Embracing Wisdom Through Life's Challenges and Salvation
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
A good name is better than fine perfume. What does that mean? Well, perfume could only be purchased by the affluent; therefore, fine perfume was an indication of wealth. It largely is today, inasmuch as you don't find poverty-stricken people spending 150 on a half ounce or a quarter of ounce of very expensive perfume. [00:01:07]
The best legacy you can leave your children is to allow them to walk with confidence down any high street in the country, and if someone meets them, says, "Are you ex's son? Are you ex's daughter?" and then they bless the memory of your parents and your memory too. A good name is far better than riches. Honor is the issue. [00:01:40]
Life is tough, and then you die. Doesn't sound very happy, does it? But it's actually fairly accurate. Life is tough, and you are going to die. And what he's saying is when you face up to that, then you will realize that it's better actually to go and have a coffee in the graveyard in Chagrin Falls than it is to go to some dumb party with a bunch of your high school friends. [00:02:22]
Life confirms what the Bible conveys, that more spiritual progress will be made through failure, disappointment, hard times, and tears than will be discovered as a result of success, laughter, easy times, and trivialities. [00:03:28]
Self-control, as we've seen in the matters of money, because extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart. Some of us know that to our pain. We lost our ability to do business with a clear conscience and a crystal clear gaze. Be careful. Be careful also in the snare of unguarded talk. [00:03:54]
Self-control, it's part of the fruit of the Spirit. Self-control and not becoming a crusty old fool that walks around all the time saying, "Man, the good old days." We love the good old days. Why were the old days better than these? That's a silly question. It happens in churches more than anywhere I've ever been. [00:04:31]
Consider what God has done. I just wrote one word against this: the word trust. Because these verses are a reminder to us that life is not blind fate; it's not random chance occurrences. Rather, God is over all, and He's in control of all. [00:05:49]
When the times are good, be happy, and when the times are bad, be thoughtful. Think about the fact that God has made the one as well as the other. Don't be so silly as to go out on a sunny day and say, "Oh, well, God has done a wonderful job today," and then you go out the next day, and the clouds are at 400 feet. [00:06:26]
The idea that the righteous automatically prosper and the wicked automatically suffer isn't true. Ultimately, in the light of eternity, God will right all wrongs. Injustice will all be settled. He has dealt with this at the cross, but the experience of life is straightforward. I have seen a righteous man perishing in his righteousness. [00:08:41]
Do not be over-righteous, he says, and don't be over-wise. He's describing here a kind of spiritual intensity which is pushed so far that it gets to the realm of unreality. When I looked at this phrase "do not be over-righteous," it made me think of the Pharisees who had come up with all these kinds of rules and regulations. [00:09:21]
Sin is foolishness because it is disobedience to and rebellion against the will of the one who made us, who loves us, who sustains us, and who one day will assess us. What the Bible says is that all of these journeys, all of these dead-end streets, all of this consideration is moving, pointing forward to ultimately the way in which God has made wisdom known. [00:14:25]
God has provided the way of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, all of His love and all of His justice is expressed, and in that, He meets all of our needs precisely. You see, there's nobody in this room this morning that knows your needs. Nobody, even the person that loves you most, lives with you most, understands everything about you. [00:16:46]
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The best legacy you can leave your children is to allow them to walk with confidence down any high street in the country, and if someone meets them, says, "Are you ex's son? Are you ex's daughter?" and then they bless the memory of your parents and your memory too. A good name is far better than riches. Honor is the issue. [00:01:40]
Life is tough, and then you die. Doesn't sound very happy, does it? But it's actually fairly accurate. Life is tough, and you are going to die. And what he's saying is when you face up to that, then you will realize that it's better actually to go and have a coffee in the graveyard in Chagrin Falls than it is to go to some dumb party with a bunch of your high school friends. [00:02:22]
Life confirms what the Bible conveys, that more spiritual progress will be made through failure, disappointment, hard times, and tears than will be discovered as a result of success, laughter, easy times, and trivialities. [00:03:28]
Self-control, as we've seen in the matters of money, because extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart. Some of us know that to our pain. We lost our ability to do business with a clear conscience and a crystal clear gaze. Be careful. Be careful also in the snare of unguarded talk. [00:03:54]
Self-control, it's part of the fruit of the Spirit. Self-control and not becoming a crusty old fool that walks around all the time saying, "Man, the good old days." We love the good old days. Why were the old days better than these? That's a silly question. It happens in churches more than anywhere I've ever been. [00:04:31]
Consider what God has done. I just wrote one word against this: the word trust. Because these verses are a reminder to us that life is not blind fate; it's not random chance occurrences. Rather, God is over all, and He's in control of all. [00:05:49]
When the times are good, be happy, and when the times are bad, be thoughtful. Think about the fact that God has made the one as well as the other. Don't be so silly as to go out on a sunny day and say, "Oh, well, God has done a wonderful job today," and then you go out the next day, and the clouds are at 400 feet. [00:06:26]
The idea that the righteous automatically prosper and the wicked automatically suffer isn't true. Ultimately, in the light of eternity, God will right all wrongs. Injustice will all be settled. He has dealt with this at the cross, but the experience of life is straightforward. I have seen a righteous man perishing in his righteousness. [00:08:41]
Do not be over-righteous, he says, and don't be over-wise. He's describing here a kind of spiritual intensity which is pushed so far that it gets to the realm of unreality. When I looked at this phrase "do not be over-righteous," it made me think of the Pharisees who had come up with all these kinds of rules and regulations. [00:09:21]
Sin is foolishness because it is disobedience to and rebellion against the will of the one who made us, who loves us, who sustains us, and who one day will assess us. What the Bible says is that all of these journeys, all of these dead-end streets, all of this consideration is moving, pointing forward to ultimately the way in which God has made wisdom known. [00:14:25]
God has provided the way of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, all of His love and all of His justice is expressed, and in that, He meets all of our needs precisely. You see, there's nobody in this room this morning that knows your needs. Nobody, even the person that loves you most, lives with you most, understands everything about you. [00:16:46]
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