In the sermon 'The Desirability of Wisdom,' Peter Allison emphasizes the value and benefits of wisdom as illustrated in Proverbs chapter 3. Wisdom is depicted as more valuable than silver, gold, or rubies, offering long life, prosperity, peace, and happiness. The sermon highlights that true wisdom is found in union with Christ, who embodies wisdom and the source of all blessings. Allison contrasts worldly wisdom, such as government education and medicine, with divine wisdom from God, urging believers to seek wisdom through a lifelong devotion to Christ and His commandments. The sermon also discusses the necessity of God's chastening as a means to gain wisdom, encouraging believers to embrace challenges as part of their spiritual growth. Ultimately, wisdom leads to a life of peace and freedom from fear, as it aligns with God's design and purpose for humanity.

Reading, our scripture reading from Proverbs chapter 3. Beginning at verse 13 happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things that you may desire cannot compare with her. Length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her. The Lord by wisdom founded the earth. By understanding he established the heavens. By his knowledge, the depths were broken up, and clouds dropped down the dew. My son, let them not depart from your eyes.

Keep sound wisdom and discretion, So they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck Then you will walk safely in your way and your foot will not stumble when you lie down You will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down in your sleep will be sweet Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes. For the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught." May the Lord be praised at the reading and hearing of his word, Word that endures forever. Almighty Heavenly Father, please teach us and give to us your wisdom this morning. May Christ, our Savior, be exalted in our midst this morning.

And may you be praised. Through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. If you keep His commandments and don't forget His law, then you will have a long and peaceful life. If you remember mercy and truth, writing them upon the tablet of your heart, you will have favor with God and man.

If you acknowledge the Lord in all your ways, He will direct your steps. If you fear God and aren't wise in your own eyes, you will enjoy good health. If you honor the Lord with your possessions, you will have an abundance of wealth. In our text today, these same blessings of long life, of prosperity, of wealth, of good health, of favor with God and with man, these are pictured in the hands of wisdom. These are blessings that flow from wisdom.

It is those who have wisdom, you see, that are enabled to keep God's commandments and to walk in His ways. It's those who have wisdom that remember mercy and truth. It's those who have wisdom that acknowledge the Lord in all their ways and don't lean on their own understanding. It's those who have wisdom that honor the Lord with their possessions, that know how to honor the Lord with their possessions. But how?

How do we get wisdom? How do we get this wisdom that is held forth in this chapter as so desirable, as the source of these blessings, as what has these blessings in her right hand and left hand. Well, all wisdom we know is hid in Christ. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, but unto those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. And a little later, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption and he told the Corinthians or Colossians that in whom that is in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Christ is wisdom. In Christ is hid all wisdom. You see, wisdom comes from union with Jesus Christ. Wisdom comes from union with Jesus Christ. It's the only source of wisdom.

And this text says, Solomon says that happy is the man who finds wisdom, happy, blessed. The interesting thing is that if we look at what Scripture says about who are blessed, who have this happiness. We see that it is those who are in union with Christ. Happy are you, O Israel, who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord. That's what Moses told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 33, 29.

Happy are you. The same word here, happy are you because you are a people saved by the Lord. And then he goes on to talk about how God is their help, their shield, their defense. Psalm 3312, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. What does it mean to have God to be your Lord? It means He is the one you acknowledge as the source of life and the source of law. Happy is the nation who as a nation acknowledges that God is the source of life and God is the source of law. Psalm 144.15, happy is the people whose God is the Lord.

There is happy is the people who have God to be their Lord, who are in union, fellowship with Jesus Christ, because that's the only way that we can come to the Father. There are passages and we'll look at them a little later, but happy is the man whom God corrects, whom God chases. Because speaking of that love that God has for those whom he chases, his children. David says in Psalm 32, blessed or happy, same word, blessed. Happy is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man, happy is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. That's the result of being justified. Which is a blessing that flows from those who are united to Christ. Their sin is covered. The Lord doesn't impute iniquity to them.

Psalm 2, kiss the Son lest he be angry and you perish when his wrath is kindled but a little but blessed, happy, the same word, are they that put their trust in him. Psalm 34, 8, O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who trusts in Him. Psalm 40, Blessed is the man that makes the Lord his trust. You see the sense here? This happiness, this blessedness comes from being united to Christ, from trusting in the Lord.

Psalm 84, O Lord our first, blessed is the man that trusts in you. Psalm 65, Blessed is the man whom you choose and cause to approach unto you. Where is happiness? Who is happy? Who is blessed?

The one whom God causes to draw near to Him, to approach unto Him. The one who is in fellowship with Jesus Christ. Blessed are they that dwell in your house. Psalm 84. Blessed is the man whose strength is in you.

Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man that fears the Lord and delights in His commandments. Psalm 112. Psalm 119, blessed are they that keep His testimonies, that seek Him, that seek God with their whole heart. There's that fellowship with Christ, that union with Christ, walking with Him, dwelling in His house, approaching unto Him.

Psalm 127 and 128 also speak and describe this happy man, this blessed man. Blessed is everyone that fears the Lord, happy and walks in his ways. You will eat the labor of your hands and happy you will be and it will be well with you. Psalm 146, happy is he that has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord. Proverbs 8, blessed is the man happy, same word, that hears me, watching daily at my gates.

There are more passages, but I think you get the picture. Happiness flows and comes from our union with Christ. It comes from being in fellowship with Him, from being in His house at His gates, from trusting Him, from following Him, from walking in His ways. Ways. But how does Christ communicate, give to us this wisdom that flows from being united to Him?

Well, it's those two little verses that we looked at last week that tie that first section of this text of Proverbs 3 to our text today. Those two little verses dealing with chastening. See, the blessings of verse 1 to 10 can't be isolated from the chastening that is described in verses 11 and 12 which is necessary for us to gain the wisdom that enables us to fulfill the conditions that are given in verses 1 to 10, that are attached, conditions that are attached to those blessings. Those who are in Christ have this wisdom because those who are the sons of God have been given this wisdom and one of the means, one of the means that it comes is through God's chastening. Behold, happy, blessed, Job said, is the man whom God corrects, therefore don't despise his chastening.

Psalm 94, blessed, happy, is the man whom you chasten, O Lord. You see, this wisdom isn't the mere possession of a formula. It's not the academic knowledge of a fact that makes wisdom. It's not some hidden or esoteric knowledge that one needs the secret password to get, the secret key. No.

This blessedness, this happiness is from the wisdom of knowing Christ, of knowing Christ, of Him dwelling with us and us dwelling with Him, of walking with Him in fellowship and unity. There are a couple aspects to this wisdom, this blessedness, this blessed condition of being in Christ. And first is that this wisdom is found and gotten. It's not something that originates with us. Happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding.

Prayerful diligence in the search of wisdom is absolutely necessary. Just as the search for and the pursuit of wealth, labor, is necessary for the provision of our daily necessities, We're taught to get up into work, and it is through that work that God provides for our needs, but it is still God's provision. We pray that God would provide our food and we also go out and search and work for it. And if we don't work for it, the Bible says we shouldn't eat, we shouldn't have those necessities. And it's the same here for wisdom.

Wisdom is something that is found. And chapter 2 talked about it, how we are to cry out for it, how we are to seek for it, search for it diligently, Search for it like a hidden treasure. Matthew 13, Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven. He likens it to treasure that was hidden in a field, which When a man finds that treasure there, he covers it up again. And he goes and sells all that he has in order that he can acquire the field that contains that treasure.

Or a little later, a few verses later, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking good pearls. And when he has found that great pearl, then he goes and sells all that he has in order that he can acquire that pearl of great price. See, wisdom is found. It needs to be searched for. It needs to be pursued.

Wisdom requires a wholehearted, life-long devotion to Christ and to His Word, to His Kingdom. A wholehearted, life-long devotion to Christ and to his word and to the glory of his kingdom. Remember Paul told the Hebrews that it is those people who know, whose senses have been trained from practice that are able to discern right and wrong. Senses trained by practice. Wisdom requires a diligent, lifelong devotion to Christ.

Wisdom, secondly, cannot be compared with anything else. There is nothing else in the whole wide world that can compare to what wisdom that flows to those who are in union with Christ brings. Nothing. All the wealth in the world, gold, the profit of silver, nothing. Nothing can compare to her.

Length of days are in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honor. Now Bruce Watkey in his commentary notes and he's quoting somebody else notes that the Egyptian god of wisdom Ma'at has the sign of life in her left hand and a scepter symbolizing dominion, power, wealth in her right hand. It is the question to us today, who has wisdom? Where does it come from? Who do we believe?

Where is the path to riches and peace. Is it the Egyptian god Ma'at? The Egyptian god Ma'at may not come to us today, but her siblings do. We're told today that you need a government education in order to have wisdom, in order to have a good life. When parents first began to homeschool a generation or two ago, that was the question.

How are you going to be able to give to your children all of the things that they need? Look at this government school over here. This government school has these certified teachers that have passed through Babylon, and they have the wisdom of Babylon. They have the expertise in mathematics and the expertise in science and the beautiful microscopes and the wonderful physics labs and all of the expensive language arts games. And you need these.

What are you going to do without all those? How are you going to teach your children without all these tools and without all this expertise that is down at your local government school? We might laugh today and smile because you can look around and you can see all the people that have grown up and are doing just fine without that stuff. But 30 years ago, ago wasn't so easy to laugh Because 30 years ago there weren't people walking around Who were living proof that you didn't need all those things to acquire wisdom? But thankfully we can we can be grateful to the wisdom that God gave those parents 30, 40 years ago.

He said, no, that is the government's school. The Egyptian god Ma'at is not the source of wisdom, but it's Christ who holds these things in his hand. And that's all we need. That's all we need. Today, the government comes to us with the need for government medicine.

How are you going to get access to health care? You need us. You need our methods. You need our laws. You need our health exchanges, or you won't have health care.

You need health insurance, or you won't have life, and you won't have good health. Well, I grant that they can make it very difficult to have access to what is necessary for health. But you know, we have to take the same approach to government medicine that our parents took, or grandparents took, to government education. No, God is our great physician. He's the one who holds health, it says.

Fear the Lord and depart from evil, and it will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. Do you believe that? Or do you believe that strength to your bones and health to your flesh is in the Egyptian god Ma'at's hands? The government has sought to define medicine as what they approve. And if it's not something they've approved and they control, then it's quackery.

Well, there is a lot of quackery out there, and it's not just in government medicine. But it's not at all true that we need government medicine to have good health. And I think people are beginning to realize that, just like people began to realize that government schools weren't so good for the education of their children. In fact, maybe we're harmful to the education of their children. God has made every green herb to be food for us, to be health to us.

We should be spending our time discovering what God has done. It's pursuing wisdom that God has made in this earth to be health to us. And less time pursuing the government's understanding of medicine, and making sure that we have access to what the government thinks is good health. So much of what government has approved as medicine today is just as bad as government schooling. It doesn't bring health at all, it brings rottenness to our bones, and mush to our flesh.

Corporate jobs. Haven't we heard that the way to prosperity is a corporate job? Well, a corporate job can be nice, but it's not the only way to prosperity as the world thinks. And how do we know the world thinks this? Because just look at the frenzy to get into a good college, because a college is necessary for a corporate job.

You need that ticket to hunt for a job in corporate America. And look at the frenzy of people trying to get into government schools. It's a frenzy. I witnessed it as even running a Christian school. As people would get school.

As people would get in line, I was running a large Christian school that was well right at a time when a lot of Goals 2000, 20 years ago Goals 2000, things were coming into government schools. And a lot of parents were panicking and wondering how they're going to get their children educated. And here was a Christian school that provided what they thought was an alternative. And they would get in line at midnight, 11 o'clock the day before at night, in order to be in line when the school opened at 8 to take their application for kindergarten. Because if they didn't get their child into kindergarten, then you really weren't sure of getting a seat in this school that is to put your trust in a corporate job why Why do they want their children in these schools?

So they could get a good education, so they get into a good college, so they could get a good job, so they could have what? Prosperity, health, wisdom, long life. Because they believed that these were the ways to get these things. But the Bible says otherwise. The Bible says that wisdom flows from being united with Christ.

Christ has wisdom. He's the source of wisdom. And in his hands are all these things that flow from wisdom. It is this union with Christ that cannot compare with anything else. Can't say that about a government education, a college education, or government medicine, or a corporate job.

Those aren't things that can't be compared to anything else. In fact, a lot of times those are things people are trying to leave, trying to get out of government medicine, government education, and corporate jobs. But you see, true wisdom is found in Jesus Christ. And out of that wisdom flows all of these blessings. The way of wisdom, thirdly, is pleasant.

Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. Seems a little paradoxical, doesn't it? The way of the Christ is the way of the cross. Take up your cross and follow me, Jesus said. Self-denial and the cross are blows to our flesh, But they're a part of following Christ their requirement even for those who would follow Christ See pleasure says follow me and I will give you a good time.

Follow me and I will give you happiness. Follow your natural inclination to what is good, what is desirable, what looks good, and I will give you happiness. I will give you fulfillment. I will give you peace." That's what Eve believed. The fruit looked good to her eyes as she beheld it.

And she believed the lie. How many people have started out pursuing their own pleasure, doing what they thought would bring them happiness, only to find that they were on the way of death instead. There is no pleasure to be found seeking for pleasure. The world offers us many ways to seek pleasure. Movie, the movie industry, the multi-billion dollar movie industry is an aesthetic that is offered to the world as a way of pleasure.

Spend your evening reclining on the couch, having your mind Pleasured by what you watch on the screen. Sports and the pursuit of sports and the vicarious enjoyment of sports as you watch others pursue sports is presented as a way of pleasure. Wine, women, and song are presented by the world as a way of pleasure and to the natural eye those things do look pleasurable. But if our natural will is enmity against God it must also be the enemy of our happiness. Our true pleasure comes in mortifying our natural will, our sinful will.

Pleasure says, follow me and I will give you a good time, but it brings forth death Christ says take up your cross and follow me and at his right hand our pleasures forevermore Psalm 16 Christ At Christ's right hand our pleasures forevermore His way is the way of life. He brings life to us. You see, the way of wisdom is not pleasant to the carnal mind. The mind set on the flesh can't Please God. It takes a renewed mind.

Takes a regenerate mind. It takes a mind that is indwelt by Jesus Christ. It takes union with Jesus Christ to recognize wisdom. The way of wisdom is pleasant. The way of the cross, Jesus said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Wisdom is more precious than rubies. There is nothing that can compare to it. It is in wisdom's hands that are the ways of pleasantness, of a long life, of prosperity, of riches and honor. But if you have a carnal mind, it won't look that way to you. You will look at the cross as Wisdom delivers from phobia, delivers from fear.

When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes. That is what is promised to those who do not let wisdom and discretion depart from their eyes. Children have a natural fear of darkness.

I suppose all people to some extent do. Just those of us that are old don't like to admit it. Children are honest enough. They'll admit. They're afraid of the dark.

And I always took them to Psalm 139, the one that we read this morning because Psalm 139 teaches us that the night shines as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to God. You can't hide from God and the darkness, because the darkness shines as the day. He sees with night vision goggles just as easily as he does in the day. The darkness shines as the light.

They're both alike to him. And so we can lie down at night and not be afraid. The world would give to us all sorts of fears, all sorts of phobias. And now the latest being homophobia. But it gives to us all fears, the fear of cancer, to drive us to their medicine.

Get screened, eat this, don't eat that. How many people have followed their advice out of fear of heart disease and fear of cancer, and followed all manner of folly, because they leave abandoned the wisdom of the Word of God. Or fear of terrorism. Wouldn't you say that we have a fear of terrorism in our country today? That we hear people saying, well, we have to give up our liberty in order to be safe from terrorism.

I suppose it's necessary. I've heard pastors, reformed pastors, saying things like that. And you know that's what the general people believe, because otherwise, why would they go through the humiliation of a search just to get on an airplane, other than if it wasn't a fear of terrorism, a phobia, of being killed by a terrorist. Look at the Patriot Act and all of the tyranny that it imposes upon a people who like to think that they are free and who talk about being free all the time but have given to the government the right to unreasonably search and seize anything that belongs to them in order to protect them from terrorism. They can go to a library and look at all the books that you've checked out.

And the librarian can't tell anyone. It's a crime for her to tell you that they've checked all the books, looked at all the books you've checked out. Why? Because of a fear of terrorism. Fear of terror.

That's exactly what the text says, isn't it interesting? Do not be afraid of sudden terror Those who fear the Lord aren't don't have phobias of terrorists under their beds at night, in their airplanes, and in their subways, and in their buses, and on their streets. It's not me, that's what the Bible says. When you lie down you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.

Do not be afraid of sudden terror nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught. Whose wisdom are you going to follow? The Egyptian God of Maat or Jehovah God? The one who created the heavens and the earth by wisdom. Notice it says verse 19, the Lord by wisdom founded the earth by understanding.

He established the heavens By his knowledge the depths were broken up and the clouds dropped do you want evidence of the wisdom of the Lord? Look at this world look at creation and The more you study it the more you can't help but be amazed at the wisdom that it displays. I really recommend a lot of the answers in Genesis videos and talks of their scientists who can begin to unfold for you in ways I could never even begin to myself unfold to you the wisdom of God that's displayed in creation. Look at them. Show them to your children.

Because this is what God has given to us to see and to observe and to study. And all those who delight themselves in the Lord take study in his wisdom. Take, study his wisdom. We have belts of radiation that surround the earth. Scientists were surprised to discover them not too long ago.

Anything that happens in the last 50 years is recent in physics, and anything in the last 100 years is not too long ago. But they discovered that around the earth are these belts of radiation, Van Allen radiation belts. And they found out that these things up there that existed, have existed long before we knew about them, were protecting the earth from all the harmful radiation, particles, electricity that continually bombards the earth from the sun and other places. These belts up there are protecting the earth because God in His wisdom put them there. Or we look around and we study the heavens and realize that God put the earth at just the right distance away from the sun.

Closer and it would be too hot. Farther away and we would be an ice planet. Speaking of ice, if you've taken your high school science, you know some of the wonders of water, just basic water, that makes up most of our body. Just amazing properties that water has. And that one, it should be a liquid at room temperature and not a gas.

Think about oxygen at room temperature is a gas, hydrogen at room temperature is a gas. But you put them together, you have a liquid at room temperature. But not only that, but when it comes time to cool water and freeze, turns out that ice, a solid, is less dense than the water. And that water is most dense right before it freezes, about 4 degrees C. The result of that is that lakes freeze from the top down.

Because water, as it gets close to freezing, gets its most dense, and so it sinks. And so it's always freezing and coming to the top. As it freezes, it gets less dense and floats up. And so if that wasn't true of water, and that's a very unique property of water, most other liquids don't behave that way. If water was like most other liquids, then the rivers would freeze from the bottom up.

And what would happen if the rivers froze from the bottom up? All life would be destroyed. But no, what God made in his wisdom made it different. So water freezes from the top and that puts a layer of ice there that protects the things that are under it. And we can have freezing and thawing without all marine life being killed off.

Or even this passage explicitly mentions the clouds dropping down the dew, the hydrological cycle, by which water is continually circulated. Watering plants that take energy from the sun through an amazing process of photosynthesis and as a byproduct take in carbon dioxide and as a byproduct release oxygen. That takes energy to do that. When you burn something like wood, you release carbon dioxide and water. It takes energy to get that back into oxygen.

And yet that's exactly what plants do. They take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. Well, just lo and behold, we need the oxygen to combine with our food to give breath and to burn our food, essentially. We breathe in the oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. There's an energy exchange there we don't often think about.

It's a very complicated one, incredibly complicated. There are people here that are probably more qualified to explain that process than I am. But it's an energy exchange. Don't miss that. You took in oxygen and breathed out carbon dioxide.

Plants take in the carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. There's an energy balance there that God in His wisdom has created and it sustains life. Wisdom is the tree of life. It's compared here, the text to the tree of life. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her and happy, or all who retain her.

The tree of life, you remember, was in the Garden of Eden. God had promised Adam life upon condition of perfect obedience. That life that was promised to Adam was sacramentally symbolized in the fruit of that tree. The life didn't come from that fruit apart from Christ. It came from God and it was symbolized in that fruit of that tree.

But when Adam sinned against God, then That tree was blocked to Adam. And God drove them out of the garden, you remember, lest they eat from that tree of life. Because life was to be on God's terms. God drove them out of the garden and put cherubim with flaming swords to guard the way to the tree of life. If Adam was to have life, he was to have it on God's terms, not in his own strength.

And yet God, through Jesus Christ, promises to us all the blessings that were represented to Adam in that tree. And that's the picture we see in the New Testament. That him who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. See, it is in Christ that the blessing of life that was denied to Adam because of his sin is restored through the obedience of Jesus Christ.

And to those who overcome, God says, he will give to eat of the tree of life that is in the midst, not of the Garden of Eden, but of the Paradise of God, the Paradise where we are going. In the close of Revelation, For those that were in our Revelation study, you may remember there how in the new heavens and the new earth, in the midst of this is a street, this heavenly Jerusalem. And on either side of this river was a tree of life, which bore 12 fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations, and there would be no more curse." See, God does promise through Jesus Christ to give to us of the tree of life. Life everlasting, everlasting life.

Christ is that life that is promised in wisdom here. And in Christ, all of these blessings that flow from wisdom, it's in Christ that they're found. But there's a warning here. My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion.

Let them not depart from your eyes. See, wisdom isn't something that is just found once and then we have it. Wisdom because it flows from our being our union with Christ wisdom is that which must be continually sought, continually pursued, continually sought after. My son, let them not depart from your eyes, so they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck." See, we can't simply rest on our past achievements and laurels. We can't simply say, well, I professed faith in Christ 30 years ago, therefore I'm a Christian.

I did this or I did that. It is every day that we take up our cross and follow Christ. It is every day that we are to live by faith in Christ. It is every day that we take up our cross and follow Christ. It is every day that we are to live by faith in Christ.

It is every day that we are to walk in repentance. It is every day that we pursue wisdom, which begins with the commandments of God, which the words that proceed out of God's mouth. It is every day that we seek those words and that truth. So they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck. Then you will walk safely in your way and your foot will not stumble.

When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and he will keep your foot from being caught. Such is the promise of those who are in Christ, to those who drink of the river of living water that flows from him, those who eat of the tree of life that is in the garden of God's paradise. Let us pray.