Proverbs 2:10 (Mini Sermon)

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1.      Pro 2:10 – “When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;”

1. In the first nine verses of Proverbs 2, Solomon gave the conditions for acquiring understanding, knowledge, and wisdom from God.
2. In the rest of the chapter, Solomon gives some of the practical benefits of possessing wisdom, most notably its temporal saving and preserving qualities.
   1. There are many benefits to getting wisdom, but a Christian’s primary motivation for obtaining it should not be the temporal advantages it affords, but rather its intrinsic virtue.
   2. The LORD first instructs His children to “get wisdom, get understanding” (Pro 4:5) before He reveals the earthly gain it provides: “she shall preserve thee…and she shall keep thee” (Pro 4:6).

• We should desire wisdom, first and foremost, for the sake of having it because it “is the principal (first or highest in rank or importance – OED) thing” (Pro 4:7), not merely because “she shall promote thee [and]…bring thee to honour [and]…give to thine head an ornament of grace [and] a crown of glory” (Pro 4:8-9).

1. When wisdom entereth into thine heart.
   1. This statement indirectly reveals that the natural state of man’s heart is one that is devoid of wisdom.
   2. If wisdom is promised to enter into our hearts, then that means it does not currently reside there.

• Wisdom isn’t found innately in a man from his youth, but rather “foolishness is bound in the heart of a child” (Pro 22:15).

1. That foolishness must be driven out with the rod of correction before wisdom has a hope of replacing it.
2. By nature, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9), “is little worth” (Pro 10:20), and is full of evil (Mar 7:21-23).
3. God must remove our old stony heart and give us a new heart so that we have the ability and desire to receive wisdom (Eze 36:26-28).

1. And knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul.
   1. Knowledge is not appealing to those who don’t have a heart prepared to receive it.
   2. Rather than embracing it, “fools hate knowledge” (Pro 1:22) and “despise wisdom and instruction” (Pro 1:7).

• When the heart has been prepared by God through regeneration to receive His word, instead of being irritating, knowledge becomes pleasant.
  1. Pleasant adj. – Having the quality of giving pleasure; originally synonymous with pleasing, but now used more vaguely: Agreeable to the mind, feelings, or senses; such as one likes.
  2. To the child of God with a renewed heart, the knowledge of God gives pleasure unto his soul which is the very essence of his being.
  3. While knowledge is pleasing to his inward man, at times it is not so to his flesh, for “he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow” (Ecc 1:18).

Though the truth may be hard to receive, and often will cost a man dearly, it will free his spirit from the bondage of lies which enslave him (Joh 8:31-32).