Regaining Lost Ground

Shane Idleman: I titled this message, "The Desperate Need for Wisdom," because we're living in a day and age, people, where we're calling good evil and evil good. We're living in a day where they spend way more time in the media than in here.

Men are learning how to be fathers from Paulie, Mikey, now South Coast to North Coast to East Coast and West Coast choppers. Everybody's into reality shows, and that's how you treat people. We're not getting our counsel from God.

Am I saying no, don't watch this and that? Of course not. But be careful because we are being desensitized as a church. What God calls wisdom, the world is calling foolish.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, one hour north of Los Angeles. Today on Regaining Lost Ground, we hear the final part of a profound study into the beginning of Proverbs titled, "The Desperate Need for Wisdom."

Puritan preacher Thomas Watson once exclaimed, "The fear of God promotes spiritual joy. It is the morning star that ushers in the sunlight of comfort." Please join us for this reverent, sober-minded sermon from Pastor Shane as he opens up the truth of God's word, reminding us today that knowledge only begins once we fear almighty God.

For more information, visit us online at westsidechristianfellowship.org. We also encourage you to hear more truth from Pastor Shane with the Idleman Unplugged weekly podcast. And please be sure to follow us on most social media platforms. And now, from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here's Pastor Shane Idleman.

Shane Idleman: Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will spend. The Bible's crystal clear on that. And as a pastor, sometimes I feel bad because I don't talk about it enough. A couple of you guys in this room, you know who you are, you've called me on that. You say, "You've got to start talking about giving more, you've got to start talking about how it can bless people." I don't want to be one of those guys. We don't have to be one of those guys if you just balance it with what the Bible says.

The Bible says such is the fate of all who are greedy for gain; it ends up robbing them of life. How are we greedy? All greed is, if you look it up, is holding on to things more so than you should. Money's a terrible master, but it's a wonderful servant.

It's not meant to get a whole bunch, now buy a 6,000-square-foot house, now get a whole bunch, now buy 14 cars, now get a whole bunch and get that condo I always wanted up over there, now get a whole bunch and do this. That's just hoarding and greed. The whole concept is to give, and then sure, save as much as you can, earn as much as you can, but also give as much as you can. It's like a fountain. This does not have me because I'm giving it.

The hardest times usually are the biggest amounts. One time we sold our house and then we made a good amount, and I was like, "Oh my lord, that's going to be a big check. I mean, you know what we could do with that?" But as soon as you start to think that, you just have to say, "Lord, here, you have it. I give it to you." That's what the New Testament teaches on giving. God loves a cheerful giver.

There's not an amount, there's not a qualification. What does God put on your heart to give? For some people, it's a little, for others, it's a lot. It's not about how much; it's about the heart. It's always about the heart. If the heart's right, the giving comes. There's no end to that.

Verse 20, interestingly, I put on this money issue. Most on their deathbed have huge regret. In essence, they're saying, "It robbed me of life." I've talked to men who were dying, older men. They said, "I miss my kids. I wish I would have had that time back, those 10, 20, 15 years. I would have done things differently. I wouldn't have pursued those things. I would have loved my children. I would have loved my wife." Now they're living in regret on their deathbed. It ends up robbing them of life. Life is gone.

We don't realize that. We don't get tomorrow back. We sure don't get last week back, and we won't get today back tomorrow. It's all about living. That's why, as hard as it is, we're trying to raise our kids in the fear of the Lord and spend time with them, yet also minister at the church and still make sure that when we go to bed tonight, we can say, "Did I spend enough time with my kids and with my family?" Because when it's over, it's over.

Verse 20: Wisdom calls aloud outside. I love these verses. Here's why: there is no excuse. There is no excuse in the body of Christ, there's no excuse in our life because wisdom calls aloud outside. She raises her voice in the open square. In the open square was where people met to receive information. Before the internet, before text messaging, before the news, they went to the open square, they went to the gates of the city.

So he's saying wisdom cries aloud outside. She raises her voice in the open square. She cries out in the chief concourses and at the openings of the gates in the city. She speaks her words with clarity. So wisdom cries out. There are no excuses. We can't say, "I didn't know." Wisdom cries out.

Actually, there's wisdom I believe in our heart too, the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Do you ever get that? "I shouldn't do that. I shouldn't do that." That's one of the reasons we're in the debacle with the housing market. "I know I qualify for 400,000, but I better buy 250." It feels so right, nothing down, stated income. And it's crumbling now. It's crumbling because wisdom cries out.

There's no excuse. We know what to do; we just don't do it. Most of the problems that we're in, we know how we got in the situation. I don't counsel very many people who say, "I have no idea how I got here." I know exactly how I got here because I didn't apply wisdom to my life.

But as a word of encouragement, God always calls us back. That can be frustrating, but it can also be very encouraging because when a man finally recognizes, "I've done damage, I'm at the end of myself, Lord, will you help me?" He says, "Absolutely. This is where I can jump in. This is where I can turn your life. This is where I can restore the years that the cankerworm and the locust took. This is where I can restore your life, restore your marriage, restore your fruitfulness, restore your joy and your peace."

I can bring back—sure, there are consequences. Absolutely. There are consequences to our choices, but God always calls us back to live because here's the difference: now we can live in His arms, redeemed and restored, and let Him guide us and direct us with the consequences, or we can live outside of His will and still deal with the consequences and have it get worse and worse and worse.

So He always calls us back. That's what I love about God's word. You'll go through it and He'll say, "If My people will turn back to Me." Oh Israel, turn back to Me. Paul would say in some of the writings, "Listen, turn back to God, you churches that are going astray, turn back." What did Jesus say to five of the seven churches in Revelation? Two He had praises for, five He said, "You have left your first love, you've allowed compromise in the church, you've allowed false doctrine, you've become rigid, you've become dead, you've become arrogant. Return to Me before it's too late." It's always that call of returning back to Him.

Verse 22: "How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge." If you hate knowledge and you hate wisdom, the Bible calls that a fool. The fool has said in his heart that there is no God. Wisdom says, "Turn at my rebuke. Surely I will pour out my Spirit on you. I will make my words known to you."

See, that's the whole purpose of rebuke. The Bible's rebuking here. It's saying, "Listen, you delight in hating knowledge, but turn now, turn back to me, turn at my rebuke." That's the whole point of the Bible calling us to do that is to turn and repent. That's one of the great things of this church, is always wanting people to repent.

Repentance is: I'm walking this way, it's not going like I thought, and I'm going back to God. I'm repenting. A change of mind that leads to a change of action. Now I am walking this way. I'm walking in a format of repentance. I've turned around, I'm turning back to God. That's why Peter can say, "Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out and times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord."

It's in that right relationship with God that blessings come and forgiveness, and we can feel refreshed in the Lord. When people aren't in right relationship with God, even though they're Christians, they're bitter and they're angry and they're upset. All these emotions are just so angry because they're not in right relationship with God. He wants them to break and return to Him in the joy and the power of the Holy Spirit. That's what He calls us to do.

Now I like where it says this, "Surely, I will pour out my Spirit on you. I will make my words known to you." This can get a little controversial, and it shouldn't. "I will pour out my Spirit on you." I'm going actually speak on this at GraceFest in the afternoon on the fully surrendered life. I think I have 10 or 15 minutes unless I can get some more time out of Ron. I'm going to talk to him. Just kidding.

But I want to talk briefly on this pour out my Spirit upon you because a lot of people don't realize this, but in the Bible, a lot of times you'd see the Holy Spirit coming along someone. That's where we get our word *parakletos* from. The Holy Spirit will come alongside, convict, draw, all these things. But then there's another preposition, *en*. Then the Holy Spirit becomes in us. He dwells inside of us. We have the Holy Spirit as believers.

The Bible also uses another interesting word, *epi*. It's an overwhelming of the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit came upon a believer or a church and that place was radically changed. That's the one that people get a little weird about. We don't want to talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I don't want to talk about the unction of the Holy Spirit, I don't want to talk about the power of the Holy Spirit, I don't want to talk about the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

Actually, let's don't even talk about the Holy Spirit. There's a problem there because the Bible says, "When you embrace Me, when you break, when you humble yourself, when you fully turn your life to Me, I will overflow you, *epi*, with My Spirit." Now you have the Holy Spirit residing in you. Now you know what Jesus said, "When you believe on Me, as the Scripture says, out of your innermost belly will flow rivers of living water."

This is what the prophet spoke of when he said, "His word is in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones." This is what Peter talked about when he said, "Times of revival refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord." This is nothing to run from; it's something to run to.

Lord, I want all of You. Will You fill me with Your Holy Spirit? Will You endue me with power from on high? Because there's a difference between Shane having the Holy Spirit, *parakletos*, next to me. Then there's a difference between when I believed and now I have the Holy Spirit residing in me. But if I live lukewarm, watch everything that the world watch, hangs out with the wrong people, I'm quenching and grieving the Spirit of God.

I have no power of the Holy Spirit in my life. I haven't witnessed in five years. The Bible's boring. I don't want to come to church. I definitely don't want to come to this church because it's too convicting. That's the Holy Spirit in me, quenched and grieved as a believer. But the Bible wants to do a lot more. He wants you and me to be overwhelmed with the power and presence of God in our life.

The only reason I'm up here preaching like I preach today is because of this outworking, empowering, filling, baptism, unction, whatever you want to call it, of the Holy Spirit. That's the only reason. I remember the day I radically turned everything—I said, "Lord, I give You everything. Finances, my arrogance." Lord, take my arrogance, my pride. Lord, take everything. Take my marriage. Lord, take everything.

I just gave Him everything, and He met me that night and infused me with the power of the Spirit. He says, "Now I've got you. Now you're mine because you emptied yourself. Now I'm going to fill you with the hunger of My word. I'm going to fill you with the desire to preach and proclaim My truth." Why? Because I had to empty myself. I had to say, "Lord, everything is Yours."

Too many people are holding on to some things. "I don't want to give Him this, I don't want to give Him that, I'm sure not going to give Him that. I don't even want to talk about the Holy Spirit." There are churches in our valley that do not want to talk about this *epi* enduement power of the Holy Spirit. They don't want their songs to be sung about the Holy Spirit. They don't want to get off on talking about Him because they've never experienced what I'm talking about, and people are afraid of what they've never experienced. That's the bottom line.

I was. I'd make fun of people like me. My mom will tell you. Who are these holy roller weird people? Remember, I was bench pressing 400 pounds, shooting up steroids, getting drunk, smoking weed, doing lines. That's a tough guy, right? I was dying on the inside. I was so far from what God wanted to do in my life it's unbelievable.

That's why I want to preach this message boldly and clearly because it's a surrendered life that you're going to see real change. You can't go into Christianity one foot in and one foot out, come to church as if you're doing God a favor, reading the Bible so you can tell people off. You read the Bible so you can have intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ. It's a surrendered life.

So wisdom says right here, "Surely, I pour out my Spirit on you," not *parakletos*, not just inside, but overwhelming power of the Holy Spirit. Actually, that's why the word "baptized with the Holy Spirit" is not a weird word, because "baptize" in the Greek is *baptizmo*, which means overwhelmed with the Holy Spirit. I want some of that.

It's not me doing cartwheels or hanging from these lights. It's none of that. It's enduement of power to boldly proclaim His word when you might get death threats, when people might throw rocks at your house, when you will be mistreated, when people write negative editorials, when they scorn us, when my kids grow up asking, "Daddy, why do people hate you?" because the power of the Holy Spirit residing in me is doing that.

Not me. If it was Shane, I'd be sitting back in the back row waiting to go to Schooner's tonight. I'm just being honest. I'd probably be in debt with two Harleys, my fourth marriage. It's amazing.

Wisdom says surely I pour out my Spirit on you. I will make my words known to you. Do you know when that happened to me, when that enduement of power? This I could not put down. I sat day and night reading commentaries, reading bibliographies and biographies and going through this year after year. I couldn't get enough because it was food to my soul. It was thirst to a thirsty soul that had been away from God for years.

You think when the prodigal came home that he just sat down and started watching TV? He ran to his father, he hugged his father. He said, "Dad, let me tell you, I want to be restored to you. Let me work in the field, let me be your servant." That's what happens when you radically, fully surrender your life to God. Everything changes. This isn't some "let's try Proverbs."

If you don't want to read the Bible, something is wrong in your heart because it should be food to you. Yes, it's challenging at times. When I get to the genealogies and Leviticus, it gets challenging. But when I put on worship music in the morning and just open and say, "Lord, where do You..." He starts to speak with me. And as a loving Father, discipline me in my arrogance to my spouse, my arrogance to my kids, my arrogance to others.

Humble yourself. Let all bitterness and wrath and evil and anger be put away from you. Finally, brethren, whatever things are pure and noble and honest and just, meditate on these things. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Follow wholeheartedly after Christ. It begins to awaken the sleeping giant. That's what it does.

Wisdom cries out. It says, "I will fill you with my Spirit." Then the word, because the same Spirit that inspired the Scriptures now resides in me. Filled with the Holy Spirit, I wonder why this makes sense? Because He wrote the book, He's in me, He's opening, He's illuminating my eyes.

It becomes not that we worship the word of God—we worship Christ—but the word becomes the way by which I can understand the heart of the Father. I'm in Ezekiel right now and it just brings me to tears sometimes. God's saying, "I found you as a little infant, Jerusalem and Israel, I found you as a little infant still in her blood. I grabbed you, I cleaned you, I put you in swaddling clothes. I grew you up, I put adornments around you, I put jewelry around you. I did all these things. I kept you and then you rejected Me like a harlot and you went after other nations and other gods. Return to me, Israel."

Is that not a message for America today? The parallels are amazing. Ezekiel is pleaing, saying if the wicked turn from their wickedness and begin to do what is right and lawful, they will live because of it. But if the righteous turns from his righteousness and begins to do wickedness, he will die because of it. Therefore choose life.

Then I'm in Deuteronomy where he gives it to Moses. "Listen, I've laid all this out to you. All these blessings will come upon you if you obey My voice and listen and obey My principles. But if you don't, here are the curses that will follow: the pestilence, the famine, the destruction of the land." Why, God? Because they're rejecting Me. I don't want to do it, but I have to lay it out as a loving Father.

Wisdom cries aloud in the streets. "Turn to me," it says, "with all your heart, not some of it." That's why I get so irritated sometimes. People just want a little bit of God. I just want three dollars of God, please, not enough to burst my soul, not enough to change my heart, not enough to be some weird Jesus freak like Shane. Just enough of God so I get in heaven, but I can enjoy hell on earth.

Wisdom says listen, I cry aloud. Will you not turn to me and I will pour out my Spirit upon you? Now the warning, verse 24: "Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, because you disdained my counsel and would have none of my rebuke, I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror comes upon you."

Lord, this is difficult to read. But you'll see a lot of the "my" in this. Even though it's of course God saying this, really wisdom is saying this. When wisdom is saying, "Listen, you've refused me. I've stretched out my hands against you. I will laugh at your calamity." Wisdom will mock you when terror comes because wisdom says, "I was right here, you could have embraced me, but because you turned from me, I'm mocking you, I'm laughing at you. This is what happens. I've been calling for you."

Verse 27: "When your terror comes like a storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, then you will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me because they have hated knowledge and they did not choose the fear of the Lord."

It's one of my concerns for our nation today is you can confuse God's patience with His approval a little too long. The interesting thing we don't know is when the judgment hand of God falls upon a nation, there's no plan B. The judgment has begun. You can go to Jeremiah. God told Jeremiah, "Stop praying for these people." And Jeremiah wept.

He told another prophet, I believe it was Ezekiel, "If even Job, Daniel, Moses were in that land, I would still destroy that land, but I would save them." Because there are consequences. And that's the hardest part for me. As much as I wanted to delete this from the notes and skip right over this one—"Hey guys, I'm in a rush for time, can we just skip to chapter two?"—we can't because the Bible says it.

"They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me because they hated knowledge and they did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel and they despised my every rebuke. Therefore, they shall eat the fruit of their own way and they will be filled to the full with their own fancies. For the turning away of the simple will slay them and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But whoever listens to me will dwell safely and will dwell securely without the fear of evil."

Even though there's a warning and that's difficult, there's also an encouragement. If you turn to Me, I will rebuild your life, I will restore everything that you have lost. The desperate need for wisdom. That's why I titled this message "The Desperate Need for Wisdom." Because we're living in a day and age, people, where we're calling good evil and evil good.

We're living in a day where they spend way more time in the media than in here. Men are learning how to be fathers from Paulie, Mikey, now South Coast to North Coast to East Coast and West Coast choppers. Everybody's into reality shows, and that's how you treat people. We know wonder we're not getting our counsel from God.

Am I saying no, don't watch this and that? Of course not. But be careful because we are being desensitized as a church. What God calls wisdom, the world is calling foolish. And God calls, "Look to Me. Look to My word. Look to this."

The desperate need for wisdom. Do you know that wisdom would repair marriages that are in trouble? Do you know wisdom would bring back the prodigal? The wayward daughter would return tomorrow if she began to apply wisdom. You would have a closer relationship with the Lord if you begin to apply wisdom to your life.

And you know as I'm speaking right now there's areas in your life that God is speaking to you about right now because He does it to me quite often. He's speaking to you saying, "Listen, begin applying wisdom tonight. Turn back to Me, repent of that, and I will restore and I will rebuild your life." Maybe not like what you thought because there are consequences, but I will begin to restore and rebuild because there's a desperate need for wisdom in the church today.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Regaining Lost Ground with Pastor Shane Idleman. You can find more information at westsidechristianfellowship.org. That's westsidechristianfellowship.org.

And for all the latest on what God is doing with His ministry here, please be sure to follow us on most social media platforms. Westside Christian Fellowship is located 60 miles north of Los Angeles in Leona Valley, California.

Thank you again for listening to today's message of Regaining Lost Ground, where we are reminded daily, times change, truth does not.