Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - True Wisdom

Episode Date: January 1, 2024

Ancient societies usually had more consensus about morality. Partly because of that, I think they saw something we have a harder time seeing: that moral standards, as important as they are, don’t actually address most of the situations we face.  If you’re going to avoid making an absolute mess of your life, you need something we hardly talk about today. It’s not identical to knowledge, and it’s not identical even to moral goodness. It’s wisdom.  For wisdom, there’s no better place than to go to the book of Proverbs. And this passage shows us 1) the importance of wisdom, 2) the definition of wisdom, 3) the problem of wisdom, and 4) a clue to its solution. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 12, 2004. Series: Proverbs: True Wisdom for Living. Scripture: Proverbs 8:10-16; 22-31. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel and Life. There are lots of things the Bible is pretty clear about. Don't steal, for instance, or don't commit adultery. But no single Bible verse will tell you exactly whom to marry, which job to take, whether to move or stay put. We need God's wisdom to make good decisions in every part of our lives. Join us today as Tim Keller explores how we can cultivate wisdom with God at the center of all life's choices.

This morning's scripture reading comes from Proverbs chapter 8 verses 10 through 16, then verses 22 through 31. Take my instruction instead of silver and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. I wisdom dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil, pride and arrogance and the way of evil, and perverted speech I hate.

I have counsel and sound wisdom. I have insight. I have strength. By me, King's reign and rulers decree what is just. By me, he princes rule and nobles, all who govern justly. The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His work, the first of His acts of old. Ages ago, I was set up at the first before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no springs abounding with water.

Before the mountains had shaped before the hills, I was brought forth before he had made the earth and its fields or the first of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there. When he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit so that the waters might not transgress his command,

when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him like a master workman and I was daily his delight. Rejoicing before him always, joicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man. This is God's word. Now we live in a pluralistic society. And in a pluralistic society, people are always fighting about morality. They're fighting about the different moral sensibilities we have about what is good and what is bad and what is right and what is wrong. And that's, I guess, that fighting is inevitable, but probably it means it obscures for us something that many ancient societies,

I think, had a better grasp of. Ancient societies usually had more consensus in the society about morality, but partly because of that, I think they saw something. And that is, moral standards as important and as crucial as they are actually don't address most of the situations that you face. See, whatever you think the rules are, whatever you think the rules are, no matter what that you think they are, the vast majority of situations you actually face aren't covered by those rules. If you're not going to make an absolute mess of your life, if you're going to make it through

life, you need something that we hardly talk about today because the secular culture talks about science and facts. And the moral communities, like the churches in Synagogues and all that talk about morality, but actually what we need is something that's hardly talked about at all nowadays, which is not identical to knowledge, and it's not identical even to moral goodness, wisdom. You're going to make an absolute muck of your life if you don't find, grow in, wisdom. And there's no better place in the go to the book of Proverbs, which we're going to go to for weeks this year.

And as an introduction to the book, we're looking at this chapter 8, which, as we go through it, we will see, shows us the importance of wisdom, the definition of wisdom, the problem of wisdom, and include it's solution. The importance, the definition, the problem, and the clue to the solution. All right, first, start at the top. First three verses, tell us the importance of wisdom. And look at the comparison, look at the progression. Wisdom is speaking, and wisdom says, I am more important than silver, than gold, than

jewels, and then, finally, wisdom gets all the way down to greater than anything you may desire. Now here, let me put this in a nutshell, this is saying, wisdom is infinitely more important than all the wealth and all the fame and all the power in the world. It is far more important than the greatest of circumstances is the ability to grow and handle and flourish life circumstances whatever they are. Right? Why? See, having great life circumstances, fame and fortune and and happiness, is nowhere near as important as having wisdom, the ability to handle and grow and flourish in life circumstances, no matter what they are.

Why? Because only a tiny minority of people ever get their life circumstances where they want them, and no one at all keeps them there. Wisdom is infinitely more important than all the fame and looks and good circumstances possible. You know this, there are lots of people who have talent, intellect, charisma, credentials, beauty, and they've gone nowhere, or maybe even their lives have unraveled, and other people who have little talent and intellect and credentials

and beauty and charisma have done very, very well. What's the difference? Wisdom. Why would it be so important to get wisdom? Because the reason you have to think about it, the reason you have to set your mind to it is because, and I don't think this is very well known in the church in particular, but certainly not in our culture, is wisdom is not the same thing as moral goodness. It's not identical to it, it's related to it, but it's not identical to it. Obviously, by the way, to be unethical is stupid in a long run, even the business schools will tell you that all the time.

You know, the business schools will say be ethical because in the long run, it's smart. So obviously wisdom is not less being less than ethical, but it's far more. For example, if you want to help a poor family out of poverty, that's good. That's noble, that's right. And you can do it completely ethically and still ruin their lives because you are not conversant with the complexities of how poverty actually works. It's extremely important, it's not enough to be people of vision, it's not enough to be people of principle, it's not enough to be people even of high principle. You've got to be people of principle. It's not enough to be people even of high principle.

You've got to be people of wisdom or you're going to ruin your life in the lives of the people around you. And another reason why it's so important to get wisdom is the frequency with which we need it. I've already alluded to this, but let me press it home a little bit. Many decisions in order to make them well,

only require knowledge. If you had all the knowledge, you could choose the right car, maybe the right medicine, only require knowledge. If you had all the knowledge, you could choose the right car, maybe the right medicine, something like that. And other decisions are mainly a matter of your principles and your commitments. But the vast majority of the decisions we actually face, the rules and the facts won't help you.

Who do you marry? Do you get married? Who should you date? Do you get married? Who should you date? Do you break up? What career should you go into? What school should you get? Should I stay here? Should I go to another job?

Should I move here? Should I move there? Should I confront the person? Or should I hold back? Should I take the risk? Or should I play it safe? And do you realize a wrong decision in any of those things is a disaster? And yet, the rules don't cover them.

Whatever you think the moral rules are, they don't cover them and knowledge isn't enough. And we live in a culture that on the one hand you've got the scientific, secular culture that thinks that science, scientific expertise will give you all the answers. It doesn't give the answers on any of those things. Most of the things you need. And of course, people in the church, and the moral people who say morality is important. Of course, it's important. It's absolutely crucial,

but it doesn't help you on these areas. And I would like to suggest that a lot of you today, the reason you have that sick, sinking feeling in your stomach about your life is because you know you're in a situation that you don't have the wisdom to address. That's the problem. It's not a matter so much of knowledge or smarts

or moral rectitude. You don't have the wisdom. We're perishing for lack of wisdom. So you see the importance of wisdom. Wisdom is infinitely more important than all the silver, all the gold, all the jewels, and all you could even imagine does not even compare to her. So, okay, then now let's move on. What's the definition? That's the importance of it. What's the definition of it? Well, we've already kind of hinted at it,

but in verses 12 to 16, let's move on down the passage, let's move on down the text. If you move on, you'll see there's a lot of synonyms, and if you read the whole book of Proverbs, you'll find that these synonyms continually come up. Again, here's wisdom speaking, and wisdom's eye, wisdom dwell with prudence, I dwell with, I have insight and so on. Many of these words, Hebrew words, are important synonyms used throughout the book to give us perspectives on wisdom. Let me give you three. First of all, notice it says,

wisdom has insight, verse 14, and that's the Hebrew word bina, which actually would mean knowing how things really work, knowing how things really work, knowing how things really happen. Then secondly, it says, I wisdom dwell with prudence, and that's not the best English translation, but anyway, here's a word that means to notice little distinctions, which means wisdom is knowing how things really are. So for example, Sherlock Holmes walks into a room and it's all a mess. And you and I look around and say, it's just a mess. But he sees clues. He sees little things. Little things. You see a blur. He sees little distinctions. Did you see? It's that long, not that long.

I know. And suddenly he knows what really happened. Wisdom is knowing how things really happen in the world, how things really work. And wisdom is secondly, knowing how things really happen in the world, how things really work. And wisdom is secondly, knowing how things really are. How things really work, how things really are. And lastly, by me, King's reign, and rulers decree the right things. So wisdom is not just knowing how things really work and how things really are, but also what I should do about it. And this is the reason why Gerhard von Rod, don't you love that word, that name, Gerhard von Rodd, who wrote Wisdom in Israel,

the greatest, I think, of all the scholarly books about the wisdom literature in Wisdom in Israel. He wrote it quite a few years ago, but I don't think so past. This is his definition, according to Proverbs of the term Wisdom. Here it is. He says it's becoming competent with regard to the realities of life. Competence with regard to the realities of life. Knowing how things really happen, knowing how things really are, and knowing what to do about it. And Fun Rod says elsewhere, he says, though wise, the wise have knowledge, of course. And the wise have moral character, of course.

But they also have a character of mind and heart so that they always do the right thing even when the rules don't apply. They do the right things even when the rules don't apply. That's wisdom. And you know, when you start to think about this, you realize I have been working on that. I've been working on being good, and that's hard enough. Oh my gosh, I got to be wise too, and yes you do. The Bible continually talks and illustrates the importance of the nature of wisdom. Last year we did a series on David, the story of David, the history of David.

And if it was such a long, there's so many passages in the Bible, I couldn't cover them all. One I didn't cover was this interesting one from 1st Samuel 15 to 17. It's about the time in which Absalom, David's adult son had arisen up and cast David out and had done a coup,

a coup d'état, and he had taken power in Jerusalem and David had fled for his life into the wilderness with some of his friends. And one of David's counselors, a hithophel, decided to throw in his lot with Absalom and be Absalom's counselor. Now hithophel was incredibly wise, unbelievably wise. And David knew that he had no hope as long as Absalom had that kind of wisdom in his court. So he came to Hushai, which was one of the guys who had fled in the wilderness with him,

and said, I'll tell you what, Hushai, go back to Absalom's court and make them believe that you're on his side and then do everything you can to overthrow the council of a hitherto, or I've got no chance, such as the power of wisdom. So Husha goes back and he, you know, he ingratiates himself and gets into Absalom's trust. And so at one point Absalom decides he's got to take a choice, he's got to make a choice. Is the decision to make? The decision is not whether to go and capture or kill David. He knows he's got to do that. Eventually, he's got a capture and kill David or he cannot have his own throne secure. But the real question is when?

So he gets his counselors together and he says, should I go and attack David now or not? And Hithelf says, yes, now. Go while he's still in grief. Go while he's still on the run. Go while he's off balance. Get him before he can get strategies together. Get him before he can consolidate his position. Go get him and the kingdom is yours.

Capture or kill him. But Hushai says, wait, and Hushai appeals both to Absalom's fear and his vanity. To the fear, he says, wait a minute, wait a minute. Remember David? This is David, and he's out there with his mighty men. Do you remember that he was out there for years? He's battle hard, and he knows what he's doing. Saul couldn't catch him.

If you try to go out there and get him, he might kill you or even elude you. And if he eludes you and everybody knows you're after him, your poll numbers will sink. And he says on the other hand, he goes to his vanity and he says, but you know what you are popular? You're incredibly popular. Everybody loves you, everybody. And if you just sit tight and you don't do anything stupid to hurt your poll numbers, they're just going to come to you anyway.

The people will leave, David. He'll be left alone and then you can take him. And because he appealed to his vanity and because he appealed to his fear, Absalom said, that's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to go now. No reason to make the risk. And the text says, when a hithafel heard of the decision, he saddled his donkey, he went home to his house,

and he hanged himself. Why? If the fellow knew, if you reject wisdom, you can keep disaster away for a while, but not forever. See, a hitherto fell, saw what happened. Absalom, because he rejected God, did not know who he really was. He had both a combination of an inferiority feelings and superiority feelings. He had too little of view of his strength and he had too great a view of his glory. In other words, he didn't have an accurate view of

who he was and because he didn't have an accurate view of who he was and because he didn't have an accurate view of who he really was, he didn't choose his counselor's right. And because he didn't choose his counselor's right, he made the ultimate foolish move, and that is no time. The right deed, the right word, the rightest deed, the rightest word at the wrong time will destroy everything. In the wrong order, will destroy everything. And because he order, we'll destroy everything. And because he rejected God, he didn't know who he was, because he didn't know who he was. He didn't

choose his counsel's wise, because he didn't choose his counsel's wise. He did things at the wrong time and everything was disaster. And Hithafel said, there's no use waiting for it. You see the importance and the nature of wisdom. Okay, so we see it. This is really something. I'm kind of glad, but not completely, that you've drawn my attention to it this morning. But I want you to see, it's worse than you think.

There's a great problem. There's a huge problem that we all have when it comes to getting wisdom. It's one of the reasons why we don't have it, like we should. What is that problem? Well, let's keep moving down the passage. And the problem we see as you move down the passage, and in verse 22 and following, this poem, and don't forget, all of Proverbs is poetry.

It's all poetry. I mean, some of us English literary don't, if it's not a rhyme, it doesn't seem like poetry, but this is poetry, okay? And in the poem, suddenly, and it's very, very vivid and very famous, wisdom speaks and says, I was with the Lord when the Lord made absolutely everything that was made. I was with the Lord when the Lord made absolutely

everything was made. Before the mountains, I was with him. Before the mountains, I was with him. Before the seas, I was with him. And when he made the sea and when he made the oceans, when he made human beings as well, not just the physical, but also the spiritual. When he made everything, I was there. He made everything with wisdom.

Now this summer, I spent a great deal of time reading scholarly books on wisdom and problems across the spectrum. I try really hard. If I'm going to read scholarship to read it across the spectrum of opinion and ideology too. And one thing they absolutely agreed on was something was this, that this creation account is unique. It said, in Eastern societies, the material world was seen as basically an illusion. You know that. And therefore, the material world is kind of like an accident, or at least not the reality. But interestingly enough, by the way, all Western cultures saw, in all of their creation accounts, they saw creation in the world

as a result of a power struggle. So, if you go, whether you're going to the Old Norse or to the German or to the Samaritan or the Babylonian or the Egyptian or the Greek or the Roman doesn't matter, always you have these accounts of some kind of battle between the gods or the gods and the giants or this god and that god and one kills the other god and they create a house out of the land out of his body and that sort of thing. Always a result of a power struggle. Only here do we have an account of the world not being based on a random accident, nor being based on a power struggle, but on wisdom.

They hear you have God in the light, the delight of an artist, the delight of an artist. In fact, you know, the place where it says wisdom, I frolic. You know, down here where it says, I rejoiced always before him. It's a Hebrew word, Shakok, which means the frolic, that in overwhelming joy, God designed the world to be a place of beauty and power and order and joy and peace. Now, that's the reason why the sages of Israel, the sages of Israel, the whys of Israel, said that wisdom worked. Because if God created the world according to wisdom, then there is a fabric or there's a pattern to all of reality.

It's not a random, it's not just hitherto and thither and yaw. It's, there's a fabric and there's a pattern to all of reality. And if wisdom made the world, then wisdom can perceive to a great degree that pattern and live in accordance with it and live therefor wisely. See? So, for example, we all know that there is a fabric, there's a pattern, to the physical reality. So, for example, aerodynamics. An object that obeys the fabric reality of aerodynamics will fly. But if it disregards the rules of aerodynamics, that's in physical reality, it'll crash. Ah, says the sages, but that would mean that there's also a fabric pattern to relational reality,

and if you don't live in accordance with it, your relationships will crash. And that means there's a fabric pattern to God's spiritual reality, and if you operate your heart or your conscience or your emotions or your hopes or your meaning in a way that's not in accord with that fabric pattern, your spiritual life will crash. Fulishness is going against the grain or the weave or the structure, the pattern that God put into creation, which always leads to breakdown. In the midst of life's uncertainties, where do you turn for wisdom? The Book of Proverbs is filled with wisdom to help guide us in all aspects of life.

In Timothy Cathy Keller's devotional book, God's wisdom for navigating life, you'll get a fresh, inspiring view of God's Wisdom each day of the year from the Book of Proverbs. This devotional book will help you unlock the wisdom within the poetry of Proverbs and guide you toward a new understanding of what it means to live the Christian life. This resource is our thanks for your gift

to help Gospel and Life share Christ's love with more people. You can request your copy of God's wisdom for navigating life when you give today at GospelandLife.com slash give. That's GospelandLife.com slash give. Now here's Tim Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. But now there's two things in order to be wise you must know about these patterns, about the pattern. There's two things you must know equally to be wise. And this is the reason why we have such a problem today.

The first thing you have to admit and see is that there is a pattern. That there actually God has made the world, and therefore there is a pattern. There are principles by which life customarily works. And yet, on the other hand, you've got to see that you cannot know it all, that it's largely hidden from you. What's so significant about those two things?

Let me show you. When you read through the book of Proverbs, you get through chapters 1 and 9, it's like the introduction. But in chapter 10 and following, that's when you actually get the Proverbs proper. That is those little pithy Proverbs, one every verse, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. If you're a pastor preparing to preach on it in the summer, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them. But in chapters 10 to 15, what's interesting is you see the principles by which life normally works. They lay them out, and here's what they say. If you work hard, you'll prosper.

If you're lazy, you'll be poor. If you live according to moral absolutes, your life will go well. If you live a wicked life, your life won't go well. If you raise a child according to this pattern, if you raise a child rightly, when she is old, she'll love you and be responsible at all. And if you have a conservative mindset,

if you have a kind of conservative bent of mind, you read chapters 10 to 15 and you say, yeah. That's what I'm talking about. If you work hard, you'll be okay. If you're lazy, you'll be poor. Yeah. Then. And I see, I never did this in my life before. Confessions. You always dip in and get this little gem out and that little gem out. But if you're actually reading through it, the way it was written,

then you get to chapter 16 and suddenly you begin to see exceptions to those principles of how life customarily works. So for example, it says, some people, there are a number of problems that say, some people who live according to God's moral absolutes have a lousy life. And then it says, some people that though they work hard, they stay poor because of oppression. And then it says, some people raise their child just right, and when she grows old, she goes off the rails. And you read through it, and you start,

and if you have a liberal temperament, you read that, and you say, yeah, yeah, life's messy. I always said that. You can't be predicting everything like this. Ah, but get this. What is wisdom? What is... If you will not admit that there is a pattern you have to submit to. If you want to make up all your rules, if you say, I wanted to determine what's right or wrong for me, you're being a fool.

But if you think you can see the whole pattern, if you think you can understand the whole pattern, you're a fool. You can be a liberal fool or a conservative fool. You can be a relativistic fool or you can be a moralistic fool and we all are one of the other by ideology and temperament. You know, if you want a perfect example of the conservative fools, look at the book of Job, his friends, remember? Job is suffering, everything's gone wrong. His life has fallen apart, his children have died,

he has lost all his money. Job's friends come trepidin' and see being who they are. They know the first part. They know chapters 10 to 15. They've read all those things that say, if you live morally, your life will go well. They look at Job and they say, hmm, your life is not going well. Job must be sinning. It must be doing something wrong. They're harsh,

they're miserable comforters, they're rigid, they're moralistic, they have hold of one end of the pattern stick. They know there's a pattern, but they think they can see it all. They think they can understand it all. They know how life customarily works, but they don't think there's any exceptions to the way life customarily works. I'm not saying there's exceptions to the moral absolutes. Adultsaries are always wrong. But you see, the principle is, if you are faithful and you don't commit adultery, don't lie, life will go well to you, but there's an exceptions to that. And that's what the book of Proverbs is saying.

In a nutshell, if you're the kind of person who says, if I live a good life, my life will go well. You're a conservative fool. If you're the kind of person that says, I can decide my own reality. I can decide what is right or wrong. I don't believe that there's some divine order that I have to submit to. You're a liberal fool, you're a conservative fool,

you're a moralistic fool, you're relativistic fool, we're all fools somewhere because we live in a society where we're split on this. We're pushing each other into more into the foolishness, you know. And we also have temperaments, so habits of mind. We can't hold it together. This is a problem. What is the solution?

The clue to the solution is right here. When I was going through that this summer, I wanted the things I realized as I was reading through the book of Proverbs in a way I never had done before, which is right through. So, dipping in here and there. I suddenly realized, kind of to my heart, almost, that no-almost nobody uses this book the way it was written. It was written to be a manual, to be gone through in a community under wise parents and then later on wise mentors. through in a community under wise parents and then later on wise mentors. In other words, you're supposed to be a group of people who went through it and you get the chapters 10 to 15 and you see where it says, you know, the wicked parish, the wicked have bad lives and the good have

good lives. And you read that and you'd say, really? Always. And then you get the chapter 16 and you start to see, well, there's other aspects to it. And don't you realize, I didn't realize this. No one proverb gives you the whole picture about a subject. There are dozens of proverbs. They all have a little different perspective on each subject. You've got to look at them all together. You have to connect them and you have to discuss them. You have to reflect on them. And when you do that, in a community, for years and years, under wise parents, and under, eventually under wise teachers and mentors you become wise and I suddenly realized nobody does that. We don't believe in that.

We believe in specialty knowledge because of the scientific side. We believe in moral training because of the traditional size. Nobody's doing that. We're in trouble. Especially when a lot of us had parents who are fools, right? A lot of us had no mentors at all. A lot of people are in positions like that. And maybe we could say, oh my, word, and the more you talk,

I suddenly realized the train, the wisdom train, has left the station, and I wasn't on it. But maybe there's a solution. Class, what is the most, this is a piece of poetry, what is the most basic point of this poem about wisdom? Class, don't answer, this is a sermon, it was just a rhetorical device. It's a rhetorical device, okay. Wisdom is personified, wisdom is I, me, my, an abstract quality is turned into a person. Well, you say that's just a wonderful, didactic device, and it is.

Especially when you consider that probably the book of Proverbs was a manual that was used in schools for young men. And that's one of the reasons why, first of all, when you read Proverbs, you're constantly here, the speaker in Proverbs always saying, my son, and it's the reason why over and over and over again, in the book of Proverbs, wisdom is depicted as a woman, as a woman who calls.

And one of the reasons would be this. Here's the point. Wisdom, here's the point. Wisdom is not so much a matter of mastering a bunch of rules. It's a love affair with wisdom you need. You need a long for wisdom. You need to be, you know, and so it worked very well, you know. Wonderful rhetorical device, huh? Personification of wisdom. Very, very gripping. But is that all it is? What if it's not just poetry. What if the wisdom of God really was a person who you could know and love?

And then if you got into a relationship with this person, it made you wise. Then those of us who never had the parents, never had the mentors, never had the guides, never had the counselors we should have, but this would be the ultimate guide, the ultimate mentor, the ultimate counselor, the wonderful counselor. What if wisdom was a person? What you say, wonderful idea, very fancy? No, it's not a fancy. There was a lot of other wisdom literature besides the stuff you have in the Bible, by the way. A lot of other wisdom literature in ancient Israel, and one of those pieces of literature was called the Wisdom of the Son of Syrac. And in the Bible, by the way, a lot of other wisdom literature in ancient Israel, and one of those pieces of literature was called the Wisdom of the Son of Syracch.

And in the wisdom of the Son of Syracch, it's a good book, it's an interesting book, it's not particularly, you know, insightful, but it's typical of wisdom literature. And in it, there's this interesting call and challenge. The Son of Syracch says this, quote,Turn unto me, you who are untought. Why do you say you are lacking in these things, and why are your souls so thirsty? I say to you, find wisdom, put your necks under its yoke and bear its burden.

If you are intent, you can find wisdom. See with your eyes that I have labored for it, and I have found for my soul much rest. Now that's a typical invitation to wisdom, but can you imagine how the listeners several centuries later could not believe their ears when one sage, one rabbi, one teacher got up and said these words, come unto me, come unto me, all you who labor in her heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Now, you notice how similar those statements are, but look at the astounding difference. The son of Syracuse put, get the yolk, which is the training.

Put your head in the yolk of training. Get disciplined. Get the yolk. Get training, and then you get rest of your souls, and Jesus says, come to me. Take my yolk upon you. Learn of me and I will give you rest for your souls. You know what Jesus is saying is he's saying I am wisdom. In a personic form, I am the wisdom of God. I am wisdom personified. A relationship with me will make you wise.

Wisdom ultimately is not a body of knowledge to master, not a body of principles to memorize. It's knowing me, living for me and learning from me is the only thing you can live for and learn from that one exhausts you, he says. This is poetry, of course, it's poetry, but it's not just poetry, it's pointing to a reality. And what that reality is? In John chapter 1, John chapter 1, the gospel of Jesus Christ is opened with a chapter based almost completely on Proverbs 8. Because in John chapter 1, here's what we read. In the beginning was the Word, but it's the Greek word logos, which is the Greek word

that had wisdom in Greek philosophy, wisdom connotations. So here's how we could translate it without too much paraphrase. In the beginning was the wisdom, and the wisdom was with God, and the wisdom was God. For nothing was made without Him, and the wisdom of God became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. Glory is the only begotten of the Father filled with grace and truth.

You know what the Bible's telling us? You know what John is telling us? Here is the secret of wisdom. In the beginning, God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit, had perfect love relationships. They rejoiced in each other. They deferred to each other. They glorified each other.

They honored each other. They had perfect love relationships. And it was out of that, out of an explosion of that love and joy that they made the human race and the world so that we could share in it. So the meaning of life is not power, it's not struggle, and it's certainly not an accident. It's having those loving relationships.

All psychological reality, the deepest wisdom, the deepest secret of all psychological and social reality is to know, resemble, and embody the inner life of the Trinity. Now when Jesus Christ says, I am the wisdom in prersonic form. Let's just close with a little application. First of all, he's saying, I am the wisdom of you. I'm the wisdom of God for you. I'm the wisdom of God with you. I am the wisdom of God with you, I am the wisdom of God to you, for you with you.

First of all, I am the wisdom of God to you. When Jesus says, I am the wisdom of God, those of you who are out there waiting for an airtight argument before you believe need to think twice. See, when he says I am the wisdom of God to you, he's saying, I am the ultimate argument for the existence of God.

I've had a lot of friends who use their wisdom, they use their noggin, you know, and they're always saying, if you just give me an airtight argument, I could believe. What if God didn't send an airtight argument? What if God sent an airtight person? What if he's the wisdom? You know what that means? I don't care who you are or where you are in your faith journey, what you believe, how much or how little or nothing at all. Sit down with a group of people, a community, and go through the life of Jesus. Read about Him.

Work through Him. Look at His words, look at His deeds, and you will be shocked constantly, but you'll realize it's a shock of meeting somebody for the first time who's perfect. And you'll say, nobody could have made this guy up. See, first of all, Jesus is the wisdom of God to you. He is the ultimate argument, but he's in the form of a person for the existence of God. Secondly, Jesus is the wisdom of God for us. There was a man named William Holland, who was one of the Wesley's friends, who was struggling spiritually, and he read a place in one of Martin Luther's works where Martin Luther said, have you done nothing to do? No, nothing. But look to Jesus who has become for you wisdom and righteousness and sanctification of redemption.

At that minute, William Holland's life was utterly changed. He says, suddenly the penny dropped. Now what happened? Here's why. Jesus in some ways is like every other sage has ever lived, right? He says, here is the wise way to live. Sure, he's a great teacher.

But no other sage ever said, and I have come to live that life for you. See, when he says, my yoki is the only one that's easy. My yoki is the only one that's light. Here's what he's saying. Every other sage in the world has always said, this is how you should live, do it and you will live. But Jesus is the only one who said,

this is how you should live and I have lived the life you should have lived and died the death you should have died because of your failure to live that way, so that when you ask God except me because of what Jesus has done not because what I have done he will bring you into his love. When you do that, if you do that it heals that lack of ability to see who you are. It heals both inferiority and superiority.

It heals both superiority and inferiority because Jesus was wisdom for you, he had a die for you, which humbles you out of your vanity. But because he was glad to die for you, it affirms you out of your inferiority. And finally, you see who you really are and all the rest of wisdom proceeds from that. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ dying for you being wisdom for you.

For you, not just to you, but for you. We'll get rid of both moralism and relativism, and we'll finally find wisdom. One last thing. Jesus is wisdom with us. When you see Jesus suffering on the cross and it looks like what in the world is God doing, but then the resurrection, that is the ultimate example of how even though you can't see that there's wisdom behind what God is doing, it's there. Jesus Christ says, do you want rest? The cross, the gospel, Jesus Christ is the only wisdom that will give you rest.

Lay your deadly doing down, down at Jesus' feet. Stand in Him and Him alone. Gl gloriously complete. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for making us wise to where wisdom is, Jesus. Now make us wise in knowing Him. Show us as a community how to use Him, see Him, know Him, love Him to make us wise wise because I know that's what you want us to be and do. So we pray, Lord, that you would help us as the year goes by to grow more and more into wisdom and the likeness of your Son, Jesus Christ, and His name we pray. Thank you for joining us today. If you were encouraged by today's teaching, please rate and review it so more people can discover this podcast. This month's sermons were recorded in 2004. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior

pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.