To Acquire Wisdom, We Must Listen

Notes on Proverbs

As wisdom is based upon instruction, it is therefore necessary for us to listen to wise counsel in order to acquire wisdom. So the wise father calls upon his son to listen to his words.

Hear, my son, and accept my sayings and the years of your life will be many. I have directed you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in upright paths. When you walk, your steps will not be impeded; and if you run, you will not stumble. Take hold of instruction; do not let go. Guard her, for she is your life” (4:10-13).

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Seek First His Kingdom

Matthew 6:33

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned against one dividing his allegiance to God. He said that an attempt to do this could not possibly be done with the Lord’s approval.

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matthew 6:24).

Jesus specifically mentioned wealth here as an object that would distract one from wholeheartedly serving God. But this principle is not limited to wealth. His point was that we must not allow anything to distract or hinder us from our service to God.
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The Acquisition of Wisdom: The Proper Approach

Notes on Proverbs

Now that we have considered the appeal of wisdom and can now appreciate the reasons why we should pursue wisdom, we turn our attention to acquiring wisdom. Once we know we need wisdom, how do we obtain it? The book of Proverbs addresses this question for us as well.
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The Appreciation of Wisdom: Contrast Between the Righteous and the Wicked — Spiritual Consequences

Notes on Proverbs

While much of Proverbs deals with matters that pertain to activities of this life and our physical well-being, there are also instructions and principles that extend to our spiritual activities and well-being. We will consider these passages here.
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Why Jesus Came to Save Us

The Lost Sheep

Why did Jesus come to save us? There are several answers we could give that would be correct: He loved us (John 15:13), the Father loved us (John 3:16), He needed to fulfill “the eternal purpose” (Ephesians 3:11), He wanted to “bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18), and so on. But why did we need to be saved? Notice what Jesus said:

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

Simply put, Jesus came to save us because we were lost. In Luke 15, Jesus used three parables to describe things that were lost: the lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7), the lost coin (Luke 15:8-10), and the lost son (Luke 15:11-24). When we consider these three parables, we learn several lessons: (1) why being lost is dangerous for us, (2) why the Lord saw fit to seek for us when we were lost, and (3) what our responsibility is in being saved.
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The Appreciation of Wisdom: Contrast Between the Righteous and the Wicked — Physical Consequences

Notes on Proverbs

To further emphasize the need for us to appreciate wisdom, we will turn our attention now to various passages in the book of Proverbs that highlight the contrast between the righteous and the wicked. We can divide these into two categories: physical consequences and spiritual consequences. As we consider the following passages, there will be a few that may have application to both physical and spiritual consequences, but for our study they will be placed in one category or the other.
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Notes on Ecclesiastes

I have just released a new book – Vanity of Vanities: Notes on Ecclesiastes. It is a verse-by-verse commentary on the book of Ecclesiastes based on the New American Standard version of the text. If you are interested in purchasing a copy, or want to find out more about the book, you can click on the link above.

The following is an excerpt containing my closing thoughts on the book of Ecclesiastes:
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