Getting Understanding

1. Read: Proverbs 2:1-5

2. About the Text:

1) Notice how many times the word “understanding” is used in these verses.

2) We recognize the value of understanding; it is the same value for education.

3) We get understanding for how to live life in the best way from God.

4) He is the author of life; He knows best how to order it.

5) So many, however, object saying, “I can’t understand.”

6) What does it take to get understanding?

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. We make an effort on the things that we want to do.

1) Many have been to college and studied algebra, trigonometry, calculus.

2) Why did we do that – to get something we wanted to get.

3) Mechanics make an effort to work on cars.

4) Plumbers make an effort to work on pipes.

5) Electricians make an effort to work on wires.

2. Most people in our country do what we want to do.

1) Think about all the hobbies that many have.

a. Fishing – how do you catch fish? By making an effort.

b. Golf – how do you get good at golf? By making an effort.

c. Hunting – how do you bag game? By making an effort.

3. “I just can’t understand the Bible.”

1) Have you made an effort?

2) Anything worth doing is worth making an effort.

3) Do you believe God? Do you believe the Bible?

4) Why not try to understand it?

5) “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

6) This means that if we want to understand the Bible, we must make an effort to do it.

7) “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10).

8) “So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading” (Nehemiah 8:8).

4. If you desire understanding, you must make an effort.

1. There is a high price to pay for ignorance.

1) “If you don’t like education, just try ignorance.”

2) Ignorance regarding employment means poverty.

3) Ignorance regarding the law means fines or jail.

4) Ignorance about health means disease.

2. What is the result of ignorance regarding spiritual matters?

1) Temporal Consequences – “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).

2) Eternal Consequences – “He will render to each one according to his works: . . . for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek….” (Romans 2:6-9).

3. Where do we find that knowledge?

1) The word of God – the Bible.

2) What do we get? – The mind of God – 1 Corinthians 2:11-16.

3) Read Proverbs 2:6-11.

4) “that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2-3).

5) “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).

1. Spiritual knowledge is for practicing.

1) This is not academic learning.

2) “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22).

3) “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (Jm 1:25).

4) There are real-world consequences to practicing spiritual knowledge.

5) Fruit of the Spirit – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

6) Freedom in Christ – “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).

2. The goal of spiritual knowledge is mature unity.

1) Ephesians 3:11-16.

2) “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jn17:20-21).

3) “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10).

3. We use the understanding that we get from God to get along with one another in love.

1) The golden rule – Matthew 7:12.

2) Being gracious with one another.

a. “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Colossians 4:6).

b. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

c. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

3) Love is the bond of perfection – Colossians 3:14.

1. Can we all understand the Bible alike? Yes, but we must get understanding. How?

1) Make an Effort 2) Seek Knowledge 3) Practice Unity

2. Invitation