Walking Wisely
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2024 · 7 January 2024
There are only two kinds of people on the planet, only two kinds of people in the world, according to Scripture. There are wise and there are foolish. The world is full of fools, and sprinkled among the fools are the wise. The fools are everyone who doesn’t know God. The wise are everyone who does. So we are talking about the most defining reality that can be declared about those who know God.
It is one thing to have intelligence; that’s a definable human characteristic. It was good that God gave them intelligence. Another thing to have knowledge, that’s information; but it’s quite another to take that intelligence, and put it together with the knowledge, and come up with wisdom. This was recognizable. This was not just a declaration of God, this was recognizable by others.
Romans 1 says that, “They are fools, but they don’t know it, so they profess to be wise. They give each other PhDs for their folly. Romans 1 also says, “They become empty in their speculation, and their foolish heart is darkened.” They, having become callous, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.”
So what you have in a world of fools with exploding knowledge is just an endless new way to express this darkened understanding. Paul says in Ephesians 4, “But you did not learn Christ in that way.” You just came out of folly into wisdom. You lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
In 1 Corinthians 2:14 Paul writes, “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; they are foolishness to him.” He think he’s wise and he’s a fool. Spiritual truth is not attained by any kind of human wisdom.” It characterizes all human beings; they are born fools. Proverbs 22:15 says, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.” It is part of being human, to be a fool.
So what are the characteristics of this human folly? Well, they reject God. They do not believe in the true and living God. Romans 1:18-19 says, “For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them.”
Romans 1:20-21, “For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.”
This is a universal pattern in the human race. The wrath of God is revealed against this. There are multiple forms of the wrath of God. There is eternal wrath: that’s hell. There’s eschatological wrath: that’s the wrath of God as it will be unleashed at the return of Jesus Christ with those events that occur in the time of tribulation prior to His arrival, and then the judgment that happens when He arrives.
This is none of those. This wrath of God which is unleashed on people who have the knowledge of God in them, because the law of God is written in their hearts, and around them through the creation; and by virtue of reason they must come to the conclusion that there has to be a cause for this massive effect. They are without excuse. The wrath of God against those who turn on Him in this life.
Romans 1:24 says, “Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.” Verse 26, “For this reason God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 The men in the same way also left natural relations with women and were inflamed in their lust for one another.”
If you don’t know whether you’re a man or a woman check yourself. We’re living in this cycle right now in America. We’ve reached the reprobate mind along with the rest of the Western world. Listen to Proverbs 12:15, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes. “So who becomes God? You do. The other characteristic of fools is that they worship self. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes.”
You see that in our culture today all around us. Everybody is entitled to define truth in any way they want. Proverbs 28:26, “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.” He becomes the source of truth, he becomes the standard of truth, the standard of what is right, the standard of what is wrong. This is idolatry, self-worship; but it is the most common characteristic of fools.
There’s another characteristic of fools in Proverbs. If you reject the true God, you reject Him because you don’t want Him controlling your life. And so consequently, now that you’ve become your own god, you are bound then to reject everything that the God you reject has declared as true. And the way that the proverbs talk about this is interesting. Proverbs 14:9 says, “Fools mock at sin.”
In other words, they fail to give any weight to the destructive power of sin. And fools corrupt each other. In Proverbs 15:2 it says, “The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, but the mouth of fools spouts folly.” They propagate their folly, their ignorance. Now with that in mind, let’s go back to Proverbs 1. The word “fool” appears forty-two times.
But throughout human history there’s a response in verse 24-26, “Since I called out and you refused, extended my hand and no one paid attention, 25 since you neglected all my counsel and did not accept my correction, 26 I, in turn, will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you.” That doesn’t sound very nice. But that’s what happens to fools who reject the cry of wisdom.
God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. They think they’re wise but they’re fools. They think we’re fools but we’re wise. In 1 Corinthians 3:18 it says, “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he’s wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.” We’re not surprised that there is increasing hostility against the Christian gospel.
The first dose of wisdom is spiritual wisdom, the gospel. The Scriptures are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. By faith alone in Christ alone, from Scripture alone. 1 Corinthians 1:30 says, “It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.”
No religion in the world ever says that. Nobody says they’re in Buddha or in Mohammed. But ninety times in the New Testament it says, “We’re in Christ.” Fifty of those “in Christ,” the other forty, “in the Lord Jesus Christ,” or, “in Christ Jesus.” We are in Christ in such a way that is literally mind-boggling. It starts in election, if you go back in eternity past, before anything was created.
Paul says to the Ephesians, that, “You were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.” Those whom the Lord chose have been in Christ, in the mind of God, and in His redemptive purpose before time. God sees His own as in Christ before He’s created anything. He knows who they are, and He has already joined them in the redemptive purpose to His Son.
The work of regeneration, conversion, the new birth, the hearing and believing the gospel, the wisdom of the Scriptures that leads to salvation didn’t end there. He became to us not only wisdom, but righteousness. There you have justification, the imputation of His righteousness. Following justification comes sanctification, and following sanctification comes final redemption.
Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” But that’s almost identical in Proverbs 9:10; it says it in a different way. It says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Those who fear God prolong life, are blessed beyond wealth, are full of joy, receive an abundant life, and stay free from evil.
Second characteristic is that they guard their minds. They understand the premium of wisdom. They don’t sit in the seat of scoffers. Their delight is in the law of the Lord. Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” Listen to Proverbs 4:20, “My son, give attention to my words; keep them in the midst of your heart.
Thirdly, they submit to authority. They understand what it is to obey their parents. That’s part of this spiritual wisdom, to be obedient to those who are in authority over you. We find it very early in Proverbs 1:8, “Hear, my son, your father’s instructions, do not forsake your mother’s teaching; indeed, they’re a graceful wreath to your head and ornaments around your neck.”
Number four: The wise are characterized because they select their friends. They’re careful, they don’t run with the crowd. Go to Proverbs 1:10, “My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent. This is the gang mentality – ‘throw in your lot with us, we’ll all have one purse.’ Keep your feet from their path; their feet run to evil and they hasten to shed blood.” Discretion will guard you.
Number five: The wise subdue their desires. Proverbs 5:20-23, “Why, my son, would you lose yourself with a forbidden woman or embrace a wayward woman? 21 For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes, and He considers all his paths.22 A wicked man’s sins will trap him; he will become tangled in the ropes of his own sin. 23 He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity.”
Number six is, the wise are faithful to their spouse. Proverbs 5:15-18 says, “Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well. 16 Should your springs flow in the streets, streams in the public squares? 17 They should be for you alone ,and not for you to share with strangers. 18 Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.”
Number seven: The wise person watches his words. Proverbs 4:24, “Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you.” Proverbs 5, “My son, give attention to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding; that you may observe discretion and your lips may reserve knowledge.” Proverbs 6:12, “A worthless person is a wicked man, is one who walks with a perverse mouth.”
Number eight: The wise person works hard. Proverbs 6:6, “Look to the ant, O lazy person, observe her ways, be wise, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest. When will you arise from your sleep? Your poverty will come in like a vagabond and your need like an armed man.” Lazy people suffer hunger, poverty, failure, and death.
Number nine: A wise person manages money carefully, understanding that it is God who gives you the power the get wealth, and everything you have you receive from the Lord who’s the source of everything that’s good. Proverbs 3:9, “Honor the Lord from your wealth from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.”
Number ten. A wise person serves others. Proverbs 3:27, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it’s in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come back, and tomorrow I’ll give it,’ when you have it with you. Do not contend with a man without cause, if he’s done you no harm. Do not envy,” and serve others with all your abilities.
Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding!” Proverbs says it’s better than jewels, it’s better than silver, it’s better than gold, and it is better than pearls. I have access to wisdom as a believer, right? Wisdom of the gospel, which I fully embraced, in its fullness from hearing and believing gospel all the way to glorification. How much should I pursue it? I’m going to do something that may be a little bit different.
But where can wisdom be found? Here’s the answer; “God understands its way, and He knows its place. He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When He imparted weight to the wind and meted out the waters by measure, when He set a limit for the rain and a course for the thunderbolt, then He saw it and declared it; He established it and searched it out.
And to man God said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.’” Worship God, depart from sin. That’s wisdom. Be careful how you walk.” That’s daily life, right? It’s a picture of daily life: one step at a time, one day at a time. Walk wisely. You have to function in the power of the Holy Spirit, right? You have to be filled with the Spirit.
Make the most of your time, the days are full of evil. There’s evil around you every day; or you live in an evil world. You can take it in its macro or micro sense. This whole effort at wisdom should be going on every day, every hour. Buy up your time so that you can walk in wisdom. Wisdom is found with God and nowhere else. Seek through his life the wisdom that is contained there and redeem time. Let us pray.