We’re beginning something exciting today. We’re beginning a brand-new sermon series, and this series of 11 sermons is going to be on the success secrets of Solomon. And you’re going to get in on some good things. This begins today.
And you know, many of us do not become more moral as we grow older, we just choose our sins more carefully. That is not wisdom. That is foolishness. As Solomon would say.
Come over here to Proverbs.You may want to put a little book-mark in Proverbs, ‘cause we’re going to be a lot in Proverbs these next 11 Sabbaths. Come over here to Proverbs, chapter 11 in your Bible. This’ll basically be based on the New International Version, although this one is from the New King James. I love that one, too. Solomon comes down hard on those who do not have wisdom. Proverbs chapter 11 and verse 22. “As a ring of gold in a swine's snout, so is a lovely woman who lacks discretion.” Who lacks wisdom.
You can see a lot of foolishness in this world. We live in a world where health is not contagious but sickness is contagious. It’s Murphy’s law, world-wide in the world. It’s here. You have to strive to rise above the muck, because the muck will consume you. Therefore it’s paramount that we as Christians, that are trying to get to Heaven, have godly wisdom. Would you agree with that? We need wisdom to make life-changing choices in our lives. Wisdom to make good choices. And you know, I often think that we’ve got the Spalding Elementary School, we’ve got Collegedale Academy, we’ve got all of our school system. If all our school systems ever did, if we only accomplished one thing; teach our children how to make right decisions. If that’s all we did, it would be worth sending the kids to a school like that, because that’s what life is all about. It’s how to make a wise decision that would honor Jesus Christ. That’s what life is about, really. And if our youngsters knew how to choose wisely, what a difference that would make. The world is starving for true wisdom. The wisdom of the wise, the experience of the ages, all this is perpetuated and continued by quotations. And what you have in the book of Proverbs is a repository of the wealth of wisdom Solomon. The wisest man that ever lived wrote this book.
He was the wisest man of all time. Human being. Even Jesus in Luke chapter 11 verse 31 classifies Solomon as a wise man. In fact, he was so wise that the Queen of Sheba, the queen of the south, came to visit Solomon. And she traveled by camel. She probably came a thousand miles just to sit at Solomon’s feet. She journeyed four weeks to learn God’s wisdom. And what was the tuition cost? What did she pay? Remember that? You’ve read that story. She paid nine thousand pounds of gold. And you think church school tuition is awful, don’t you? Do you have any idea how much value nine thousand pounds of gold would be? It’s more money than I have in my pocket.
Solomon’s parents were David and Bathsheba. Solomon was born about three thousand years ago. Today is seven, seven, oh seven. Isn’t that an interesting date today? And Solomon was born about three thousand years ago. And how did he get his vast wisdom? As king of Israel he wanted intelligence to govern his land properly. And you know a ruler needs intelligence. President Bush needs intelligence. And where do you go to get intelligence? Solomon did not go to Harvard, or Yale, or Oxford. Where did he go? He went to God. That’s a good place to go! When you want some intelligence, you need to go to the Lord. You need to go to the scriptures. Because this is where you get intelligence.
And when he went to God, Solomon was given a blank check by God. In First Kings, chapter three, verse five, “Ask whatever you want.” the Lord said. Now you say, “Well I wish God would do that for me.” Well, He does. For people living in the year two thousand and seven God gives us a blank check, because God… Jesus said, “Ask and you shall” what? “You shall receive.” Solomon asked for a discerning heart in verse nine of First Kings three. And basically this is for wisdom to make right decisions. That’s the kind of wisdom we need.
Now, his wiseness was first demonstrated, I suppose, when he clearly was able to discern between these two prostitutes, which prostitute was the right mother. He just got out a sword and he said, “Ok, we’ll just cut the living baby in half. You can have this half, you can have heads, and you can have tails.” And the true mother came up and said, “Let her have it.” Solomon said, “You’re the right mother.” He was a wise man! I wonder what his IQ was. You know, IQ is not what we’re talking about here. I don’t think intelligence is even fully measured by the IQ test. I really don’t think that at all. IQ is a measure of your ability to remember answers from the past to questions and puzzles that are concocted by a panel of men that are learned. If Adam and Eve were to take a modern IQ test today, how would Adam do on that test? And Adam was how many more times intelligent than we are? God endowed Adam with a mind better than Albert Einstein.
Mark Twain one time told about a cat. It was a cold winter day and the cat sat on a hot stove lid. Jumped up there. Didn’t take long for the cat to find out that it was hot. And experience taught the cat never to sit on the hot stove lid again. But further, the cat never sat on a cold stove again, either. The cat did not sit on that stove, ever again. The cat got knowledge but the cat did not get wisdom.
You understand the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Some people are wise, and some people are otherwise. So don’t pray to be smart. Pray to be wise. The door of wisdom swings on the hinges of common sense and uncommon thoughts. Pray to make a right use of your God-given wisdom that God has given you. True wisdom is more precious than diamonds. You can look this up. Look at Proverbs chapter 16, and verse 16. The way he puts it here. You have your Bible? And you can mark some of these. “How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver.” Wisdom is more valuable than money.
One time a swimmer asked, “Are there any alligators in this river?” "No, not a single one," his friend, his new friend said. “There’s no alligators there.” The swimmer was still disturbed, and he said, "Well, if there’s no alligators, what are those dark, gray forms that I see? Are you sure there’s no alligators here?" "No, there’s not one alligator here. No. Those gray forms you see are sharks that have chased the alligators away." You see, modern society thinks that newfangled technology can solve all of our problems today. Can chase all the alligators away. But so often what we’re doing is swapping alligators for sharks. And that’s not wisdom. That is stupidity, and we have a lot of stupidity in this world today. You can look at what’s happening.
Solomon had wisdom. Solomon was a rich, young ruler. Solomon had it all. And this king today would have been a multi-billionaire. Look at First Kings in chapter four in your Bible. Kings, and Chronicles also has a lot about Solomon. You know, Solomon influenced the Bible. His name is all through the Bible. Look at First Kings, chapter four, verse 26. It says, “Solomon had four thousand stalls for chariot horses and 12 thousand horses.” Three horses to the stall, that would be about six thousand chariot drivers. His daily food provisions, you can read there, for his servants and his staff, now this is just for his servants and his staff and himself. One hundred and eighty-five bushels of fine flour. Three hundred and seventy-five bushels of meal. That’s almost six hundred bushels. Do you have any idea how much food that is? That’s what he required every day. And that’s just the grain. Plus great quantities of other food. Chapter four, and verse 25 says, “During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree.” It was a wonderful thing.
Now, how would you like to have that kind of wisdom that brought that kind of prosperity to those people? You can have it. Our sermon series which begins today investigates 10 major success strategies. We’re going to enumerate them one by one. Each Sabbath a new success strategy, a fundamental rudiment of true wisdom. You will be enhanced greatly by this sermon series. So be sure to be here for the next 10 weeks. We’re going to crack Solomon’s success secret code. And when you apply these powerful ingredients to your life, then you also will be successful. Do you believe that? That’s why they’re here in the Bible. So be sure to attend.
Did you know that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Henry Ford and Thomas Edison were all avid readers of the book of Proverbs. They all had that one thing in common. And is it an accident that there are 31 days this month and 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs? It’s almost like it was tailor-made to read it through every month.
The purpose of Proverbs, look under Proverbs, chapter one and verse one, if you would do that, please. Let’s read here what the purpose of Proverbs is. Chapter one and verse one, “The proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, the king of Israel; for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life; for doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young. Let the wise listen and add to their learning, let the discerning get guidance, for understanding proverbs and parables and sayings and riddles of the wise.” That’s why this book was written. This is a condensation of the great wisdom that Solomon had, all condensed here for you.
The Queen of Sheba traveled a thousand miles to get the same wisdom that you can get by just walking across your living room over to that bookcase, getting the Bible down and reading it. Read these success strategies from this ancient sage. Study for the hidden secrets that are here in these verses. Proverbs chapter one and verse six says there are riddles in some verses, and you will be wise by exploring the depth and the meaning of these proverbs and these parables and these sayings and these riddles.
Observe the reverse or implied meaning in some of these sayings. Read with your pen and your paper. Memorize some of these verses. Underline these verses. Take notes. Pray about this. Apply these principles to your life, to your job, to raising your children. Ask God for true wisdom. Look at Proverbs chapter nine and verse 10. Here’s where you begin. And you have this scripture memorized. It says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of” what? “The beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”
Our problem today is that we have such a great treasure right here in the heart of our Bible, but we don’t open it. That’s our problem. If the news that a rich lode of gold was discovered over here in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, huge lode of gold, the word would get out. And it would take all the troopers in the state of Tennessee, and still they couldn’t keep the people away from that area. People would go there. They would find that area, and they would be rich. Thousands of people would go, and yet we are specifically told, right here in the Bible, that the knowledge of Jesus is more precious than rubies. Silver and Gold are nothing compared to the true wisdom. And how much it must grieve Jesus to see us filling up on peanut butter and crackers when we could have some of the best things of life. Christ is crowded away in some dark corner of our life. Maybe we have a couple of minutes for reading the Bible. “Well, I’m out of time. I’ve got to go to work, you know.” What is the matter with us?
Look at Proverbs, chapter one, and verse seven. It says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”
I’m going to read you something from a book call Our High Calling. If you have this book, Our High Calling, that is a fantastic book. It says, “True wisdom is infinitely above worldly wisdom. True wisdom is Christ found within.” That’s what true wisdom is. Is Christ found within. “True wisdom is the use of deep principles of godliness.” She says here, “Only a Christian experience can help us obtain the treasures of knowledge which have been hidden in the counsels of God, but are now made known to all who have a vital connection with Christ.” That’s how you get it. You actually, in other words, what this is saying, you won’t discover true wisdom by reading Proverbs. You won’t. You will discover true wisdom by establishing a vital relationship with Jesus Christ and then reading Proverbs. You see how that works.
Understanding is knowing what to do next, knowledge is knowing how to do it, and wisdom is doing it at the right time in the right way that brings the most personal good to the most people.
I think if we had been following the book of Proverbs that Pearl Harbor never would have happened. I think a lot of the catastrophes of this life, a lot of the accidents and terrible things of our world could have been prevented had we been, as a nation, following the book of Proverbs. A good deal of trouble has been caused by too much intelligence and too little wisdom. Intelligence is spotting a flaw in your boss's character. Wisdom is not mentioning it.
And then, you know, you may be smart, but do you have true wisdom? The antediluvians were, were they smart, the people that lived before the flood? They were very, they were super-intelligent. Did they have wisdom? They used their brains to invent new ways to sin. That’s not wisdom. That’s not the Bible definition of wisdom. They did not possess true wisdom. Jeremiah, chapter four, verse 22, “they were skilled in doing evil.” God calls them fools.
Do you need wisdom? Do you need success in your life? Do you need answers to problems? Do you have a lot of problems in your life? Is your spiritual life in a rut? Do you know what a rut is? A rut is simply a grave with both ends kicked out. It’s a glum, dark, long path with no exit ramp. Get out of your rut. The exit ramp is right here, in God’s word. The Bible has scads of success secrets and some of the very finest are in the book of Proverbs. The three books that Solomon wrote that are in your Bible; he asked for wisdom, God gave it to him, and he shares it with us.
There are absolute laws in this world. Laws of physics, laws of gravity, laws of thermodynamics. You could go on and on. And these laws were basically made by God to govern the world. Our physical world. Well there are laws of spiritual success that God has made, that if you follow them they will give you success in life. And these are written in the Bible. These were ordained by God and revealed to us in the scriptures. And they’re clustered thickly throughout the whole Bible, but especially in the writings of Solomon. So if you apply these to your life, they are timeless, they are universal, they are great guidelines for spiritual success. And God wants us to be successful.
In both the Old and the New Testament God says, “I want you to be successful.” Deuteronomy 29, verse nine, “God wants you to prosper.” Third John, verse two. “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”
The wise guy from the Bible fame, Solomon, was the smartest and the richest of all of God’s followers. And look, if you would, at First Kings, chapter four, and verse 32. Come back here to First Kings again, chapter four, and verse 32. Look at what he has here. It says here, “He spoke three thousand proverbs. His songs numbered one thousand and five. He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He taught about animals and birds and reptiles and fish, and men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and by all the kings of the world who heard of his wisdom.” They came. And they gained true wisdom. What a thing. That’s how Israel was supposed to operate.
And what was the purpose of all this wisdom? To exalt God. To exalt Jesus Christ. Not to exalt Solomon.
If you have lived the first years of your life for personal gain, for pleasure, I invite you right now to use what is left of your life to glorify God. To do something noble for Jesus Christ. To do something special. To set aside your resources, your talents, your wisdom, and not consume it all upon yourself, but set it aside to glorify God. That’s what life is all about. Life is not a bigger screen on your TV. Not a bigger car. It’s not a bigger bank account. It’s bigger opportunities to glorify God. That’s the purpose of life.
Solomon wrote down all this wisdom. Now sadly, I will tell you, that Solomon lost much of the wisdom that he had. The Bible says that. He got involved with all those wives and concubines and he became an idolater in First Kings 11, verses three to eight. He lost his spirituality. And you can do that. And I think the reason that he lost it… Well, there’s a lot of… we’ll get into some of those reasons.
But the lesson for us; don’t lose what you have now. Build on it. God gave it to you. Revelation chapter two, verse 25, “Hold on to what thou hast.” Hold fast to what you have. Don’t lose your Christian experience. If you have wisdom, keep it. Build on it. Exercise your good judgement. Use your perceptiveness to help somebody else.
Proverbs, chapter 18, verse 4 says something about a person’s words. It says here, “The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.” Wisdom is far superior.
True wisdom is a treasure as lasting as eternity. And I want to read you something here in the third volume of the Bible Commentary, page eleven 56. It says, “Many of the world's so-called wise men are wise only in their own estimation. Content with the acquisition of worldly wisdom, they never enter the garden of God.” Now do you know what the garden of God is equated as? The treasures of scripture. This is the garden of God. Now I have a garden. My corn is all tassled out. I’m not going to eat one ear of corn, ‘cause I’m going to be in Tanzania. Well if you know where my garden is, and you happen to go over there, get you some corn. Wouldn’t it be a crime to have a garden of God and never to enter into it. That’s a crime. And you know what the true garden of God is? The scriptures. This is where your corn is. Your squash. Your tomatoes. Your onions. Your okra. I knew you would laugh at that. Good things are in the garden of God. “Become acquainted with the treasures of the knowledge that are contained in His holy Word.” This is the book of God, and it says in this quotation, “If we would cherish the book of God, if we would study it and obey it, it would make us truly wise.” If you want to be truly wise, here’s the key to wisdom. The scriptures.
Proverbs chapter three, verse 35 says, “The wise are promoted to honor, but fools are promoted to shame.” I would think it should say demoted to shame, but they’re promoted to shame, in the world’s eyes. True wisdom will elevate the followers of Christ all the way to Heaven. Get wisdom. Get wise. The success secrets of Solomon are yours. They’re here. We’re going to examine these for the next 10 weeks. These will help you to get real wisdom. I believe the McDonald Road church is what it is today because you people are a people of the Book. You people have the relationship with Jesus. Keep it. Don’t lose it. Get that flame of living fire. Get it in your heart, and share it with somebody else. Commit your life to using the rest of your life to glorify God. Somebody told me that tomorrow they’re going to turn 60. I won’t mention his name, but he’s right here. Use the rest of your life to glorify Jesus Christ. To build His kingdom. And to do something for Him.
God bless you.
Hymn of Praise: #15, My Maker and My King Scripture: 1 Kings 4:29-31 Hymn of Response: #254, O For That Flame of Living Fire
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McDonald Road Sermon transcribed by Steve Foster 7/16/07