Wisdom and Folly: The Pursuit of Knowledge

1. PROVERBS To give prudence to the simple; To the young man knowledge and discretion. Proverbs 1: 4

3. Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lordis the beginning of knowledge,But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

4. Proverbs 18:2(NKJV) A fool has no delight in understanding, But in expressing his own heart. Proverbs 18:2(NLT) Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions.

5. Proverbs 1:22 (NKJV) How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge. Proverbs 1:22 (MSG) Simpletons! How long will you wallow in ignorance? …Idiots! How long will you refuse to learn?

6. Proverbs 24:7(NKJV) Wisdom is too lofty for a fool; He does not open his mouth in the gate. Proverbs 24:7(MSG) Wise conversation is way over the head of fools; in a serious discussion they haven’t a clue.

7. Acts 7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.

8. Acts 6:9 There arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

9. Proverbs 21:30 There is not wisdom or understanding or counsel against the Lord.

11. May 23, 1927

12. Youth is the elixir of our time. Old men control the banks, they steer the giant corporations and institutions that run the country, and they choose when we go to war —  but the fuel of America is youth.

13. As we travel the country, I feel it every time I get off the train. I feel it walking down almost every street. I feel it at night in the speakeasies and the ballrooms. I can feel it in the music—jazz is the sound of youth. And now, thanks to a kid named Lindbergh, youth is literally in the air.

14. The world became a much smaller place on Saturday. All because of a 25-year-old—Icarus with wings that not even the sun could melt — who overnight became the most famous person on earth. The news landed in Cleveland at Dunn Field in the bottom of the seventh inning. It came over the wire in the press box.

15. “Lindbergh’s landed in Paris!” someone shouted. Then someone else shouted it. Then someone else. Before long, the whole stadium was shouting it. 15,000 fans who had been cheering their home team spontaneously stood up, put their hands over their hearts and began singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” All of the players joined in, singing as loudly and as proudly as we’d ever sung the anthem before, just like we sang it before the Great War. Then we all just started hugging one another and shaking hands.

16. With one single heroic and mythical feat the name Charles Lindbergh is now more famous even than the name Babe Ruth! And why not? The Babe may be able to hit baseballs farther than anyone ever thought possible, but this kid, by himself, just flew a small, one-man airplane from New York to Paris, in one giant leap. 3,600 miles straight. In 33 hours and 30 minutes. …

17. Just after the Great War, the Greenwich Village hotel owner Raymond Orteig… offered up $25,000 to the first team to fly between New York and Paris, or vice versa. In the past year 11 aviators have died trying — including some of the world’s most famous pilots, like the World War I ace, Charles Nungesser, who just three weeks ago was lost at sea — each man attempting to write his name in history. But the kid had one thing those other pilots no longer had. Youth.

18. Lindbergh was competing against teams of pilots, all of them older and more experienced, wealthy men flying together in bigger planes, packed with better equipment. But this kid did it on his own, flying into the sky with nothing to weigh him down:

19. He did it without a navigator. He did it without a radio. He did it with just one engine. Hey, 33 and a half hours over water and he didn’t even pack a lifeboat. Youth. That’s the one thing he was packing.

20. Fighting sleep for much of the time, he was surrounded only by water, sky, clouds and stars. The papers say that—depending on the weather, the cloud cover, and the wind — at times he flew as high as 10,000 feet and as low as just 10 feet over the waves. While he flew, he also was navigating — a task just as difficult as flying a plane — using only a compass and the stars, with maps spread out in front of him and a flashlight in his mouth. Insanity.

21. But, then, this is the age of insanity—and the age of youth.

22. I Pity The Fool No. 6.5 Proverbs Part 2

23. Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” • 28:26 “Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.” • Psalm 14:1 “The fool says in his heart ‘there is no God.’ They are corrupt, they do abominable things, there is none who does good.”

24. So how does the fool treat sin? What does the fool think of God?

26. David & Bathsheba (and Uriah) (2 Samuel 11&12)

28. David vs. Sin

29. David & Bathsheba • David spies on Bathsheba • Bathsheba spends the night • Bathsheba is pregnant • David tries to cover up his sin at Uriah’s expense • Uriah is a good man so David’s plan fails • David makes sure Uriah is killed

30. Ananias & Sapphira • Sell land • They give the money to the church • BUT Ananias keeps some for himself • Peter calls him out • Ananias falls down dead • Sapphira lies too • Sapphira dies too

31. Psalm 5:4-6 • “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. • The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. • You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.”

32. It’s foolish to think that we can follow Jesus in some parts of our lives and ignore Him in others.

33. Everything we do is influenced by Christ and everything is centered around Him.

34. 2 Samuel 12 “When he (Nathan) came to him, he said, ‘there were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

35. 2 Samuel 12 Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.’ David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.’

36. 2 Samuel 12 “Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man!… This is what the LORD says: Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

37. 2 Samuel 12 “Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the LORD.’ Nathan replied, ‘The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the LORD, the son born to you will die.”

38. 2 Samuel 12 “Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man!… This is what the LORD says: Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

39. Luke 12 “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell.”

40. Luke 23- the thief on the cross “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

41. God’s omniscience is perfect

42. How should we react to sin?

43. Psalm 51 “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge...

44. Psalm 51 “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

45. What do we think about when we think of sin?