapter three, verse 17. I just want to leave you with a verse here, Ecclesiastes chapter number seven. First of all, look at number 11, Ecclesiastes chapter number seven, verse 11 says, wisdom is good with an inheritance and by it, there is profit to them that see the sun. Unless you live in Washington state, you don't see the sun very often. Verse 12, for wisdom is a defense and money is a defense, but the excellency of knowledge is, don't miss this, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it, right? Let this settle in your heart. I want to motivate you to seek wisdom. You should seek to be different. Every time you walk through that door, you should be different than when you came in. You know, when you leave and you go home, you should be somewhat different. You should have one thing at least that you can apply to your life to be better, to be more wise. Why? Because wisdom is a defense and don't tell me there's somebody in here that doesn't need defense because we all do. Everybody, whether you work or whether you're taking care of a family or whether you've got siblings. Look, we all need wisdom. So we're going to stop right there for this evening and pray and we'll pick it up next week. Lord, thank you so much for all these great truths in this wisdom in the Bible. Lord, please just help us to obtain a great zeal, but according to knowledge, Lord in Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.