(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright. Amen. 2 Timothy chapter number 2. Like that verse there where it says that the word of God is not bound. That's true unless you're some liberal, Christian, non-denominational, bogus basin life church goer. You know what I mean? In that case, then there's no word of God for you because they don't believe they have the word of God. They believe it's bound up in the latest manuscript, which is dug up, but anyways, we're going to continue on here this evening with our study on the seven pillars of wisdom. So if you would keep your place where you're at and go to James, I'm sorry, no, go to Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter one. So last week we started off the sermon in Proverbs chapter nine verse one, which says wisdom hath builded her house. She hath hewn out her seven pillars and we compare that with James chapter three and so we're just going to do a little bit of a review here and one thing that I want to make sure that everybody understands here is the benefit to gaining wisdom. Now you say, well, I don't know if I can memorize all seven pillars. Well, you should try because here's what's going to happen. Here's where this is going to benefit you, right? You're going to find yourself between a rock and a hard place often in life, right? And you're going to pray and you're going to ask God for wisdom, but what else is going to happen is the enemy is going to come by and present you a like idea. Well maybe you should try this and you're going to be confused like, man, what do I do? The more understanding you have about these, these pillars of wisdom here, the more of a chance you're going to have in picking the right option for your life, whatever situation you're in. Look, you don't have to turn there, but listen to this. Proverbs eight, 12 says this, it says, I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge of witty inventions. So the Bible says that wisdom dwells with prudence and that should be the goal for every Bible believing Christian in here, right? To become prudent. When someone looks at you, they should say, Hey, there's a prudent person. And in case you don't know what the word a prudent means, it's the ability to govern and discipline yourself by use of reason. It's somebody who looks well to is going, it's somebody who has their steps ordered by the Lord because they have their conversation with the new man. Okay. It's the opposite of somebody who's forward. Somebody who just doesn't care, who throws caution to the wind, who just does whatever they want to do. Right? Saved or lost. I mean, you know, it really doesn't matter. I'm not saying it doesn't matter whether you're saved or lost, I'm just saying that in that instance there, you know, understanding these things in choosing to be prudent is going to benefit you greatly. Like I said last week, not just in church, but also in every area of your life. Right? And so we need to understand that. You're there in Ephesians chapter one, look at verse number seven. It says in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. And who is he talking about there? He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the word. And remember, go to James chapter three, James chapter three. And so remember the first step in acquiring this wisdom, which is from above, is to realize that it is first pure. Right? And I said this last week, somebody who doesn't believe that God has preserved his words can never get past step number one. They don't even get step one. They never get that pureness from God. Right? I know somebody, you know, that goes to this Nazarene church or this Southern Baptist church, and they preach a little bit different. They teach you God to repent of your sins and stuff, but I think they're sincere. I think they're well-meaning. I think that's okay. Well, the Bible says no, because the wisdom that comes from above is first pure. And those people, more often than not, do not believe that. Right? That is a big deal. Somebody who just looks Christian, who has the lingo, who goes to church, but they believe a false gospel. Guess what? They have the wisdom that is from above. That's what the Bible is teaching us here. So you're there in James. Let's review this again. Verse 17. It says, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. Right? And so we're going to look at those seven things. We're just going to review a little bit quickly here. If you would go, you can leave your place there. Go to Daniel chapter two, Daniel chapter two. I just want to point something out that came back to my mind this afternoon as I was thinking about this in Daniel chapter two, when Nebuchadnezzar has his vision and his worldly astrologers and all the people that supposedly had wisdom, they couldn't figure out Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Right? But there was one who could, and I think it's interesting here. We're not going to go through the whole chapter or get real deep into it, but this here, look at verse number 30. You're there in Daniel, look at verse number 30, actually back up to verse 29. It says, as for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter? And he that revealth secrets maketh known to thee, what shall come to pass? But as for me, the secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king and thou mightest know the thoughts of thy hearts. So Daniel here is humble. He's meek. He actually displays these seven pillars of wisdom and he says, Hey, this isn't coming from me in my own knowledge, in my own reasoning, my own understanding. He's saying this wisdom, my ability to explain this dream to you comes from above, right? So look at verse 31. He says thou king sauced and behold a great image. This great image whose brightness was excellent stood before thee and the form thereof was terrible. This image is head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his, uh, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet, part of iron and part of clay. Now look at verse 34. It says thou sauced till that a stone was cut without hands, which smoked the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay and break them to pieces. You can leave your place there. Look at first Peter chapter three. I just want to show you that, uh, that even in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, you can see this wisdom from above working and operating. And this here's a picture obviously of the Lord Jesus Christ who was made without hands, who was from everlasting, destroying the wisdom of this world. You know, the world spends a great deal of time trying to orchestrate this utopia, right? You know, we have these politicians that say, well, you know, communism is going to bring in peace, right? Let's just pay everybody the same wage at the expense of your rights to say what you want, of course, and a whole lot of other things, right? But God says, no, that's not the wisdom from above, right? Because the wisdom from above is without partiality. It's without hypocrisy. It's gentle, it's full of mercy and good fruits. It's easy to be in treated, right? And it is what? It's peaceable and it is pure. That is the opposite of what any human form of government is on this planet. So without going off on too much, more of a rabbit trail, let's just real quick here. First Peter chapter three, talking about peace, because we talked about pureness. I spent most of the sermon last week talking about that. And then we mentioned peaceable. Somebody who's peaceable is somebody who makes an attempt always to try to have some peace. Okay. Is that always possible? No. Right? Somebody who has wisdom from above, who understands this, no matter what situation is that they're in, they will pick the most peaceable option. And sometimes you know what? Sometimes that's war. But even in the midst of war, you can still be peaceable. I mean, think about it. You read the gospels, right? Read Matthew chapter 13. It lines up perfectly with John chapter 12, where Jesus is saying, hey, I'm speaking to these people in parables so they cannot be saved. Right? And you might look at that and be like, well, that's not peaceable, right? That's what the world tells us. That's what these other Christians tell us. When we talk about the reprobate doctrine, they say, well, that's not very peace-like. That's not very gentle. You know, they would use these seven pillars and try to say that we're violating them because they don't understand. They don't even have first base. They don't even have the pureness. Now if they're saved, they have access to it, but that doesn't really mean that they fully grasp it. Right? Remember, after you're saved, you've got to put in the work. You've got to study. You've got to try your best to understand these things and implement them into your life. That is what brings wisdom. So somebody who's peaceable is somebody who is going to try to seek peace whenever possible. So first Peter three, look at verse number 11, it says, let him eschew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and ensue it, right? Go back to second Timothy chapter number two. So it is something that we're supposed to ensue in every opportunity. Why are you turning back to second Timothy chapter two, I'm gonna read for you Psalm 119, 165, which says great peace have they which love thy law and guess what thy law is referring to the word of God, which is first pure, right? You see how that works. You start to love God's laws, his statutes, his teachings. Guess what comes next? Peace. It ends up perfectly with what we're studying this evening. So you there, we're going to go on where with a pillar. Number three, second Timothy to look at verse 24, it says, and the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient verse 25 and meekness instructing those that oppose themselves. If pair adventure, I'm sorry, if God pair adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will. So what this is saying here is not saying here, let me tell you what it's not saying. It's not saying that we can't ever argue or we can't ever fight back or we can't ever draw a line in the sand. That's not what it's saying, right? Because by the time you've got to gentleness, you've already understood that you're peaceable, right? You know, oftentimes when these apartment managers, they want to throw us out and they want to kick us out. We do try to resolve the issue with peace, right? Well, what I've been doing lately is trying to read them the definition of soliciting by the city ordinance. It's kind of hard to argue with the city ordinance, right? And then we have the constitution, right? Which is still the law of the land, despite what some drunk bum wants to tell you over at the townhomes off of Maple Grove, right? And then after that, you know, if they'll listen, which most of the time they don't, but you see, that's where it started out with peace. And then after that, you know, I just say, all right, I'm out, I'm going to keep knocking, you know, call the cops, call them because I'd rather obey God than man. All right. So where am I at here? Second Timothy two. Yeah. Look at verse 25. So he says in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God paired venture, we'll give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. We had an example of this on Sunday, Sunday morning, right? Brother Jeff. Um, you remember this, this is, we had this guy visit our church, uh, his name was Paul and he, you know, uh, he, he came in here and I met him and talked to him. I told me he was a Mormon missionary and he went on the missions and he got converted. He gave his life to Christ. I was like, okay, cool. We'll enjoy the service because I kind of knew where that was going to go nine times out of 10. You know, first of all, I just wanted him to sit through the service. I didn't want to get into it with him right off the bat. So I just turned around, left, and then, you know, we, we started church or whatever. And I heard him mention a website, right? And he's talking to some of the guys about a website and I was like, we're going to have somebody working on a website for us. You know, we're, we're doing good, but I'll see what you have. You know, how you, how you worked at whatever and he was like, okay, cool. And then what he proceeds to do is he starts to go around and pass everybody his little business cards, right? He's trying to sow his little seeds come to find out. Just like I thought the guy believes the same doctrines that the Mormon do. He believes you have to turn from your sins to be saved. Well, brother Jeff applied second Timothy chapter two in meekness instructing somebody who opposed himself, right? He's like, Hey, look, I'm different now, right? I used to be a Mormon. Now I'm a Christian. The problem with that is he's not a Christian. Somebody who believes you have to turn from your sins to be saved is not a Christian. They call themselves a Christian, but they're not because that is a different gospel. That man is accursed, right? So Jeff, you know, he didn't argue with him, just tried to give him the gospel. Now after the guy, well, I don't even know how far you got. You didn't even really get that far with him, did you? Maybe like half, maybe you gave him a few verses and this guy just kept cutting them off, just kept cutting them off and just kept running his mouth. That's the sign of a fool. Somebody who will not listen. Right? This guy wouldn't listen. And so look at the rest of the verse here, it says, if God paired venture, we'll give them repentance unto the acknowledging of the truth. Obviously this is a person whom God has not given, uh, uh, the repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. I don't know what he did, but you know, it seems to me like you go around preaching a false gospel and you go on a mission and you knock on people's doors and you, you bring a bunch of people into your religion, which is false, making a bunch of false converts, making them twofold, more of the child of hell than yourself. It kind of sounds like you're a reprobate and I'm not saying he is. I don't know. I can't see his heart. I can't see inside him. I don't know. I don't know. You know, he's not a, you're not a sodomite, you know, that's like really the only way we can a hundred percent sure tell that somebody is. But Paul did say in Galatians twice that somebody who does that is a cursed. That means they're damned. That means they are on their way to hell. Look, it's no coincidence that he just changed names. That's basically all he did, you know, but nonetheless, this guy here, that guy, Paul is this verse, look at verse 26 and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil. Jeff did everything he could to try to ensue that, right? He had pure, pureness, the pure word of God. He was peaceable, went up to him, you know, without striving, without, you know, mocking or anything like that. And then he was gentle on him, but the guy wouldn't listen. So he just said, I'm done with you, you know, and you say, well, you violated the scriptures. No, you know, you're at that point, he's wasting his, his precious breath. It's no, it's no more. It's not worth pursuing somebody like that. They're not going to listen, you know? And so that's what I wanted to talk about with these verses here. The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle. So somebody who would want to strive would be somebody who would be like, oh, you believe in Pentecost and just, just go like right at him, not even try to teach him the truth. Right? We ought to be gentle. We ought to first pursue peace and we ought to be gentle with people, right? Because like I said last week, not everybody in here is on the same playing field. We're all in different levels spiritually, right? We have guests that come in here, you know, they're not all on the same level, right? We don't want to just rip into them and be like, you're not exactly like us, you know, get out of here. You know, we usually wait until the false doctrines come out, the intentions come out, the backbiting comes out, the running their mouths behind my back comes out, which it always does. You know, that, that always seems to wind up back to me. Typically it's a little too late, but nonetheless, it always goes back to me and it's always going to go back to you. You know, when you meet people in your life and you think they're your friends and you know, they go ahead and start backbiting you and stuff like that, you know, you're better off ensuing peace from your understanding of what is pure and trying to be gentle so you can restore that person. And if you can't, then you have to move on. Okay? So that's what I'm saying. Turn to first Thessalonians chapter number two. So second Timothy two is a great passage to explain to you why we need to be gentle because we're all the servants of the Lord. Our business is the great commission, making disciples, getting people saved in the way where you do that is by being gentle. Right? Now, some of the guys were knocking on doors, what, a couple Sundays ago and somebody from the security department invited brother David and was a skulk. Oh, Briley. Yeah. They invited him in. And they list the guy listened to the full gospel and afterwards he was like, all right, you guys got to go. I'm security. They were just like, all right, we're done. Anyways. You don't even like, Hey, you're kicking us out. Let's go. You know, usually wait until they threaten you or they're following you do something like that. All right, let's move on here. First Thessalonians chapter two. Look at verse number six. It says, nor of men sought we glory, neither of you nor yet of others when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ, look at verse seven says, but we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherishes her children. So Paul's bringing back to the remembrance of the Thessalonians, how he disciple them. And he said he did it and that his, uh, his, his workers that were with him, right? The way they did it was by applying gentleness, being gentle with people, right? The Thessalonians, they weren't, they didn't grow up in sin. Right? The Thessalonians, they weren't, they didn't grow up in synagogues and reading the scriptures, right? They probably had a whole lifetime of just worldliness, but yet Paul says, Hey, I was gentle with you. Remember that? And he's saying, likewise, ye be gentle with your converts, right? Explain to them things, give them opportunities, be long suffering, be patient, be peaceable, be all of these things first. Look at verse number eight. It says, so being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls because ye were dear unto us. This is something that's lacking today and that's being genuine. The Bible says in the last days that people would become mockers, they become lovers of their own selves. And I'll tell you what, that is exactly what we're seeing today and we need to be different than that. We've got to fight that. The way you're going to do that is by being gentle with people, because the moment you let go of that, pride's going to step in because you're like, Hey, I'm a fundamentalist, man, I've got this. I'm better than you. I've seen it. We've all been there. A lot of us have been to churches that have people like that, you know, and that's sad. That's not how you build people up. You do it by being gentle, just like Paul's doing here. Look at verse nine. It says for ye, remember brethren, our labor and travail for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you. We preached unto you the gospel of God. So here he's saying, Hey, look, remember my selfless service. I could have charged you. The labor is worthy of his hire, right? That's what he's saying. But he's like, Hey, we put that aside because we want it to be extra of extra service to you. Right? That's how we are going to succeed by loving the brethren. That's what the Bible says. The Bible speaks a lot about putting others above yourself. All right. And you see that exactly here. I mean, the, the new Testament is just story after story. There's so many different stories of churches being started, especially by the time you get to acts, right? All these churches are being built and started. Guess what? You're going to find every pillar of wisdom in the building of that church. And so we need to remember that and hold onto these things so that we can help God build this place up as well. Go to Titus chapter number three, Titus chapter number three. And so it says, and the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach patient and meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. If God paired venture will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, right? This is why we, you know, and I've seen people out soul winning, knock on doors and you know, just being rude and just antagonistic right off the bat. We had one in our church that would do that. He wasn't interested in giving people the gospel. He was interested in arguing with them to make us look stupid. I was with them one time and you know who I'm talking about. I don't, I just don't even feel like mentioning his name right now. I'm so sick of this guy, but you know, he knocks up, we're not going to this one lady's door. And she's like, yeah, I go to the Methodist church. It's like, Oh, then all the Methodist are going to hell and they, they, uh, they believe Billy Graham saved. Now are you going to get somebody to listen to the gospel by attacking their church right off the bat? You wait till you get them saved and they come in here and they hear a sermon or something or you do it gentle. I mean, I'm not telling you not to preach the truth, but you got to do it with the wisdom that is from above, right? Just cutting right to this fight. That's not doing anybody any good. Now what do you think she's going to see when she sees our logo out in town? Oh, there's a bunch of jerks. There's a bunch of morons. There's a bunch of people that just want to fight and have contention. Look, we've got enough fightings that come to us. You know, should I show you my emails that I get all the time? The text messages, the threats. You want to see that stuff? I don't even want to vex your soul with that garbage. But you know what? We've been, we don't have to even look for that. It comes to us. So we don't need to create more is what I'm saying. All right. Titus chapter three, look at verse number one. It says, put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work. Verse two, to speak evil of no man, to put or to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. See, you know, Paul's talking about elders. You know, we should have these attributes. You shouldn't go out and be a brawler. That doesn't mean that self-defense is wrong. Okay. Somebody is trying to beat me up. I'm going to do something about it. Okay. And that's not wrong. That's okay. But what he's saying here is that obviously we have the pure wisdom of God, which comes from above, right? And that teaches us to have great peace, great peace have they which love their law, right? And what comes next? Being gentle because we have the truth. We have the truth. And that brings you peace as well. That brings you comfort. That brings you confidence. That brings you assurance. Right. And so with that, it's like, look, I don't really need to sit here and argue with you storm about Matthew chapter one. Okay. Just shut your mouth and get out of here. You know, that's being gentle because people like that don't want to listen. They don't want you. They're all their goal is, is to come in here, cause trouble, sow seeds of discord and just wreak havoc. And guess what, you know, it's not going to stop. We just had one on Sunday come in here and try to do that. You know, I can't remember who it was, but somebody was like, why don't you go tell the pastor about that? So I don't want to talk to him. I don't, I don't want to tell him because he would have gotten flying through the air probably. You know what I mean? After I pursued all of these pillars of wisdom, of course, all right, let's move on here. Go to Matthew chapter number 11, Matthew chapter number 11. So number three, the third pillar is gentle with the wisdom from above is gentle. So the Bible is teaching us that the wisdom from above are all of these seven things. These seven things are pillars. Pillars are designed to support these seven things, support the Bible believing Christian. So it would do us all well to understand them. Number four, pillar number four, the Bible says that it is the wisdom from above is easy to be entreated, easy to be entreated. So remember we talked about this last week. If any of you lack wisdom, let them ask of God who give it to all men liberally, right? So if you lack wisdom, which all of us do, I do ask God, and guess what? He will give it to you. But my question for you is, are you going to even know that it comes from him if you haven't studied what to look for? So if you don't understand these things, you may miss the boat. You may just completely miss the wisdom that he's giving you as you're reading the Bible, as you're doing the work of God, as you're praying, as you're meditating on his statutes and his commandments. So the Bible says the wisdom from above is easy to be entreated. It is easy to obtain this. You just have to ask God for it, right? You've got to be willing to receive it. Proverbs 14 says this, a scorn seeketh wisdom and findeth it not, but knowledge is easy into him that understandeth. So you're there in Matthew chapter 11, the Bible says verse 25, I just want to show you this here. Jesus talks about this. He talks about how his yoke is easy, about his wisdom, his commandments, his statutes, right? His burden is easy, which is the opposite of what the world has. Matthew 11 verse 25 says, at that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, oh father Lord of heaven and earth, because thou has hid these things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. And when he says, why isn't prudent here? He's talking about the wisdom of the world. People who call themselves wise, right? Your college professor, your Pharisee, your Sadducee, right? Your life church pastor, right? The guy who runs Journey, Summit Church, these people who think that they are higher than they really are, right? These are people who think they're wise. They think they're prudent. They're like, oh, well I went to college and I have all this money, I have all these boats, right? A lot of the Mormons around here are like that. I dealt with about five of them today, right? They think that they're wise, they think that they're prudent. They think they have their ducks in row and guess what? They think that they're better than every single person in here and you can take that to the bank. Why am I talking about this? Look at verse 26, even so father, for so it seemed good in thy sight, all things are delivered unto me of my father and no man knoweth the son, but the father, neither knoweth any man the father save the son and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. Verse 28, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Verse 29, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Verse 30, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. What did we just read? We just read the seven pillars of wisdom. They're found in this passage here. Jesus is saying, hey, look, all of you that are heavy laden, obviously that applies to the lost, right? Because the lost, they're bogged down with their burdens. They don't know if they've done enough good works to get to heaven. They're not sure. And Jesus is saying, hey, my yoke is light. My way is easy. And then of course in America today, we have a lot of prideful people, a lot of arrogant people that like that, right? They like saying I turn from my sins, right? I love that. Look at all the good that I did, Lord, Lord, have I not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works. That's the world that we live in today. That's the country that we live in today. And that describes a lot of people that are in this valley today, right? They ignore the wisdom that we're learning about, right? Jesus says, hey, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And then say, you'll eventually be saved. You will be saved right now. But of course the world, they say, you know what? I don't want that prudence. I like what I did. I like the works that I've done. I like the fact that I quit drinking. I like the fact that I quit cussing. I like the fact that I did all this stuff. And I think that's going to help me out. And if I want to help Jesus get me to heaven, then so be it. He's going to let me in anyways. Well, you're going to be in for a rude awakening, pal, because when you lift up your eyes in hell, you're going to realize that you messed up and this is a big deal. Turn to Proverbs chapter 27, Proverbs chapter 27. So another thing about this wisdom being easy or easily to be entreated, you know, it's easy to get this wisdom. It's easy to ask for it. It's easy to be received if you understand this stuff. When you start to study these things, you apply them to your lives. Guess what? You're going to be a person that can communicate clearly, right? Everybody here who goes out soul winning right now, because I know all of you, right? You can give the gospel clearly. You're not going to go up to somebody's door and give them a Paul Chapel message and say, well, repenting of your sins is kind of a double-sided coin, right? And you know, you got to turn from your sins, but you know, at the same time, it's by grace through faith. That's not clear, right? That's not wise. That's not pure. That's not peaceable. That leaves doubt is what that does. So you there in Proverbs chapter 27, look at verse 17. Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the counsel of his friend. And I want you to understand that a Christian person that implements these pillars of wisdom in their life is going to be somebody who can sharpen the countenance of people. You're going to grow up. You're going to mature, right? Remember when Moses came down from the mountain, his face shone, you know, that's a reflect. That's a picture of us putting our nose to the Bible, hearing, preaching, and applying these things to our lives, right? It's going to change your countenance. It's going to change the way people see you, right? Not for pride and arrogance, obviously, but for the betterment, for the furtherance of the gospel, right? So this is important here. This is why we need to be in church. This is why we need a fellowship because iron sharpeneth iron, right? That wisdom, that wisdom that comes from above is what's going to help us get better. Turn to Psalm chapter number 32. We're going to move on here. So number five, it's number five. The wisdom from above is full of mercy and good fruits, mercy and good fruits. So why are you turning to Psalm 32, I'm going to read for you Exodus 20 verse six, which says, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Remember Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. He didn't say, if you love me, keep my commandments, you'll be saved. Obviously. He said, if you love me, keep my commandments, right? Because we have to have his commandments to be able to grow, right? We have to follow them in order to grow and to excel and to provide more fruits for the kingdom and for your rewards. Psalm 32, look at verse 10, it says many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. So what that's saying there is the saved person, you're going to have mercy all around you. The Bible says your sins are forgiven. Your sins are as gone as far as the east is from the west. That's mercy. If that's not mercy, then I don't know what is, but mercy shall compass you round about, you know, so when you get in a bad mood and you start, you know, having your conversation back to the old man, you know, nobody took your mercy. You just decided to put a cloak on it. You just decided to cover it up. You just decided to put it aside for a little bit because the Bible is making a very clear promise here that many sorrows shall be to the wicked, right? But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Go to Proverbs chapter number 16, Proverbs chapter number 16, Proverbs chapter 16. Look at verse number six, it says by mercy and truth, iniquity is purged and by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. Well, that's interesting because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, right? Without that fear, there's not going to be any wisdom, right? But look at the beginning of that verse there. It says by mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. You know what that means? It means it's not purged by God just saying, eeny, meeny, miny, moe, you're going to heaven. You're going to hell. It says by mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. It's by God's word. It's by his truth that it's purged and it's purged, it's gone forever. Go to Proverbs chapter 21 and while you're turning there, Marie, for you Proverbs 20 verse 28, which says this, mercy and truth preserve the king and his throne is upholden by mercy. What's mercy? You know, it's everything that we've talked about is being, you know, forgiving, right? It's applying grace, it's applying grace, all the things that we've talked about without restraint. You know, God had mercy on us who were yet sinners, you know, but God commanded his love towards them while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. You know, that's an act of mercy. You know, he had mercy on us. How many times did David cry out to the Lord, Lord have mercy on me for what I did and God did have mercy on him and God even let him choose his own punishment. Proverbs 21, look at verse number 21, it says that he that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness and honor. So again, just more and more benefits to following these things, following mercy, have mercy on people. Don't be so quick to jump down somebody's throat every time they do something you don't like, you know, when anytime you see stuff like that, just know, just understand you're dealing with somebody who doesn't have a lot of mercy. Maybe you're even dealing with somebody who's not very mature in the faith, right? Think about that. You know, you don't want to just jump all over everybody because you've got your ducks in a row and they don't, right? All of these things tie together. Go to Proverbs 28, Proverbs chapter 28, we're going to learn here how to obtain mercy. Proverbs 28 verse 13 says this, he that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but who so confesses and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Now you say, okay, what does that mean? Well, here's how it applies to the Bible of believing Christian. The Christian who says, I, you know, it was just too prideful in areas that I didn't do anything wrong. I don't care. You're like, you're not going to have any peace. You're not going to get much mercy from God. Are you going to be saved and go to heaven? Yes, you will. Right. But your chastisement is going to come to you with a big whipping. I mean, you're going to have troubles, what he's saying. But to the lost person who covers their sins, they're not going to prosper at all. They might prosper financially. They might prosper positionally, right? But they're not going to prosper in the kingdom of God because they're not even saved, right? So that's how it would apply to a lost person. Now go to Luke chapter number three, Luke chapter number three. So we're talking about mercy. We're talking about good fruits. I want to show you how we can apply these things to audit a doctrine. And I just pick one real quick. We're not going to go into great detail about it, but let's just think about Zionism. Take a look at the doctrine of Zion. Let's say you're a new believer. Okay. Well, let's say you've been a believer for a while, but you're just getting back into church and you're like, Hey, you know, I heard Sam get preach, you know, a sermon talking about Israel in the end times. And I also heard a sermon by somebody else, you know, some other preacher talking about how the Israel of God or Bible believe you Christians today are the Israel of God. You know, which one is true? Well, you get, let's say you get stuck in a situation like that. And obviously we're all on the same page here, but just, just bear with me here for a moment. If you knew the seven pillars of wisdom, it would be very easy for you to understand which doctrine comes from above, right? Because the wisdom of God is first, what it's pure, it's peaceable Zionism's not peaceable. I mean, is Israel trying to pursue peace today? A lot of them will tell you yes, but I'll tell you, that's not the case. That's a murderous Christ rejecting slanderous nation. But talk about gentle. Are they gentle? No, they want to shut us up. They want to stop our communications. That's the purpose of Hollywood, which by the way is ran by a bunch of Christ rejecting sodomites and Jews, right? What about the next one? Mercy and good fruits. Do you see any mercy or good fruits coming from those people? Do you see any mercy and good fruits coming from the Zios? Not really. Not really. So while you're turning to Luke three, just I'm going to read for you, Matthew 21, 43, which says this, therefore say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. So let's talk about that again, right? So if you were to take a look at Israel today, that doctrine, the Zionist doctrine is not, it doesn't have any mercy or good fruits, right? Nothing good comes from that other than confusion because the Bible student is going to read the Bible and it's going to conflict with what they're hearing from the Zionist preacher. Okay. But it also says that the wisdom of God is without partiality. Think about that. It's without partiality. Well, Zionism is a partial doctrine. It's basically geared towards worshiping the Jewish people, people that are in the religion of Judaism. That's what it's about. And it's full of hypocrisy because there's so many scriptures in the Bible that say, Hey, if you don't have the son, you don't have the father. You can't read the book of John and come to a Zionist doctrine. You have to be taught that, right? You have to be hoodwinked into that. But if you would just understand these pillars, you could audit different doctrines. Say, well, which one of these lines up, right? That should at least get you to a position to where you can think about it and study these things out. But you're there in Luke chapter three, look at verse number eight. This is what John's telling these Pharisees and Sadducees. He says in verse eight, bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance and begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father. For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the acts is laid unto the root of the trees. Every tree therefore, which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down in cast into the fire. So what John's telling him is, Hey, just because you're Jewish, just because you are in the religion of Judaism, just because you were born in Judea, Pharisee, Sadducee, Zionist, that doesn't give you a free pass because that's not pure. The old Testament doesn't even teach that. That's not peaceable because it's partial and because it's full of hypocrisy. It violates every single pillar, every single one of them. It violates. Right? And so he's saying, Hey, you need to understand as Zionism is a joke, it's gone. It's being done away with God is going to give his mercy and his good fruits to a nation that will bring forth those good fruits, which is what? Reaching converts, preaching the gospel, getting people saved. Israel's not doing that today. That's not a nation full of mercy and good fruits at all. They have no pureness whatsoever. Turn to Philippians chapter one, Philippians chapter number one, look at verse nine. It says in this, I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, verse 10, that you may approve things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. Verse 11, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ until the glory and praise of God. So this here, verse 11, one more time, it says being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ. If you don't have Jesus Christ, you're not getting anybody saved. If you don't have the word of God, you're not getting anybody saved. So when John told the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and he said, Hey, bring forth works, I'm sorry, bring forth fruits that are worthy of repentance. That's what he's talking about. He's talking about, you know, you should, you say you're saved. You claim that you're saved. Why don't you prove it right now? How would you prove something like that? Whether or not you could get somebody saved, whether or not you could receive the word of God, like Jesus taught over and over and over again, right? He said, my sheep hear my voice and they know them and they follow me. Is that not what he said? That's what he said. That's what this is talking about here. Because some people they'll say, well, no, you know, even John told the Pharisees, they got to repent of their sins. You know that if you're really saved, you'll show forth fruits, you know, meat for repentance. It's not what it means. He's just saying, Hey, since you're making the statement, since you're making the claim that you get a free pass because you have Abraham to your father, why don't you show us some works that are meat for repentance, knowing full well that they can't because they don't even have step one, which is the pureness from God. Turn to first Timothy five, number six, the wisdom, which is from above is without partiality. Partiality is unfair bias in favor of one thing or person compared with another. This is how we can test the doctrine of Calvinism, right? This is how we know that it's not true because that is a partial doctrine. I'm not sure partial what, because they just say, well, God just picked some and he has his reasons. He doesn't like you liked you or whatever the situation is there, right? But we know that that is partial and it's also full of hypocrisy. First Timothy chapter five, look at verse 21. First Timothy chapter five, verse 21 says this, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality, right? So Paul's telling Timothy, who is a pastor, who is an elder, Hey, don't be partial because it looks bad. It hurts other people. And you know, I have to see this time, you know, in larger churches, right? In this church, we'll deal with it at some point. You will start to see clicks being formed and I'll have to get up here and preach about clicks. So I might as well just do it a little bit now. So it doesn't happen, right? Anytime you, you know, you start to see these clicks, just know there's some partial partiality that's going on. That's not wisdom from above. We should be above that, right? That doesn't help anybody out because what that does is exclude other people. Oftentimes it don't matter what church you're in, what circle you're in. This is one thing that I've seen. Sometimes you'll see people that look a certain way, like people that are good looking, you know, a new guest comes in that may be a good looking person. They'll instantly flock to the other people in the church that are good looking. You watch and you mark my words, you'll see it, right? It's just a thing. It's just human behavior. It's the old man, right? People just have a tendency to do that. Birds of a feather tend to flock together. The proverb is true. Let's back up here real quick. So you're there in first Timothy five. Let's back up to verse 15 so we can better understand verse 21. First Timothy five, look at verse 15 says, for some already, I'm sorry, he says for some are already turned aside after Satan. If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them and let not the church be charged that it may relieve them that are widows indeed. So he's saying, Hey, look, widows, you know, being widowed, that's a hard thing, right? But there's a way that God wants us to handle them and we ought not to be partial to anyone no matter what their situation is. Verse 17 let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. Verse 18 for the scripture saith, thou shall not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn and the labor is worthy of his reward. Verse 19 against an elder received not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Verse 20, them that sin rebuke before all that others also may fear. Right? So he's saying, Hey, anyone, even your friends without partiality, them that sin rebuke before all right. Yeah. And it's be like, well, that's my friend. I'm not going to tell, I'm not going to say anything about it. You know what I mean? Somebody is running their mouth about B you shouldn't be like, well, that's my friend. I'm just going to kind of sweep that under the rug. You should tell me because if you don't, you know, not only am I going to find out about it, but guess what? It's going to fester and it's going to grow and sooner or later people that are saying something about me, they're going to start to say stuff about you and then you're going to hear about it. And then you're going to be so upset. You know, it's too late at that time and things just blow up and they get out of control. Right? Look, look, you're all my friends. If I heard somebody talking bad about you, I would tell you, or I would tell that person, Hey, let's go. Hey, you think Moses is weak? Let's go talk to him. Let's go tell him, let's go tell him what you said. That wisdom comes from above. That's without partiality. You see what I'm saying? That's how we stick up for each other. That's how we show the love of the brother. That's how we can, can show that mercy. Right? And that's a good fruit, right? Because we need to stick up for each other. Like I said, we have enough fighting and enough battles without begging and asking for more. And then verse 21, one more time, it says, I charge you before God and Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that thou observe these things without preferring one before another doing nothing by partiality, which is a good statement there. When you understand the roles and the duties of people, um, like, like pastors, like widows, uh, people that just labor and doctrine, when you understand these things, you know, it really helps you not to judge with partiality, be like, Oh, he's the pastor. You can take care of it. You know, Oh, um, your brother so-so reads the Bible and memorizes a lot of verses. Uh, they're, they're, they're tough enough. I'm not going to tell them that somebody's, you know, messing with their car or, you know, talking about them behind their back. It says, um, that that's a good thing that we, that our, our judgment and that the wisdom that comes from God is always going to be without partiality. Okay. Always going to be fair because it comes from God. We're not fair, but he is right real quickly. Number seven, it says without hypocrisy. So the wisdom that comes from above is going to be without hypocrisy. Say, how can I tell if I'm making the right decision? Well, is there hypocrisy involved? Is there partiality involved? Is it easy being treated is a peaceable, gentle, pure, right? Full of mercy and good fruits. Does it have any of these attributes? If not, you know, you may have a problem. So the wisdom from above will never lead you to a hypocritical state. It's never going to make you become a person that says one thing and does another. Okay. So like an example, me up here preaching to you about soul winning and I don't ever go soul winning. That would make me a hypocrite. That is not wisdom. That is from above. That is not wisdom from below, from the earth, from what we see in our daily lives. Turn to Luke chapter six, Luke chapter six, why are you turning there, Marie for you? Proverbs 11 nine, which says in hypocrite with his mouth, destroyeth his neighbor, but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. This is why we need to acquire knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, right? It's not enough just to hear these things. You need to increase your ability to absorb and to grasp this information. So real quick, Luke six, Luke verse 39, it says, and he spake a parable unto them. Can the blindly the blind, shall they not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master, but every one that is perfect shall be his master. Verse 41 and why beholdest thou the moat that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye. Verse 42, either how canst thou say to thy brother, brother, let me pull out the moat that is in thine eye, when thou thyself behold is not the beam that is in thine own eye. Thou hypocrite cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shall thou see clearly to pull out the moat that is in thine brother's eye. So real quickly here, he gives us three steps, right? If you say, okay, you got me, I'm in a hypocritical state right now. You know what? You need to do a self analysis. Do you have a beam in your own eye? Admit it, right? Number two, self-improvement, take the thing out, get rid of it, cut it out. And then number three is back to selfless service. Then you put your own stuff aside and you go and correct your brother. Then you go teach him, then you go sharpen him, then you go do that, right? That is wisdom from above when you can learn to put the old man aside and put others above your own self, right? Because we have a tendency to be lazy sometimes, right? We see something and we know the truth, we're backslidden a little bit and we see somebody doing something we know is wrong and we go and tell them about it. It's not right. It's not good. We ought to clean our own selves up. We ought to take the stuff out of our own eyes. And guess what? Guess what else that does? It also helps you to see more clearly. You want to know why a lot of people can't understand doctrine today that are saved? It's because they have a giant beam in their eye. The world has thrown just basically blanketed their eyes with sawdust, if you will, right? And they just can't see. You know, there's a little bit of a screen, a little bit of purple lights and fog and all this great music and Christian rap and, you know, and all this worldly stuff that's just Christian. You know, when she subscribed to that stuff, it really does blind your vision. But you watch, the more you get stuff out of your life that's in, stuff that you know is wrong, the more you put that aside, the more understanding you're going to get, right? Cut some stuff out of your life and then start reading the Bible and see what happens. God will open those eyes for you and then you're going to see even more clearly than you could before. So that's the lesson here. So let's just wrap this thing up here. I go to second Corinthians chapter one, second Corinthians chapter number one, why are you turning there? I'm just going to remind you of James chapter three, verse 13, which says, who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you, let him show out of a good conversation, his works with meekness and wisdom. Remember a lot of times in the Bible, the word conversation, or at least sometimes in the Bible, the word conversation is talking about your interaction with either the old man or the new man. That's what conversation is, right? It's an interaction. It's an exchange of words and ideas and thoughts. Second Corinthians one 12 says this, for our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity in godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world and more abundantly to you were. So we don't understand. We've all had our conversation in the world at some point, right? All of us at some point also, you know, put the new man aside and we did back to the old man. You know, we start conversing with the world a little bit and he's saying, Hey, remember where you came from, put that aside, fight. You know, it's a work, it's hard work, but you got to do it because by doing so, you will be able to stand more firmly on those seven pillars that wisdom hath hewn out of her house. And real quickly, here's another example. You don't have to turn there. Galatians chapter one verse 13 says this, for ye have heard of my conversation in time past and the Jews religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it. So think about that. You know, Paul was a person that understood very well what having a conversation in the world meant. I mean, think about it. He was, was he not there consenting of the death of Stephen when he was stoned to death for just preaching the gospel? I mean, think about it. And then Paul goes on to be one of the best Christians who's ever walked the face of this earth, who wrote down a lot of the majority of the new Testament. You don't have to actually go back to Ephesians, go to Ephesians chapter four. We're almost done. Ephesians chapter four. We're almost done. Why? Turn the memory for you. Ephesians two verse two. It says this where in times past you walked according to the course of this world. According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh and the children of disobedience. Verse three, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past and the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and whereby nature, the children of wrath, even as others, and that works perfectly with James chapter three, right? James chapter three. He gives us those three things that describe the wisdom from below, right? It's earthly, it's sensual, and it's devilish. And that coincides exactly with the last part of Proverbs chapter number nine. You're there in Ephesians four, look at verse 22. He says this, this is his desire for us. He says that he put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. So just remember that. Remember that though there's wisdom from below, there's wisdom from above. We ought to spend all of our time seeking that wisdom, which is from above. And finally, I'm just going to read for you again, James three, 14 through 18 and we're done. It says, but if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descenteth not from above, but it's earthly, sensual and devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion in every evil word. So when you go into a church, you go into a family and there's a lot of striving going on. There's a lot of arguing, a lot of bickering and stuff like that. Guess what? There's a lot of evil going on. There's a lot of backbiting going on. There's not a lot of wisdom being sought out by the church members. This is a problem and this is not how we're going to succeed, how we're going to excel as a church. And I'm not saying we have that issue right now, but I'm just, I don't want it to get to that point. Verse 16. I'm sorry. Verse 17 again, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality, without hypocrisy. Verse 18 says, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Right? So we need to understand that the end result of all of this is going to be peace. You say, well, I lost a loved one. Well, I lost my house. Well, I'm in a bad situation right now. Guess what? If you can understand these pillars of wisdom, you're going to be able to find peace even in this, this, these trials and these tribulations, just like Stephen did right when he was being stoned to death and he looked up and said, Lord, forgive them. Right? Think about that. That's a man right there who obviously understood the seven pillars of wisdom. He had the pureness. He had the peacefulness. He had all of it. Right? And we need to be just like that. So remember these things and think about them and don't let them go, you know, because the result is going to be a church full of people that are not simple. The simple believeth every word the Bible says. We don't want to be like that. We don't want to be simple. You can just believe, Oh, whatever video I just watched on YouTube, Oh, whatever my friend at work just told me. No, you believe what the Bible says. That's what wisdom is because this wisdom comes from above and it is first pure. Lord, thank you so much for these truths in your Bible. I just pray that these would help us all to continue to grow Lord and have a zeal according to knowledge and wisdom in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.