God's IQ Test
Pro. 1:7; Pro. 2:1-5
The World makes such a huge deal about one’s IQ; Intelligence Quotient. Of course, as far as the world is concerned, they care only about physical, earthly, human intelligence. God has a totally different standard of determining our intelligence quotient.
I. The Beginning of Wisdom.
“The fear of the Lord,” is the Beginning of Wisdom. It is the first part of being “smart”; the first step- the most important part of being wise. The fear of the Lord will manifest itself in one’s life in at least the three following ways:
A. Repentance.
Anyone who truly fears the Lord, will repent of sin and be saved.
Anyone unsaved is Not Smart.
Titus 3:3-5 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, (dumb) disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. 4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
B. Reverence.
The Fear of the Lord is not fright, alarm, dread, suspicion, or terror, but Reverence, Respect, Admiration, Honor and Worship. Anyone without reverence for God is Not Smart. The phrase “fear of the Lord” is found in Proverbs 14 times:
6 times it is related to the matter of having knowledge and wisdom. If you want to BE SMART- FEAR the LORD.
Twice the fear of the Lord is related to hating evil and departing from it.
Once the fear of the Lord is likened to a place of refuge; safety in time of trouble.
Four times the fear of the Lord is related to having a long and fulfilling life.
Once it is said to bring “honor, riches and life.”
C. Righteousness.
Anyone who really fears God will repent and be saved; will reverence God in worship and in obedience; will obey His Word, keep his commandments, follow his rules.
James 3:13-17 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
II. The Barrier to Wisdom.
“Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” There is one sure barrier to wisdom:
REBELLION!
Those who Refuse to Repent; Refuse to Reverence God; Despise God and His Word are blocking their own way to godly wisdom. The Fool says, “No God,”as in “there is no God.” The Fool also says, “NO, God,” as in saying “No!” to God.
Think of ESAU who despised his birthright and sold it for a bowl of vegetable stew. Heb. 12:16,17 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
Paul spoke of others just like Esau in Romans 1. Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.
Think of CAIN who insisted on his own way even though it directly contradicted what God required.
Think of King Saul who because of impatience and self concern, over stepped God’s boundaries between King and Priest and offered the sacrifice that only Samuel should have offered. Remember the two main parts of Samuel’s rebuke to Saul:
To obey is better than sacrifice;
Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.
God demands obedience and will not be pacified with a token “sacrifice” where one feels that he can keep on doing whatever he wants as long as he keeps up religious appearances. Rebellion is like witchcraft in that it opens up one’s soul to the influence and even the control of evil spirits. Only a Fool is rebellious against God!
Think of the Rich Man in the parable of Jesus. He was building bigger barns to hold his abundant crops and was very proud of himself. While he considered himself “brilliant” and “successful,” God said to him, “Thou Fool!”
Paul speaks of those in 2 Tim. 3:7 who are “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Howard Hendricks, in his book, Living by the Book, told of scientist using what he called the “inductive method” to observe the characteristics of the flea. He pulled off one leg and said, “Jump.” The flea promptly jumped. He pulled off another leg, said, “Jump” and again the flea jumped. He continued this process until he pulled the sixth and final leg. “Jump,” he said. Nothing happened. Louder he said, “Jump!” Nothing happened. He yelled, “JUMP!” Still nothing happened. The Scientist then wrote in his notebook, “When you remove all 6 legs from a flea, it becomes deaf.”
This makes the point (in a humorous way) that there are some people who think they are SO smart. They have the highest IQ and are not fit to even associate with such imbeciles as WE are. After all, we believe in GOD! We believe He actually created the universe and all Life including Man. Surely anyone who believes in God and lives their life for God must be out of touch in this enlightened age! Yet, in the eyes of God and in the eternal perspective, they are not smart at all. The fact is: not everyone with a high IQ by the world’s standard passes God’s IQ test.
Those on God’s List of High IQ’s are people who FEAR the LORD! They have
Repented of their sins; They are Reverent, Righteous, and Ready for the soon return of Jesus Christ. They are already Rejoicing in the glory of eternal life.
According to Solomon in Proverbs 2:1-5:
1) God’s Wisdom is a Gift to be Possessed. (Receive my words- hide my commandments with thee)
2) God’s Wisdom is a Goal to be Pursued. (If thou criest after knowledge; liftest up thy voice for understanding; seekest her as silver and searchest for her as hid treasures)
We must Receive it and we must Request it; THEN= thou shalt understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
So, how smart are YOU? What is YOUR eternal IQ?
The World makes such a huge deal about one’s IQ; Intelligence Quotient. Of course, as far as the world is concerned, they care only about physical, earthly, human intelligence. God has a totally different standard of determining our intelligence quotient.
I. The Beginning of Wisdom.
“The fear of the Lord,” is the Beginning of Wisdom. It is the first part of being “smart”; the first step- the most important part of being wise. The fear of the Lord will manifest itself in one’s life in at least the three following ways:
A. Repentance.
Anyone who truly fears the Lord, will repent of sin and be saved.
Anyone unsaved is Not Smart.
Titus 3:3-5 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, (dumb) disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. 4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
B. Reverence.
The Fear of the Lord is not fright, alarm, dread, suspicion, or terror, but Reverence, Respect, Admiration, Honor and Worship. Anyone without reverence for God is Not Smart. The phrase “fear of the Lord” is found in Proverbs 14 times:
6 times it is related to the matter of having knowledge and wisdom. If you want to BE SMART- FEAR the LORD.
Twice the fear of the Lord is related to hating evil and departing from it.
Once the fear of the Lord is likened to a place of refuge; safety in time of trouble.
Four times the fear of the Lord is related to having a long and fulfilling life.
Once it is said to bring “honor, riches and life.”
C. Righteousness.
Anyone who really fears God will repent and be saved; will reverence God in worship and in obedience; will obey His Word, keep his commandments, follow his rules.
James 3:13-17 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
II. The Barrier to Wisdom.
“Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” There is one sure barrier to wisdom:
REBELLION!
Those who Refuse to Repent; Refuse to Reverence God; Despise God and His Word are blocking their own way to godly wisdom. The Fool says, “No God,”as in “there is no God.” The Fool also says, “NO, God,” as in saying “No!” to God.
Think of ESAU who despised his birthright and sold it for a bowl of vegetable stew. Heb. 12:16,17 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
Paul spoke of others just like Esau in Romans 1. Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.
Think of CAIN who insisted on his own way even though it directly contradicted what God required.
Think of King Saul who because of impatience and self concern, over stepped God’s boundaries between King and Priest and offered the sacrifice that only Samuel should have offered. Remember the two main parts of Samuel’s rebuke to Saul:
To obey is better than sacrifice;
Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.
God demands obedience and will not be pacified with a token “sacrifice” where one feels that he can keep on doing whatever he wants as long as he keeps up religious appearances. Rebellion is like witchcraft in that it opens up one’s soul to the influence and even the control of evil spirits. Only a Fool is rebellious against God!
Think of the Rich Man in the parable of Jesus. He was building bigger barns to hold his abundant crops and was very proud of himself. While he considered himself “brilliant” and “successful,” God said to him, “Thou Fool!”
Paul speaks of those in 2 Tim. 3:7 who are “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Howard Hendricks, in his book, Living by the Book, told of scientist using what he called the “inductive method” to observe the characteristics of the flea. He pulled off one leg and said, “Jump.” The flea promptly jumped. He pulled off another leg, said, “Jump” and again the flea jumped. He continued this process until he pulled the sixth and final leg. “Jump,” he said. Nothing happened. Louder he said, “Jump!” Nothing happened. He yelled, “JUMP!” Still nothing happened. The Scientist then wrote in his notebook, “When you remove all 6 legs from a flea, it becomes deaf.”
This makes the point (in a humorous way) that there are some people who think they are SO smart. They have the highest IQ and are not fit to even associate with such imbeciles as WE are. After all, we believe in GOD! We believe He actually created the universe and all Life including Man. Surely anyone who believes in God and lives their life for God must be out of touch in this enlightened age! Yet, in the eyes of God and in the eternal perspective, they are not smart at all. The fact is: not everyone with a high IQ by the world’s standard passes God’s IQ test.
Those on God’s List of High IQ’s are people who FEAR the LORD! They have
Repented of their sins; They are Reverent, Righteous, and Ready for the soon return of Jesus Christ. They are already Rejoicing in the glory of eternal life.
According to Solomon in Proverbs 2:1-5:
1) God’s Wisdom is a Gift to be Possessed. (Receive my words- hide my commandments with thee)
2) God’s Wisdom is a Goal to be Pursued. (If thou criest after knowledge; liftest up thy voice for understanding; seekest her as silver and searchest for her as hid treasures)
We must Receive it and we must Request it; THEN= thou shalt understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
So, how smart are YOU? What is YOUR eternal IQ?
posted by Junction Hill Pentecostal Church | 7:22 AM
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