Discernment For Chaotic Times Part 2 | Proverbs 2:1-22

Scripture

• Proverbs 2:1–22

About this sermon

Introduction: THE LIFE OF DISCERNMENT IS A LIFE OF SOUNDNESS AND SAFETY. DISCERNMENT IS ABOUT JUDGMENT. DISCERNMENT IS ABOUT ASSESSING ALL OF LIFE, AND ALL OUR DECISIONS, THROUGH THE LENS OF SCRIPTURE. DISCERNMENT IS ABOUT ALIGNING ONESELF WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS., Sin, ON THE OTHER HAND, is perversion. It is perversion that exists not just in behaviors — it exists FIRST in perspectives and desires. In fact, its behaviors simply manifest its mind. Sin stands in disagreement with God. That means that sin stands in in disagreement with TRUTH. That means sin stands in disagreement with what is REAL. SIN IS DECEPTION. Sin exists in blindness. Sin exists in the approval of what has been distorted. Which means that sin results in a worldview that stands in opposition to the man himself. As mankind lives in sin he lives in lies — and those lies produce a life worthy of judgment. The lies destroy the man. They destroy him progressively before they destroy him finally. THE CHAOS IN SIN, THEN, IS NOT JUST MANIFESTED OUTSIDE HUMAN BEINGS. THE CHAOS IN SIN EXISTS WITHIN HUMAN BEINGS. There is confusion in the man himself. There is no real cohesion in the way he thinks, he values, he chooses, he lives. Which is one reason why there is an EXPLOSION of mental and emotional problems in our culture. Man living at odds with SELF-EVIDENT TRUTH is sure to produce chaos in his own mind and emotions. YOU SEE AN EXAMPLE OF THIS LACK OF COHESION IN HOW MEN AND WOMEN CONSUME PUBLIC THEOLOGY. John MacArthur in a sermon from 1 Thessalonians 5:20-22, in October of 2019, said this: “People read a lot of things, listen to a lot of Christian radio and Christian television, download a lot of things on the Internet; and without discernment they are really susceptible to mental chaos, which leads to spiritual chaos. I think aiding and abetting that inability to discern everything coming at people today, the church seems to have boundless credulity, eager to believe anything and everything. I think it is this lack of discernment that has caused evangelical Christianity to be fighting for it’s life. It seems to me that if any one problem outstrips all other in the church it is the lack of spiritual discrimination that characterizes Christianity. Bad decisions based on faulty reasoning, superficial understanding, shallow knowledge, widespread ignorance, doctrinal confusion, biblical infidelity – all of these things have done more damage to the church through history than persecution. Persecution has a way actually of refining the church. Persecution has taken a toll, but a far greater toll has been taken on the church by the chaos and confusion over doctrine that has left severe scars. We could almost wish for some ramped up persecution so we could get people serious about real Christianity.” So, yesterday we talked about what discernment is. As MacArthur said, “Discernment is the ability to think biblically about everything.” As we said yesterday, discernment is about good judgment. It is the ability to distinguish between what is right in the sight of God, and what should be rejected. And we see the teacher of Proverbs 2, passionate about that. In the language of a father to a son, in the language of a teacher to a beloved student, there is a call for giving heed to the wisdom of God to know the protection of a discerning life. We talked about: • THE DESIRE FOR DISCERNMENT (vs.1-5) • A CONCERN OF ALL WHO LOVE • A CONCERN OF ALL WHO HEED THAT LOVE • THE REQUIREMENTS FOR DISCERNMENT (vs.1-5) • A RECEPTIVE HEART • A PERCEPTIVE HEART • A HUMBLE HEART • A BELIEVING HEART Now, today we begin with a third truth necessary for a discerning life. • THE SOURCE FOR DISCERNMENT (vs.5-8) What is the outcome, what is the result, of the sincere desires expressed in the first 4 verses? “THEN” – you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Why, if you seek this way, will you find understanding and knowledge? Precisely because YOU WENT TO THE RIGHT SOURCE for understanding and knowledge. • YAHWEH GIVES WISDOM (vs.6a) And we need to be clear that He gives wisdom in more than one sense. He gives wisdom OBJECTIVELY. His WORD is wisdom. But it is also God who gives the ability to grasp what He has given. ESV Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith-- that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Topics

• Bible Study
• Wisdom