Dr Greg Bahnsen - Proverbs: Proverbs 13:14-16 (Life, Favor, and Riches) (Part 49)

Good morning to Proverbs 13, where we'll read verses 14, 16. The law of the wise is a fountain of life to depart from the snare of death. Good understanding giveth favor, but the way of transgressors is hard. Every prudent man dealing with knowledge, but a fool lays open his folly or the reading of God's word. Have you ever given much thought to the or else's in life? You probably remember that from childhood. You clean up your room or else. You probably all know what it is to say inside. Or else what? What do you mean, or else? We're looking at consequences all the time. And your boss says, one more mistake like that and you'll know what will happen. Well, we're supposed to figure that out. The consequences aren't going to be so good, and so we better adjust our behavior when we look at the consequences. We also know what it is to do things not simply out of a fear of the consequences which are negative, but out of anticipation of consequences that we think are going to be more blessed, more positive. If you clean up your room every day for a week, I'll take you to Disneyland. I hope our parents don't ever say anything quite like that. But anyway, that sort of thing happens from time to time. We are promised things if we'll be obedient, and then we do them. Now, this tells us something about human nature. Human nature is oriented toward results, oriented toward outcome, oriented toward consequences. And God's very aware of that. After all, God made us. He knows everything about us. He knows best how to deal with us. And so in the Book of Proverbs, we have had occasion in previous parts of our series in the Book of Proverbs to comment upon the rewards that come from wisdom, the rewards that attend righteousness, even as there are deadly consequences that will eventuate if we are foolish and unrighteous and do not trust in the Lord. Now, because human nature is oriented toward consequences in the way that I've already said, can you remember some of those rewards? Can you remember some of those messages? I'd like to believe that they are memorable messages. Can you remember what we have said in the past from the Book of Proverbs? In Proverbs chapter 2, I preached the message about wisdom guards us. In Proverbs 3, 13, 16, I preached a message about wisdom as a tree of life. In Proverbs 10, 1, 2, I preached, righteousness delivers from death. And then in Proverbs 10, verse 3, and then a whole slew of passages following that. That was the first message, where I think we had something like 20 passages we had to fly through. We preached about security and satisfaction through righteousness. And so repeatedly we see in the book, and repeatedly we see in this preaching series that there are blessed consequences to wisdom and to righteousness and to trusting God. But this morning I want to look at four specific fruits which attend a life of living wisely, a life of living obediently before God. I'd like to look at four things in particular, and it's of interest to me, and I think to you as well, that those four things which are promised to us if we live wisely before God are precisely the things which, if you did a survey of the human race, I think you'd find those are the things people live for, the four most important things in life, the four consequences or rewards that most people are looking for. And what are they? Riches, knowledge, favor with men, long life. These are the things people want. The Book of Proverbs says, if you would want them, if you would gain them, be wise, be understanding, be righteous. But before we look at them, just one more final word by way of introduction to the text that we're going to be studying. I think that there's a misconception abroad in the land which Satan's doing, and I want to warn you about it. It's a misconception that I had when I became a Christian, a misconception that I think I held onto for many years as a young believer, and one that I continue to fight with even as someone who's now been a Christian for some time and should know better. That's why it's so Satanic. It's so devastating, it's so subtle. It gets into us and our culture promotes it. And unbelievers would love you to believe it. And that's just this, that you have a choice in life, and that is you become a Christian, you become religious, or you get all these other goodies like riches and favor and knowledge. But you see, if you want to be a knowledgeable person, you can't be a Christian. If you want to be a wealthy person, you can't be a Christian. If you want to have favor with men, you can't be a Christian. If you want to have a good life, you can't be a Christian. Now, of course, it may be the noble religious thing to do, to choose this life of deprivation and ignorance and poverty and. And rejection of men in order to follow Jesus. And of course, when those things are threatened, we should follow Jesus. But what I want to get at today is that Satan makes use of that little lie to suggest to us that you have to choose between the two. And so being a Christian just means taking second class citizenship, taking the second best, taking the crumbs from under the table of life. When in fact the book of Proverbs would tell us that if we live wisely, if we trust in the Lord and obey his word, that in fact all those things that everyone else is looking for in life will be coming to us and will be deprived. Those who will not trust in the Lord will be deprived of them. And so let's take care of that little lie, that little misconception, that deception of Satan right now. The book of Proverbs says you want the consequences in life that are most fitting, most blessed, most desirable of men, then don't avoid coming to Jesus, don't avoid trusting the Lord, don't avoid the word of God, but rather get on track with him. Let's look at this. I'm going to take things in reverse order from the text that we've read this morning. I'm going to begin at Proverbs 14:24 and work backwards as we begin by looking first of all at riches. Proverbs 14:24 says, the crown of the wise is their riches, but the folly of fools is only folly. What we have here very simply is a contrast between a wealthy crown on the one hand and a dunce's cap on the other. Okay, There are some people who wear a crown, a crown of riches, and there are some people who wear nothing but a dunce's cap. I suppose it's pedagogically and psychologically sound that we no longer use dunce's caps in school. I don't think it helps children to publicly humiliate them and stand them in the corner and and so forth. But though it may not be a good thing in school to put a dunces cap on someone and sit him on the stool in the corner, in life there are a lot of people wearing dunces caps. Just notice the barrenness of a life of folly. According to this verse. Proverbs 14:24, the second line we read, the folly of fools is folly. I love reading that in Hebrew because all these words, you know, run together, even as in English, the folly of fools. The two words are related. The foolishness of fools is only foolishness. What do we learn from that? Seems like it's maybe a tautology, it seems so redundant, but that's the point. The barrenness of a life of Folly is that folly is its own reproach and folly is its own fruit. What do you get from a life of folly? You get only folly. If you act like a dunce in life, then you're going to be more like a dunce as you go along. By contrast, wisdom is not barren, but exceedingly fruitful. Indeed, wisdom is fruitful even in worldly affairs. Wisdom is fruitful in economic rewards. And so we read in the first part of this proverb that the crown of the wise is their riches. Not a dunce's cap, but a crown which is seen in their riches. The fact that they are productive and they are blessed and they are doing well in this world. Now that's a message that is not appreciated today. That's a message which you will be told is not found in the Bible. You'll be told that's been foisted upon the Bible by sociologists and economists and capitalists, you see, who have wicked hearts that come along and just make the Bible say what they want it to say. You'll be told that as a matter of fact, wealth is something wicked. You shouldn't have wealth. If you have wealth, you're probably a very bad person. Now, these messages we get, and I'm not going to take the time to tell you all the books and all the programs and all the many ways in which it comes across. To us, this message is a persistent one in our world and it must be challenged. The Book of Proverbs says the crown of riches attends wisdom. And that's not just an isolated text. We find that elsewhere in the Book of Proverbs too. Turn to chapter 8, verse 18. Riches and honor are with me. This is wisdom. Yes, durable wealth and righteousness. Jump down to verse 21. That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance and that I may fill their treasuries. Wisdom promises treasuries that are full. Wisdom promises substance. Riches and wealth. In Proverbs 15:6, notice two kinds of revenues are being laid up in life. In the house of the righteous is much treasure, but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble. Everyone's laying up a reward. Everyone's putting things in a storehouse. And when the Bible tells us one of the things being laid up for the righteous is much trouble. Treasure. However, we have to notice, having insisted upon that connection between godly, wise living and financial well being, we have to add that riches are not an isolated reward of wisdom. Riches are always part of a larger picture. They're part of a broader context, a context that includes integrity, righteousness, proper priorities, selflessness, and God centeredness. Just notice we were in Proverbs 8. Turn back for a second in Proverbs 8 where we get this explicit promise of wealth, durable riches, substance and treasuries that are full. Let's read it in its full context. Verses 18 to 21. Riches and honor are with me. Yes, Durable wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold. And my revenue than choice, silver. You better not have your priorities set on the wealth part of this picture. Then I walk in the way of righteousness. In the midst of the paths of integrity, justice is required that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance, that I may fill their treasuries. You see that we have a broader picture being laid before us, and part of that picture is financial well being. But it's only part of the picture. It is the habit and the downfall of fools to seek after only the economic specks in that mosaic. As you look at the overall picture, it's incredible to me the way men have a tendency to just go for the little specks about money and wealth and treasury when the picture is a much broader one. The money and the wealth and the treasure is there. But you see, it's part of a life of integrity, a part of having the right priorities. A life that puts God at the center and lives selflessly and shows integrity. Now, I think we have a tendency to do that as individuals. We want to learn about how we can get ahead in life. And we read, well, righteousness leads to wealth, wisdom leads to wealth, and we just want to leave it at that. But the point is, wisdom leads to a very rich and prosperous life in the broadest sense. Not just financial. The financial, you see, is just part of the picture. But it's not just individuals who have problems with envy and coveting and greed wanting to get ahead that look only at the specs in the overall mosaic. I'm afraid that in the academic world that happens all the time as well. In the academic world, those who are Marxists, followers of the philosophy of history, the philosophy of society, of Karl Marx, Marxists are precisely such fools. For you see, in the mosaic of life, when you look at it from a Marxist perspective, you see only the economic specs. In the mosaic of life, you see only those things pertaining to economics and riches. So that, as Karl Marx said, it's the mode of production that is the key to any analysis of a society. It's the way money is held and transferred that is the key to understanding the course of a society's history. It's what we call economic determinism, that the key factor in life is economics. That isn't what the Book of Proverbs teaches, either in favor of greed or in favor of Marxist envy. Book of Proverbs teaches us that wealth does attend wisdom does attend righteousness, but it's only one part of the overall picture. And so the message of Proverbs is not at all an inducement to coveting. It is rather a call to godly dominion in the world. And I want to stress the fact that it's godly dominion in the world that we're called to. There is an orderliness to the economic realm. The Bible would teach us, an orderliness such that when you disdain labor, you're going to become poor, but if you engage in productive work, it will bring you prosperity. We're only going to look at a few illustrations of this. Proverbs 6, 9, 11. Proverbs 6:9. How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to nap. So shall your poverty come in as a robber, and your lacking will come as an armed man. The Bible tells us, if you're lazy, if you're unproductive, if you disdain labor, then poverty will come upon you like a bandit. On the other hand, Proverbs 13:11 tells us, wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished, but he that gathereth by labor shall have increase when you try to gain money, when you try to get by in vain ways, futile ways, and that's going to be diminished. But when you work hard in a way that's pleasing to God, then increase will be yours in life. And then verse 22 of the same chapter, a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the righteous. A good man not only has enough money to leave an inheritance for his own children, but he labors in such a way that he leaves an inheritance for his grandchildren as well. And the wicked, they struggle in this world and they can't hold on to their money at all. In the end, they lay it up for the righteous. Now, so Proverbs teaches as a generalization, as an axiom of life, that there's a connection between godly labor, productiveness, wealth, and disdain for labor, laziness and dishonesty and poverty. And the key point to be made is that the work that we perform productively must be performed with Honesty with integrity and for righteous, which is to say God serving and God honoring ends. Our work in this world, world must be God centered. And when it is, then it will be blessed of God. Riches will attend wisdom. Now, socialistic Marxism, by contrast, totally disregards the right of private property and fosters thereby what might be called an economics of envy, an economics of coveting. Socialism teaches that you don't have the right to your property, that it should be owned by the society. Because the group, the corporate society, can best tell how that property should be used for everyone's benefit. And therefore ownership is transferred from individuals or from families to the social unit as a whole. That's why it's called socialism. But you see that transfer of property rights or authority over property anyway, that transferring of property rights to the society has no meaning. There isn't anything out there you can find called the society. For the society to own your property means for the state to own your property. But of course, you can't find the state either. We can talk about the state, but you can't stub your toe on a state. You can't find it out there in the world. The state is a way of speaking, it turns out here, a way of speaking of bureaucracies. And the bureaucracies of the state acting in the name of the society, then control our wealth or control the marketplace, or control property. But you see, bureaucracies are controlled too. And bureaucracies are controlled by special interests and a ruling elite. And so propagandists for socialism or for a welfare state, or for state protectionism, whatever you may want to call it, propagandists for this point of view will maintain that if we hold to a voluntary exchange in the marketplace, that it will be rigged against our best interest and that of others. And so they would substitute intervention into the free market by the state and thereby rig the market in favor of what special interest. And the rulers of the society, that is to say they would bring in something like theft through majority vote. Everyone gets together and votes for these people to rule over us. They create bureaucracies which serve the special interest and property, then serves their interest. Now, in such societies there is always a stifling of upward social mobility. By that I mean always the stifling of the ability for somebody to better his lot in life, to come up with a good idea or work hard or save, be thrifty, invest well, forecast the needs of the market, whatever it may be. Always a stifling of people who can do that moving up economically in society, unlike the freedom that is allowed and allowable in societies which honor private property and honor voluntary exchange. If you do a history, just do the last century, look at the 20th century, look at societies. Take Poland, if you will, societies which have had imposed socialism, state intervention in the marketplace, and asked whether these people have become wealthier as a whole, in the aggregate, as a generalization, has that society economically prospered under socialism, or has it been hurt? What about Red China? Red China has not turned out at one time was a major exporting nation in terms of agricultural produce. Under communism, it failed to do that. Russia has had to be fed by the world. But what little experiments in free market exchange, what little experiments in honoring private property and industry have rewarded these cultures immeasurably? Now, the point this morning is not to get into an economic analysis. I mean, I enjoy this kind of thing. I think about this sort of thing. And if you have questions, we can pursue it further. But there's a spiritual point here. God tells us to live in a certain way. God says, live wisely, fear the Lord and obey me. And what will happen is you will prosper. You and your society both will prosper. And when you stand back and look at the course of history, that is true. It is exactly right. And when people do not honor God, when they live lazy lives as individuals or dishonest lives as workers, they don't prosper. And societies that disregard God's standards don't prosper either. And so very simply, if you would be wealthy, you or your society, if you would be wealthy, then first be wise. You know, Benjamin Franklin made a grave mistake by putting those two on a par, wealth and wisdom. And you know, when he did so, he was very legalistic about it, too. You remember what Benjamin Franklin said, Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. Notice wealth and wisdom are on a par. And they are both the result of what? Self efforts, effort. You do the right sorts of things, you know, you live the right kind of life, work hard, and God will give you wisdom and wealth. That isn't the message of the Book of Proverbs. That's Poor Man's Almanac, all right. But God's word says, be wise, work hard, and wealth will be yours. Wisdom is foundational to it all. Well, it's the second thing that we need to look at this morning. We've been talking a lot about riches. I know that interests you, but I hope you're equally interested in knowledge. Proverbs 13:16 says, Every prudent man works with knowledge. But a fool flaunts folly. Then Proverbs 14:18, the simple inherit folly. But the prudent are crowned with knowledge. If you look at this last verse, Proverbs 14:18, the first line warns us that by habituation in foolish actions or in foolish attitudes, by habituation in such things, the fool only stores up more and more foolishness for himself. Fools become habitually foolish. And what happens to those who are habituated in foolishness? What happens to the unrighteous? Unrighteousness tends to become less and less intelligent, less and less insightful. Unrighteous people get dumber and dumber. Those who do not live wisely in this world become less and less acute intellectually, less and less intelligent. They are not able to do as well in terms of their mental output as they should or could or did eat previously. Now, of course, there are dramatic illnesses, illustrations of this. You see people who go insane because of syphilis. You know, very intelligent people. But they find out their unwise way of living, not fearing the Lord and walking according to his commandments actually affects their ability to think correctly. I mean, those are the dramatic cases. But there are also cases of just intellectual burnout. People who were brilliant in the university, people who put out great volumes of material literature. And at the end of their lives, what do you think find? You find hardened individuals, narrow individuals, people who don't want to teach, don't want to talk. They're fed up with all of this. There is this tendency, you see, for foolishness to lead toward the futility even of the intellect. But by contrast, the verse tells us righteousness and wisdom grant greater intellectual acumen and advance greater than we would argue otherwise. Enjoy. So let's read that again. The simple inherit folly. They go from foolishness to more foolishness. But the prudent are crowned with knowledge. What did Proverbs say? Proverbs 1:7, you remember that kind of the key point. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, where the word beginning means the head point. In Hebrew, it is the rosh, the head. It's the key thing in knowledge, the fear of the Lord. And you take away the fear of the Lord. And knowledge has no foundation. Knowledge has no context. Now, humanism, what you see in the media, but of course, we see it with a vengeance in our public schools. Humanism, as we see it in our colleges and universities, defiantly holds a contrary conviction to that. I think the entire thrust, in fact, of secular learning is to gain knowledge independently of God and thereby show that God is Irrelevant, if not non existent. The whole thrust of the public school system is to say you don't need the fear of the Lord to be an intelligent person. And what has been the fruit of that? Well, stand back and look. Just as we stood back and we looked at the course of socialist societies, look at the course of secular learning over the last 50 years. Has this borne good fruit and a harvest of knowledge? Has there been, through a self conscious pursuit of autonomy, a great flourishing of the academic centers in our land? Absolutely not. The university in our day is an absolute demise. The fact that the football teams keep playing and the money keeps coming in fools many people. I hope you're not fooled. Our colleges and our universities are in a dreadful plight. Just go to a department meeting, just go to a meeting of those who have to make university decisions between departments. There is no unity, there is no common foundation. Our schools are in a great deal of trouble. Relativism is taught all about us. If you don't have the fear of the Lord, then of course everything's relative. There's skepticism about causation and about the regularity of the physical world, which undermines science. Indeed, the foundations of every field, from physics to psychology, are being questioned today, are being disputed and by most people are being placed beyond rational knowledge. There are all these little games that are being played in the university, which I guess maybe I pay more attention to than many of you will. But it's incredible. In every department, no one wants to talk about the foundations of their field anymore because. Because it's fruitless. They don't know what the foundation would be. They can't justify their foundations. There is this incredible tension in the university between the view of man as an animal, or even worse, as a mechanism in the universe, and on the other hand, the view of man as free and as autonomous. Which is it? Is it that man is free or is he determined? There's a loss of distinctiveness and value for man. He's just evolutionary slime on one part of the university campus. But on another part of the university campus people are demonstrating and intensely holding out for ethical concern, which makes no sense at all if man is nothing but slime. You see in so many ways, which I could get into, and I guess my demeanor tells you how excited I get about this. In many ways, humanist education is a fraud and it's running out of time. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. You throw away the fear of the Lord, you forget the will wisdom that the book of Proverbs inculcates and you destroy knowledge. Pursue it, on the other hand, and knowledge will be yours. I really believe that those who live a righteous life before God, who live in faith toward Jesus Christ, tend to become more intelligent. That doesn't mean they become brainy. That doesn't mean they write articles or great tomes. But your mental life improves. You think more clearly, you think more insightfully. You think more in a way that's more rewarding. Rewarding for you as an individual. Students who become Christians often testify that their grades become better. That's one dramatic illustration of this. But it's more general than that. Our thinking improves when we put the fear of the Lord at the foundation of all of our thoughts. Now, Proverbs 14:24 had spoken of a crown of riches. The verse we're now looking at, Proverbs 14:18, speaks of the crown of knowledge, the simple inherent folly. But the prudent are crowned with knowledge. And I have to tell you this morning that as a teacher, especially as a teacher of philosophy and the humanities, as a teacher, I wonder if our culture can respond as enthusiastically to the one crown as to the other. The book of Proverbs assumes that you want to be crowned with riches. You want to be crowned with knowledge. Our society has become so impoverished and so shallow, so self centered and so suicidal. Frankly, spiritually speaking, our society has become so impoverished that I don't think the crown of knowledge means much to us anymore. But we as God's people must surely desire the crown of knowledge, even as we desire the crown of riches. Because for us, knowledge is a great blessing. Knowledge is a reward from God and a necessary tool for serving and glorifying God. There is nothing to be commended in a stupid Christian, A Christian who goes to school and doesn't do well, a Christian who does not care about thinking clearly or accurately or gaining the truth. I want you to be acutely aware that there is no humor and there is no value in a Christian displaying ignorance before the world. I think all of us know people who have been fools for Christ on the university campus, right? You know, acting rudely, acting as though they are obscurantists in the way that they think, saying things that are outlandish and never offering any defense of them and being ridiculed by people and finding that a badge of honor that they are fools for Jesus. My friends, we are going to be fools for Jesus if we think consciousness consistently and clearly in biblical terms, no doubt about that. But not fools like that. Not fools because we turn off our brains, not Fools, because we act in a way that is going to bring in a disrepute upon the gospel. There is no value in a stupid Christian. And I have to lay that on you pretty thickly, because you see, I'm afraid that though we talk about the ideal of knowing God's word and understanding things and making full scale application of the the scriptures to all areas of life, the fact is we are all lazy when it comes to studying the word of God. You remember a few years ago when Anita Bryant was making such a courageous stand against homosexuality in Florida, and I think many of us had hearts that went out to her about that and believed in her cause and understood why she was being threatened and that it was a noble thing for her to stand up against that threat and so forth. And yet it also came down like a house of cards when Playboy magazine interviewed Anita Bryant and some tough questions came up about, well, what does the Bible teach about this or that? And her answer was, well, you see, you've got to read the whole Bible before you understand these things. And the interviewer, I am sure, just as a matter of conversation, not really as an attempt to bring her down because who would have expected someone to say that and then have this happen. The interviewer said, oh, and how often have you read the letter Bible all the way through? Long pregnant pause. Well, I guess I never have after she just said, you need to read the Bible entirely through before you understand these things that I'm talking about. Of course, the conclusion to be drawn is she didn't understand those things either. And as with most religious people, they're a bunch of shallow frauds. Now, I'm not preaching this illustration this morning because I think you all are going to have that kind of public notice and embarrass the Church of Jesus Christ, Christ and your Lord by saying things like that. But you see, in very small ways, just as real though, in very small ways. I'm afraid we do that all the time. We show our ignorance of the Bible. How much time do we give to studying the Bible? How important is it to us really? I'm going to tell you how bad it's become. I'm just going to bare my soul with you this morning because it really hurts and it's easier to say it to you as a group than to come to your homes and it and say it to you individually. So I'm going to hide behind the pulpit this morning and tell you what really bothers me. I have to go into homes and encourage people to read their Bible and pray for five minutes a day to get them started. You know that. And it's kind of like not pulling teeth, because it's not like God's people don't agree they should be doing this, but God's people just don't do it. And to get them doing it, we've got to start at a baby level. We're going to say, okay, look, five minutes. Can you get up five minutes early in the morning for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ better? More about Jesus, more about Jesus, we sing. But we'd rather hit the snooze alarm and get an extra 10 minutes sleep than to get up 5 minutes early and to know more about Jesus and to get closer to him and to know him better. There is no value in an ignorant Christian. Fools flaunt their folly. Hebrews 13:6. Excuse me, Proverbs 13:6. Every prudent man works with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly. Prudent people will be known for working with knowledge. We should have a reputation for that, for being knowledgeable about the things of the world, understood in a Christian perspective, and about the things of the Lord. We should be knowledgeable people. We should work with that knowledge. It should be the foundation of our lives. And if we are wise, it will be. We need to move on. The Bible also promises for those who have a foundation and wisdom for their lives. Favor among men Proverbs 13:15 Good understanding gives favor, but the way of the transgressor is hard. Very simply, if you would gain the favor of men, then be a person of good sense. Be a person of good understanding. Learn to deal wisely in your relationships with others. Sometimes people who do have a lot of doctrinal knowledge and hold out courageously for the distinctives of the faith. In a day where the tide is against us, people like us in this congregation, I would hope. Sometimes we really are very poor in interpersonal skills. You know that. That's why pastors and elders run around keeping everyone from fighting in the church and understanding each other and being charitable and not gossiping and so forth and so on. But it's not just with one another. We do, you know, pretty well this congregation. Not perfect, but we do pretty well most things. But, you know, we all tend to love the barbed expression, to act a little churlish in the presence of people, to be, well, kind of grouchy, kind of censorious. And we don't have a lot of interpersonal skills. The Bible says people who are wise gain favor among men. Notice the favor is not gained, however, by compromise, by flattering people or giving up our distinctives. It comes by wise dealing. Actually, the Hebrew means being tactful, knowing the right thing to say the right thing to do, being wise in your relationships. Maybe I can make this point real briefly before we get to our last section this morning by reminding you how foolish words and actions are readily ridiculed by people. You've been in a group, maybe not even a group of people, you know, not necessarily all of Christians, but when someone else has done something really foolish up at the counter or has said something that's really asinine, you notice how everybody tends to snicker or to say things about that. We see foolishness, we can mark it out. We know it's not good. On the other hand, that rare display of wise dealing, that rare display of wisdom when it comes along, is also very noticeable, and it gains the applause. I've known Christians who have developed that trait of knowing how to act in wisdom, and though people despise what they are saying, nevertheless are at peace with them and respect them because of the way they know how to deal with the situation. The Bible promises that. One more thing. The Bible promises we come to the end of our list of rewards. Proverbs 13:14 says, the law of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may depart from the snares of death. A fountain of life. Sound familiar? You know, man has perennially been looking for the fountain of life. Sometimes it's called the fountain of youth. Right? Cortez was supposed to have discovered that in Florida. Or maybe I've got my history wrong. I hope not. But he's not the only explorer in the New World who thought there was going to be a fountain of youth. If you come across this one fountain of and drink the water of it, it will renew your strength and refresh you and make you perpetually young. Men want to live. Women do, too. Now, I'm going to keep from saying that women want to be young more intensely than men want to be young. They're only more honest about it. Men, okay? The fact is, we all want to be young. We want to live, we want to thrive, we want to extend our lives. But this image of a fountain life is more than that perennial image that seems to be in the consciousness of all cultures and all literature. This fountain of life was especially necessary in the scorching desert context of Palestine. You travel across that desert and you don't come across a fountain of life, you're dead. And the play on words is intended. The Bible says the law of the wise is a fountain of life, of life. The word law there actually is Torah. The Torah, or the teaching of the wise, brings refreshment and it saves life. Now, I hope to some degree I've been wise with you this morning. I hope that my instruction and my direction has been to you Torah. It will bring you refreshment and it will extend your lives, indeed extend them into eternity, if you will heed what the word of God says. The word Torah ends as I said, means instruction. It means direction and human Torah. The law or teaching of the wise will prove to have that refreshing effect and that saving effect only if it's based upon the Divine Torah. Based upon the divine word of God. A life that is lived contrary to the wisdom of which we've been speaking this morning is not simply a life that is devoid of wealth, devoid of knowledge, devoid of the favor of men. It's a life of headed for death. Headed for death. Now, the spiritual death of alienation from God and our fellow man and eternal death and the torment of being separated from God eternally. What do men most want in life? If I were to ask you that question, as I did at the beginning of this morning's message, wouldn't you agree with me? As you look around you, men are looking for what? Riches. And they're looking for knowledge. They're looking for favor with other in they want to be accepted. They're looking for life. The Bible says you don't have to choose those things or Jesus. The Bible says if you want those things, you need to choose Jesus. Jesus, who is our wisdom according to Paul, one day stood up and he said, ho, everyone that thirsts, come to me and from within you will well up rivers of living water. The fountain of life. Life is promised to us by Jesus Christ himself and can be gained not by traveling around the world looking for the fountain of youth, not by following the Marxist concepts of economics or the humanist concepts of education. The fountain of life can be found only at the feet of Jesus. And then he, by putting his Holy Spirit within us, will have life well up within us and will give us a life that is directed by the Torah of God's Word and will have as its end eternal riches, eternal reward and eternal life. So what's it going to be this morning? Going to go on living like fools? Or should we start listening to the consequences and say we better work at being wise? That's correct. Lord, we ask you to fool us, to forgive the foolishness that's in our hearts and so often displayed in our lives. We ask you to forgive us because we have heard these things before and we haven't changed. We are really stuck in a rut and we need your help. We pray that you would pull us out, that you'd give us good steps, that you would invigorate us and strengthen us and set us on the right path, the path of wisdom and righteousness. We confess to you that we are not wise and we are not righteous people. And our only hope of acceptance in your sight is your son, Jesus Christ, who is to us wisdom and righteousness. The one who died on the cross that our sins might be forgiven, who was raised from the dead that we might be justified, and who even now is ascended on high and gives his spirit to his people that from within them rivers of living water might well up. Oh, we pray for your grace and your mercy to save us and to change us and make us wise people. We pray also for the rewards of that wisdom as encouragement along the way. Do improve our knowledge, Lord. Improve our outward estate and our wealth in this world. Give us greater favor with men, extend our lives. The Lord, we ask that you would give us these things not as specks in a mosaic, but you would give us the entire picture. A life of trust, a life of integrity, a life of having the right priorities, a life of loving you. And then we will know life's greatest reward. Indeed, we will have life and that more abundant. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.