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Voddie Baucham - The Limits Of Wisdom And Knowledge Ecclesiastes 1_ 12-18 · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: Amen. If you have your Bibles with you, please open
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  Speaker 1: them to the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 1. We're
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  Speaker 1: still in Ecclesiastes chapter 1. Title of message this morning
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  Speaker 1: is The Limits of Wisdom and Knowledge. The Limits of
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  Speaker 1: Wisdom and Knowledge. as I thought about this, and we're
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  Speaker 1: just beginning in the book, we're still introducing this book.
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  Speaker 1: It's a rather unpopular book in the Bible. I don't
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  Speaker 1: think I've ever met anyone who's said that their favorite
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  Speaker 1: book in the Bible was Ecclesiastes. But there are many
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  Speaker 1: people who don't like the book of Ecclesiastes, and they
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  Speaker 1: don't like it for a number of reasons, and we've
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  Speaker 1: tried to help you understand those as we begin this series.
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  Speaker 1: But I would explain one of those reasons this way.
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  Speaker 1: We don't like the book of Ecclesiastes because we've learned
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  Speaker 1: to read wisdom as law. And reading wisdom as law
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  Speaker 1: is a grave error. And Ecclesiastes exposes that error. Let
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  Speaker 1: me give you an example of what I mean Proverbs 22.6,
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  Speaker 1: train up a child in the way he should go,
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  Speaker 1: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Proverbs is wisdom literature. It's not law. That's not a law.
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  Speaker 1: That's wisdom. That's a principle. It's a principle about being
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  Speaker 1: wise in the way that we raise up children. But
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  Speaker 1: because we read wisdom as law, we do something like this.
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  Speaker 1: Train up a child in the way he should go.
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  Speaker 1: When he's old, he will not depart from it. A
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  Speaker 1: child raises up, right, becomes an adult. and then, you know,
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  Speaker 1: goes off and lives a life that is completely counter
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  Speaker 1: to anything that we wanted or anything that we desired
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  Speaker 1: or anything that we tried to put into that child. Well,
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  Speaker 1: because we read wisdom as law, here's how we explain that.
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  Speaker 1: Number one, I must have done something wrong. Because if
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  Speaker 1: it's a law, train up a child and away she go,
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  Speaker 1: when he's old he will not depart. If the child departed,
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  Speaker 1: then I must not have done what? Wisdom in the
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  Speaker 1: way it should go, right? Or, even worse, we say
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  Speaker 1: that God is somehow not able to keep his promises.
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  Speaker 1: And really what has happened is we have read wisdom
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  Speaker 1: as law. Wisdom literature is just that. It's wisdom literature.
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  Speaker 1: It gives us principles that explain, in general, how the
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  Speaker 1: world works. It does not give us a series of
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  Speaker 1: laws that promise us the good life if we just
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  Speaker 1: do the steps. That's not wisdom literature. And you don't
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  Speaker 1: have to take my word for it. All you have
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  Speaker 1: to do is read the book of Ecclesiastes. Because the
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  Speaker 1: person who gave us Proverbs also gave us Ecclesiastes. And
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  Speaker 1: at the end of chapter 1, he talks about the
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  Speaker 1: vanity of wisdom literature. and knowledge. He strikes a blow
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  Speaker 1: at anyone who wants to read the book of Proverbs
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  Speaker 1: like it's a series of laws. When I think of this,
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  Speaker 1: I always think of Job's friends. You know, Job is
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  Speaker 1: an upright man. God himself refers to him as a
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  Speaker 1: man who is upright and perfect. Satan's going to and fro.
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  Speaker 1: God says, have you considered my servant Job? God gives
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  Speaker 1: Satan permission to wreak havoc in Job's life. Horrible things
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  Speaker 1: happen to Job. Then, after he loses everything that he has,
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  Speaker 1: Satan comes back, and he says, that's just because you
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  Speaker 1: didn't let me touch his body. Then there are the
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  Speaker 1: terrible boils and everything else. And when Job's friends show up,
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  Speaker 1: if you pay attention, what they're doing is, is they're
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  Speaker 1: going through Proverbs and they're saying, you must have done
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  Speaker 1: something wrong. Because people who live rightly don't experience what
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  Speaker 1: you've experienced. So confess. Tell us what you did. Because
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  Speaker 1: they have that mentality that many of us have when
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  Speaker 1: we read wisdom as law. As though somehow, Bible lines
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  Speaker 1: itself out and says if you do ABC you are
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  Speaker 1: guaranteed XYZ and nothing could be further from the truth
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  Speaker 1: Mwanza Mbewe died unexpectedly just a few short weeks ago
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  Speaker 1: and some of you are still trying to figure out
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  Speaker 1: where to pin the blame like the disciples when the
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  Speaker 1: man who was blind from birth, what did they ask Jesus?
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  Speaker 1: Who sinned, this man or his parents? Because it can't
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  Speaker 1: just be that this happened. Because the world must work
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  Speaker 1: in this way. You do ABC, you will get XYZ.
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  Speaker 1: And the book of Ecclesiastes is here to say that
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  Speaker 1: is not so. That is not the way the world works.
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  Speaker 1: Stop looking for hidden sins every time something goes wrong.
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  Speaker 1: Not to say that there are never hidden sins. Stop it.
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  Speaker 1: Stop looking for curses every time something goes wrong. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: learn to think biblically there's a second thing that we
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  Speaker 1: have to do if we want to understand ecclesiastes rightly
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  Speaker 1: you got to learn how to read it backwards and
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  Speaker 1: i mean read it backwards in two ways first read
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  Speaker 1: all of ecclesiastes from the standpoint of the final thought
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  Speaker 1: he goes through 11 chapters giving us these truths that
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  Speaker 1: he's learned and then in chapter 12 he gets to
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  Speaker 1: his point listen to this In Ecclesiastes 12, 13, and 14.
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  Speaker 1: The end of the matter. All has been heard. So
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  Speaker 1: he's saying I'm finished. Right? The end of the matter,
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  Speaker 1: all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments,
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  Speaker 1: for this is the whole duty of man. For God
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  Speaker 1: will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing,
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  Speaker 1: whether good or evil. That's the end. He doesn't say
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  Speaker 1: throw up your hands because nothing matters. He says, fear
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  Speaker 1: God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole
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  Speaker 1: duty of man. In other words, God is sovereign. God
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  Speaker 1: is in control. Not you. You don't control your circumstances.
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  Speaker 1: You don't control your future. And he makes that point
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  Speaker 1: over and over and over again. And he makes that
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  Speaker 1: point in our text this morning. Ecclesiastes chapter 1, beginning
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  Speaker 1: in verse 12. By the way, that second way, remember
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  Speaker 1: I said two ways that we read it backwards, right? First,
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  Speaker 1: we read it backwards in terms of keeping in mind
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  Speaker 1: Ecclesiastes 12, but also keeping in mind the truth of
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  Speaker 1: the rest of God's revelation. We can't read Ecclesiastes as
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  Speaker 1: though the rest of the Bible never came. Amen? We
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  Speaker 1: have to read it in that context. Ecclesiastes 1, beginning
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  Speaker 1: at verse 12. I, the preacher, have been king over
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  Speaker 1: Israel and Jerusalem, and I applied my heart to seek
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  Speaker 1: and to search out by wisdom all that is done
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  Speaker 1: under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has
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  Speaker 1: given to the children of man to be busy with.
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  Speaker 1: I have seen everything that is done under the sun,
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  Speaker 1: and behold, all is vanity and striving after the wind.
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  Speaker 1: What is crooked cannot be made straight. What is lacking
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  Speaker 1: cannot be counted. I said to my heart, I have
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  Speaker 1: acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me.
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  Speaker 1: And my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to
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  Speaker 1: know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is
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  Speaker 1: but a striving after wind. For in much wisdom Again,
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  Speaker 1: for us as Christians, we are not used to this. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: For us as Christians, we don't think like this. We
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  Speaker 1: don't talk like this. In fact, we try to stay
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  Speaker 1: away from people who talk like this. If you had
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  Speaker 1: a friend who started speaking like this, Solomon speaks in Ecclesiastes,
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  Speaker 1: you'd find excuses not to be around them. If you
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  Speaker 1: can't say amen, you ought to say ouch. You would
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  Speaker 1: not want to be around this person. What terrible things
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  Speaker 1: to say. It sounds hopeless unless You understand the book
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  Speaker 1: in its entirety unless you keep the end in mind.
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  Speaker 1: Then he's not talking about hopelessness. He's talking about the
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  Speaker 1: limits of wisdom and knowledge. It's amazing. I think as
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  Speaker 1: I thought about this text, I thought about things from
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  Speaker 1: the perspective of my grandparents. Ms. Bridget sent me a
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  Speaker 1: story that she found the other day. Somebody was thinking
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  Speaker 1: about stuff that their kids wouldn't believe. And I was
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  Speaker 1: thinking about life from the perspective of my grandparents. And
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  Speaker 1: there are just things that my grandparents, I'm 55 next month.
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  Speaker 1: There are things that my grandparents would just never have
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  Speaker 1: been able to wrap their heads around. For example, a
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  Speaker 1: phone that has about as much computing power in your
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  Speaker 1: hand as they had when they put a man on
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  Speaker 1: the moon. Your phone is as powerful as the most
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  Speaker 1: powerful computers back then, and you hold it in your hand.
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  Speaker 1: My grandparents would not have been able to fathom that.
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  Speaker 1: Or driving in a city or a neighborhood that they'd
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  Speaker 1: never been in before and finding their way around without
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  Speaker 1: a paper map or an atlas. Amen? Some of the
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  Speaker 1: young people are in here going, what is a paper map?
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  Speaker 1: Or email. We were going through some things at the
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  Speaker 1: house the other day and we pulled out a box
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  Speaker 1: with some letters in it. Listen to this, young people.
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  Speaker 1: People used to sit down with pen and paper, write letters,
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  Speaker 1: fold them, put them in an envelope, put a stamp
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  Speaker 1: on them, and then mail them to each other. And
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  Speaker 1: then you would wait, and the mail would come, and
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  Speaker 1: you would open it, and it would be a letter
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  Speaker 1: from a loved one telling you how much they love you,
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  Speaker 1: how much they miss you. Not in an email, not
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  Speaker 1: on WhatsApp, not on social media. There was a time
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  Speaker 1: when in order to find out how someone's vacation went,
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  Speaker 1: you had to wait until they got back. Amen? And
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  Speaker 1: then when they got back, they opened up a pile
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  Speaker 1: of actual photographs and they would show you photographs one
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  Speaker 1: by one by one. There was a time before that
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  Speaker 1: when in order to see the photographs, you had to
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  Speaker 1: wait until they took them in to get them developed
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  Speaker 1: and then got them back so that they could show
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  Speaker 1: you the photographs. I say all this to say, technology
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  Speaker 1: has advanced tremendously. Amen? I mean, we could go on
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  Speaker 1: and on and on, but technology has advanced tremendously. And
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  Speaker 1: wisdom and knowledge have grown immensely. And yet, there is
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  Speaker 1: still so much that we do not know. There are
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  Speaker 1: a couple of errors that people make when they think
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  Speaker 1: about wisdom, and knowledge. On the one side is anti-Christian intellectualism.
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  Speaker 1: The idea that the pursuit of knowledge is antithetical to
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  Speaker 1: the pursuit of Christ. On the other end, there is
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  Speaker 1: anti-intellectual Christianity. Anti-intellectual Christianity is finds itself to be more
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  Speaker 1: spiritual to the degree that it stays away from all
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  Speaker 1: of those technologies, all of those new things that are
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  Speaker 1: out there. In fact, there are some sets of people
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  Speaker 1: in different parts of the world who won't use an automobile,
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  Speaker 1: who won't have a television, who won't use a telephone
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  Speaker 1: because those technologies are worldly. And there is a ditch
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  Speaker 1: on both sides of the road. There is a proper
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  Speaker 1: way for us to think about wisdom and knowledge. And
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  Speaker 1: it starts with knowing and understanding the limits of wisdom
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  Speaker 1: and knowledge. From our text. First, acquiring knowledge and wisdom
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  Speaker 1: is good and necessary. Look at verses 12 and 13. I,
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  Speaker 1: the preacher, have been king over Israel and Jerusalem. And
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  Speaker 1: I applied my heart to seek and to search out
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  Speaker 1: by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is
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  Speaker 1: an unhappy business that God has given to the children
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  Speaker 1: of man to be busy with. Now, the language that
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  Speaker 1: he uses there, poetic language, right? He applied his heart
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  Speaker 1: to seek and to search out by wisdom all that
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  Speaker 1: is done under heaven. In other words, he wanted to
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  Speaker 1: know everything that he could possibly know. He says that
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  Speaker 1: it's an unhappy business that God has given to the
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  Speaker 1: children of man. Let's forget the unhappy business part for
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  Speaker 1: a moment. But he says a business that God has
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  Speaker 1: given to the children of man to be busy with.
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  Speaker 1: God intends for people to seek wisdom and knowledge. God
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  Speaker 1: does not intend for his people to be anti-intellectual. So
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  Speaker 1: regardless of what we find here and regardless of what
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  Speaker 1: he's saying, about, you know, striving after the wind and
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  Speaker 1: so on and so forth, he's not saying that it's
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  Speaker 1: wrong to seek wisdom and knowledge. In fact, Solomon was
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  Speaker 1: famous for his knowledge. Look at 1 Kings chapter 10.
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  Speaker 1: 1 Kings chapter 10. Now the Queen of Sheba heard
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  Speaker 1: of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: She came to test him with hard questions. She came
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  Speaker 1: to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing
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  Speaker 1: spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when
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  Speaker 1: she came to Solomon, she told him all that was
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  Speaker 1: on her mind. And Solomon answered all her questions. There
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  Speaker 1: was nothing hidden from the king that he could not
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  Speaker 1: explain to her. Now, Oftentimes, we err at this point.
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  Speaker 1: And at this point, we say that what was happening
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  Speaker 1: with Solomon and the reason that people were coming from
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  Speaker 1: all over the world to meet with Solomon and to
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  Speaker 1: talk with Solomon is because Solomon was just endowed with
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  Speaker 1: supernatural intellect. Well, when you read Ecclesiastes, what does he say?
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  Speaker 1: He devoted his heart. to searching out everything. He was
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  Speaker 1: wise and knowledgeable because he was a relentless student. He
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  Speaker 1: was relentless in studying everything he could get his hands on. Architecture, agriculture, science, math, medicine,
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  Speaker 1: everything he could get his hands on. That's why people came.
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  Speaker 1: not because he just fell out of the womb quoting
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  Speaker 1: algebra equations. Verse 4, And when the queen of Sheba
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  Speaker 1: had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that
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  Speaker 1: he had built, the food of his table, the seating
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  Speaker 1: of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing,
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  Speaker 1: his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at
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  Speaker 1: the house of the Lord, there was no more breath
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  Speaker 1: in her. And she said to the king, the report
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  Speaker 1: was true that I heard in my own land of
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  Speaker 1: your words and of your wisdom. But I did not
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  Speaker 1: believe the reports until I came and my own eyes
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  Speaker 1: had seen it. And behold, the half was not told
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  Speaker 1: to me. Your wisdom and your prosperity surpass the reports
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  Speaker 1: that I heard. Happy are your men. Happy are your
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  Speaker 1: servants who continually stand before you. And hear your wisdom.
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  Speaker 1: Blessed be the Lord your God. Who has delighted in you.
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  Speaker 1: And set you on the throne of Israel. Because the
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  Speaker 1: Lord loved Israel forever. He has made you king. That
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  Speaker 1: you may execute justice. And righteousness. So this is the business.
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  Speaker 1: That God has given. To the children of man. To
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  Speaker 1: seek out wisdom. to seek out knowledge. Don't let this
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  Speaker 1: text fool you into believing that we're being called to
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  Speaker 1: somehow be anti-intellectual because we're talking about the limits of
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  Speaker 1: wisdom and knowledge. The Bible speaks favorably about acquiring knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: Psalm 19, 1 and 2. The heavens declare the glory
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  Speaker 1: of God. The sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to
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  Speaker 1: day pours out speech and night to night reveals his knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: There is knowledge in creation that we are called to pursue.
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  Speaker 1: It's interesting, you know, children are always asking questions. You know,
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  Speaker 1: why do I have to do this? Why do I
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  Speaker 1: have to do that? Why do I have to go
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  Speaker 1: to school? Why do I have to study this? Why
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  Speaker 1: do I have to study that? Psalm 19, 1 and 2.
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  Speaker 1: The heavens are declaring the glory of God. Why do
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  Speaker 1: you need math and science? You need math and science
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  Speaker 1: because God reveals himself in two books. He reveals himself
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  Speaker 1: in the book of scripture, but he also reveals himself
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  Speaker 1: in the book of nature. He reveals himself in his handiwork.
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  Speaker 1: And so we pursue a greater knowledge of the world
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  Speaker 1: that God has created so that we can know the
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  Speaker 1: God who created the world. Proverbs 4 and 5, get wisdom,
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  Speaker 1: get insight, do not forget and do not turn away
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  Speaker 1: from the words of my mouth. Proverbs 4, 7, the
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  Speaker 1: beginning of wisdom is this, get wisdom and whatever you get,
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  Speaker 1: get insight. Proverbs 16, 16, how much better to get
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  Speaker 1: wisdom than gold, to get understanding is to be chosen
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  Speaker 1: rather than silver. It is a good thing. to pursue
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  Speaker 1: wisdom and knowledge. Christians have always, by the way, led
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  Speaker 1: the way in the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge. Listen
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  Speaker 1: to this in Grotheus' book, Christian Apologetics. As part of
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  Speaker 1: a long and fascinating research project concerning the relationship of
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  Speaker 1: Christian monotheism to Western history, sociologist Rodney Stark claims that
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  Speaker 1: the medieval Christian worldview provided a wellspring of intellectual resources
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  Speaker 1: for the development of science, technology, and commerce. He argues
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  Speaker 1: that the later achievements of the scientific revolution were not
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  Speaker 1: the result of an eruption of secular thinking, but were
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  Speaker 1: the culmination of many centuries of systematic progress by medieval
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  Speaker 1: scholastics sustained by that uniquely Christian 12th century invention The university. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: my friends, Christians invented universities. Not Muslims. Not secular atheists.
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  Speaker 1: Christians invented universities. We are not and have never been anti-intellectual.
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  Speaker 1: Failure to pursue knowledge in scripture is viewed as folly.
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  Speaker 1: Proverbs 1.22 How long, oh simple ones, will you love
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  Speaker 1: being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
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  Speaker 1: and fools hate knowledge? Proverbs 18, 15. An intelligent heart
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  Speaker 1: acquires knowledge and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: Far from running from knowledge. We ought to be running
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  Speaker 1: to it. We ought to pursue it. In fact, that
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  Speaker 1: ought to be known for and what we're known by
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  Speaker 1: as individuals who seek truth, beauty, and goodness to the
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  Speaker 1: glory of God and for its sake alone. But remember,
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  Speaker 1: this is about the limits of wisdom. and knowledge. Wisdom
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  Speaker 1: and knowledge alone can lead to despair. Verses 14 and
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  Speaker 1: 15 in our text. I have seen everything that is
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  Speaker 1: done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and
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  Speaker 1: striving after wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight.
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  Speaker 1: What is lacking cannot be counted. He recognizes that wisdom
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  Speaker 1: and knowledge have their limits. He's tried, but he's failed
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  Speaker 1: to be fulfilled by wisdom and knowledge alone because no
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  Speaker 1: one can ever be fulfilled by wisdom and knowledge alone.
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  Speaker 1: This is the mistake that the atheist makes. The atheist
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  Speaker 1: argues that there is no God and that that's okay
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  Speaker 1: because we have everything we need through wisdom and knowledge
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  Speaker 1: and scientific discovery. But we cannot solve every problem. That's
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  Speaker 1: what the author means when he says, what is crooked
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  Speaker 1: cannot be made straight and what is lacking cannot be counted.
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  Speaker 1: No matter how smart we are, We always come up
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  Speaker 1: against problems that we cannot solve. And utopia is not coming.
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  Speaker 1: With all of our wisdom and with all of our
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  Speaker 1: gadgets and with all of our technology, this generation is
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  Speaker 1: among the most miserable that the world has ever known.
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  Speaker 1: It amazes me that children and ages gone by had
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  Speaker 1: none of the gadgets that children today have. And yet
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  Speaker 1: they found ways to entertain themselves. And children today are
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: constantly saying, I am bored. Amen, somebody. They've got everything.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: All the gadgets you can imagine. And they say, I
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: am bored. I can remember, some of the people in
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: the room can remember when television meant you sit down
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: and you watch TV. What's on? Amen. And you watch
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: what was on two or three channels. That's all. Now
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: there are streaming services that literally have thousands upon thousands
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: of things that you can watch. And we sit down
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: in front of them and we say, nothing's on. This
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: is his point. This is his point. By itself, wisdom
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: and knowledge just lead to despair because there are limits
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: to human wisdom and knowledge. We learned that a couple
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: of years ago. All it took was a little microscopic
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: bug and it derailed the global economy. Amen? Amen? We
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: didn't know what to do with ourselves. We were running
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: around scared, afraid because of a little microscopic bug. By
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: the way, the microscopic bug is still around and it's
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: not going anywhere. Why? Because in all of our sophisticated
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: wisdom and knowledge, we still don't know how to get
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: rid of a virus. What is crooked cannot be made
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: straight What is lacking cannot be counted. There are limits
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: to human wisdom and knowledge. 1 Corinthians 3, 18 through 20,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: one of my favorite passages of Scripture, let no one
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: deceive himself. If anyone amongst you thinks that he is
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: wise in this age, let him become a fool that
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: is folly with God, for it is written, He catches
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: the wise in their craftiness. And again, the Lord knows
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: the thoughts of the wise that they are futile. That's
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: why it leads to despair. Jesus was not speaking particularly
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: about wisdom or knowledge in Matthew chapter 8, but his words,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: his words ring true even here. For whoever would save
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: my sake and the gospels will save it. For what
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: does it profit a man to gain the whole world
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: in return for his soul? He's speaking there, we know,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: about money. But you can also apply that to wisdom
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: and knowledge. You will never be wise enough to defeat death.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: You will never have enough knowledge to defeat death. Thirdly,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: knowledge is insufficient without the knowledge of God. Knowledge is
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: insufficient without the knowledge of God. And it will always
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: be insufficient without the knowledge of God. Which is why
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: knowledge alone leads to despair. Look at verses 16 through 18.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: I said in my heart, I have acquired great wisdom,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me. And my
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. In much wisdom
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: is vexation. And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. Is
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: this not true? The more we learn, the more we
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: realize we don't know. You know, it's one thing, for example,
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: a person to die when we have no idea what
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: is going on with them or no idea how to
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: help them. But it bothers medical professionals when someone comes
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: in and with all of their training and with all
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: of their experience and with all of their knowledge, they do,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: and we hear it, right? We did everything we could.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: And yet, it wasn't enough. This is Solomon's thesis in Proverbs.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: The idea that knowledge is insufficient without the knowledge of God.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Proverbs 1.7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Amen? Fools despise
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: wisdom and instruction. There's also clearly in Scripture the idea
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: that there is wisdom that is wicked. There's wisdom that
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: is wicked. It's amazing that we split the atom. And
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: on the one hand, we split the atom and it
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: has given us an amazing, abundant, clean, almost endless source
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: of energy known as nuclear energy. It's the cleanest source
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: most abundant energy that there is. And yet, in splitting
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: the atom, we also got the most destructive weapon that
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: the world has ever seen. Knowledge doesn't just come in
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: a vacuum. James 3, 13 to 18, Who is wise
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: in understanding among you? By his good conduct let him
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: you have bitter jealousy, selfish ambition in your hearts, do
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: not boast and be false to the truth. This is
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: not wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, There will be
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: make peace. There is wisdom from above, but there is
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: also earthly wisdom. There is also, as James says, demonic wisdom.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: That is why our wisdom and our knowledge are always
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: insufficient apart from the knowledge of God. And at the
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: end of the day, that knowledge of God is more
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: specific in that it is the knowledge of His Son,
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Paul says it this way in Colossians 2, 1-3.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: For I want you to know how great a struggle
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: I have for you and for those at Laodicea, and
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: for all who have not seen me face to face,
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: and knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. All
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: Why wouldn't they be? Why wouldn't they be? He is
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: indeed the God-man who spoke the world into existence. He
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: is indeed the Savior of the world. He is indeed
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: wisdom from God, the wisdom of God, the very word
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: of God is who Christ is. How could we ever
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: hope to have any true wisdom apart from Christ in
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: whom all wisdom is hidden? No wonder our knowledge and
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: our wisdom are limited. This is why at the end
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: of the day, we absolutely pursue wisdom and knowledge. But
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: we pursue wisdom and knowledge to the glory of God,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: recognizing that apart from God, our wisdom and our knowledge
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: will lead us to despair because all it will ever
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: teach us is that we can't know enough. We can't
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: be wise enough. We can't be smart enough. We can't
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: invent enough. We can't discover enough. Because what is crooked
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: will never be made straight. And what is lacking will
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: never be counted. And in our quest to have all knowledge,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: when we realize that we can't, we are left with despair. Unless...
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: And until we recognize that the true end of knowledge
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: is the knowledge of God through the person and work
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ. It is only then that our knowledge
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: is sufficient. It is only then that our knowledge and
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: our wisdom are put to proper use. and toward right ends.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: And it is only then, then we can ever find satisfaction.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: Only in Christ. Are you walking in despair because things
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: are not working the way you think they ought to work?
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: Or are you walking in despair because you turned wisdom
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: literature into law and you're living your life as though
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: there's some guarantee that if you do ABC, you will
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: be guaranteed XYZ, and it hasn't worked out. And you're
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: shaking your fists at God, or you're looking inwardly to
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: find out what you did wrong because you didn't get
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: what you expected. That is despair. Despair. And it is
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: the despair that always comes when you turn wisdom into
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: law instead of recognizing that the fullness of wisdom is
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: found only in Christ. Only in Christ. See, if I
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: turn wisdom into law and I do what I'm supposed
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: to do and I don't get the right result, I
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: don't have an answer. I don't know what went wrong.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: But if Christ is the end of all wisdom, and
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: if God is the sovereign Lord of the universe, I
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: pursue wisdom and knowledge to the glory of God, and
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: it becomes an end in itself, not a means to
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: an end. And I'm satisfied. in God and in the
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: wisdom that I've pursued, so that even when things don't
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: go the way I desire for them to go, I
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: still know that God is on His throne and that
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: He is enough. and there's the key are you pursuing
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: wisdom so that you can get stuff or are you
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: pursuing wisdom so that you can know God One of
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: those will never satisfy you. One of those will never
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: fail to satisfy you. Let's pray. Our good and gracious God,
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: of all wisdom, of all knowledge, the God who created
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: the world and everything in it for his glory. Before
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: you we bow. To you we offer thanks. To you
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: we offer our praise. To you we ascribe glory and
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: majesty and strength and power. Thank you for reminding us
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: today of the limits of wisdom and knowledge. And in
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: doing so, reminding us of the glory of wisdom and
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: knowledge when put to proper use. And that proper use
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: is knowing and serving you, the true and living God.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: Grant by your grace that we might find our wisdom
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: In Christ. And that in doing so. We might be
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: found in him. Satisfied in him. For this we pray.
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: In his name and for his sake. Amen.