The Alternative

Dr. Tony Evans: Many of us are spending all our time trying to make good decisions from the wrong sources. Wisdom is not available unless it is derived from God.

Guest (Male): This is The Alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. The Bible says God is eager to give His people wisdom. Today, Dr. Evans talks about why so few of us take Him up on that offer and how God can equip us to make better decisions. Let's join him.

Dr. Tony Evans: Life is full of decisions. Many of us are tired of making bad ones. Some of us here today are still reeling from bad decisions. Who among us today would not like to live certain parts of our lives over, to be able to make another decision other than the one we made? Most of us, if not all of us, have yet to meet the person who is satisfied with every decision.

The Book of Proverbs is a whole book about wisdom. Proverbs chapter 1, verse 7 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, and fools despise wisdom and instruction." Only a fool doesn't want to be wise. He says in verse 20, "Wisdom shouts in the streets. She lifts up her voice in the square." Wisdom is crying out for somebody to pay attention so you can stop making bad decisions.

I wonder whether anybody here is tired of making bad decisions. God has a solution for you. It's called wisdom. Wisdom is the God-given ability to perceive the true nature of a thing and then implement the will of God regarding it. How do I get going? Chapter 9, verse 10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."

Fear is reverencing God for His person and His position. No fear of God, no wisdom. Isaiah 33 verses 5 and 6, he says the foundation of wisdom is fearing God. Out of that fear comes this treasure. He says, "The fear of the Lord," I like this phrase, "is the key that unlocks the door to this special treasure called wisdom."

To fear God means I go to Him for knowledge. I think this, but God says that. My way is not His way. I think that, I want that, but He says this. What you do determines whether you fear Him regardless of how you feel.

You're driving down the highway at 80 miles an hour. All of a sudden, in your rearview mirror, you notice a police car. The policeman's presence has produced a healthy respect for the law. The law says 70 miles an hour, but you insist on doing your thing, which is 80. So you become a law unto yourself until the presence of the police car shows up. When his presence shows up, you adjust to the law because you respect his authority.

You may not like his authority, you may not want his authority, you may even be rebellious against his authority, but you respect it. So you adjust to it even though you want to go faster, simply because he was there. Many of us are living our own lives. You know why we're living our own lives? Because God is nowhere in sight. We don't respect Him. Because if we respected Him, we would have adjusted something.

People do this all the time at church. They say, "Well, we can't do that, we're on church property. How are you going to be acting like that at church?" But then it's okay when we leave the property because in our minds, the police car was on the premises. It did not exist when we left the parking lot. But the fear of God says that God is my reference point wherever I am because my body is the temple of the living God. So wherever I go, He goes, and so I'm going to adjust to Him.

How do you know what the policeman wants you to drive? It's written. You know what the policeman wants you to do because it is written: one way, 65 miles an hour, 40 miles an hour, no right turn here. It is written. But what we tend to do is see it written, then look for him. If we can't see him, we skip what is written. Has anybody ever looked for the policeman after having seen what was written? Then, because we didn't see him, disobeyed what was written and he showed up out of nowhere? Has that ever happened to anybody other than me?

The reverencing of God, the fear of God, is the starting place for wisdom. So the reason many of us, and probably all of us in various levels at various times, have had this series of bad decisions is that God was not allowed to be there as a way of life. He could be there on Sunday when I was on premises, when I was at the police station. When I was at the station, he could be there. But when I leave the station, I do my thing. So you don't even get started down the road called wisdom.

Wisdom is that thing that God gives that gives you a higher perspective, like going up in an airplane. God sees the big picture. True wisdom only comes from God. I want to show you a passage of Scripture that lays it out. Just hold your finger here and turn to Job chapter 28. Let me read beginning with verse 12.

"But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living." All right, let me stop right there. You can't find wisdom in the creation. In the land of the living, you cannot locate it. You're not even smart enough to be wise on your own because you are in the land of the living.

"The deep says, 'It's not in me.' The sea in the ocean says, 'Don't come looking here, we ain't got it.' The sea says, 'It's not with me.' Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it." You can't buy it. Talk about saving some money; you can't buy wisdom. It's not for sale. He says in verse 16, "It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir." In other words, it is so valuable that you can't even come up with the wealth to pay for it.

He says in verse 17, "Gold or glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold." Verse 20: "Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all living. It's concealed from the birds of the sky." Verse 23: "God understands its way. God knows where it is, and He knows its place. And He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens." Verse 28: "And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.'"

You can't find it in the land of the living. You cannot find it in the land of the living. You cannot find it in the land of the living. Wisdom is not available unless it is derived from God. Now, you either going to believe that or you're going to reject that, but hopefully, you've made enough bad decisions to try it. Many of us are spending all our time trying to make good decisions from the wrong sources. We talking to the wrong people, reading the wrong books, watching the wrong shows, listening to the wrong commentators, trying to find wisdom in the land of the living. You can't do it. It's impossible.

Guest (Male): When Dr. Evans returns in a moment, he'll explain why we can't grasp spiritual wisdom until we understand the difference between meeting God and knowing God. Stay with us.

Guest (Female): Sometimes the clearest moments come when you step away from the noise and give your soul room to breathe. This February, you're invited to experience that kind of renewal on a Caribbean cruise with Dr. Tony Evans. Join Dr. Evans and friends of the ministry February 28th through March 7th for a seven-day journey from Fort Lauderdale. You'll visit Nassau, the unspoiled beaches of Grand Turk, and Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic, along with peaceful days at sea and a relaxing stop at Half Moon Cay.

Together, these moments create the perfect setting for rest, reflection, and spiritual growth. And on board, you'll experience inspiring teaching, uplifting worship, and meaningful connection. This isn't just a vacation; it's an opportunity to return home refreshed, refocused, and renewed. Don't miss your chance to be part of it. Visit tonyevans.org and make your reservation today. That's tonyevans.org.

Guest (Male): Priscilla Shirer will be joining us as a featured guest speaker during the cruise, and Anthony Evans will be leading worship sessions. Find out more at tonyevans.org. Well, before we get back to Dr. Evans' teaching, I want to tell you about a special parenting package that goes hand in hand with his current lesson series. The centerpiece is all 13 full-length messages from his two-volume series called Parenting on Purpose.

Through these messages, you'll learn practical ways to cultivate respect, responsibility, spiritual growth, and strong family relationships rooted in God's truth. When you make a donation to help support The Alternative, we'll send you this audio collection as our thank you gift. And as part of this special package, we'll also include Tony's highly acclaimed book, Raising Kingdom Kids. It's a resource that has helped countless parents understand how to raise children who see life through a kingdom lens and develop a faith that stands the test of time.

Get all the details at tonyevans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222. Again, that's tonyevans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat that contact information for you after the second part of today's message. Here's Dr. Evans with more on the blessing of spiritual wisdom.

Dr. Tony Evans: What then are the benefits? What happens if I take this route to wisdom, that I decide to find out what God says on a subject and I'm going to have to dig a little bit for that? Result number one: he says in chapter 1, verse 7 of Proverbs, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." And the knowledge he's referring to in chapter 2, verse 5 is the discovery of the knowledge of God.

The first thing you get when you start with the fear of God is intimate information from God. You get to know what God knows. God is now free to share His secrets with you. The secrets of the Lord are for those who fear Him. God will start whispering to you because He knows you're taking Him seriously. So now, He doesn't mind talking to you. And once there is no fear of God, He does not share His secrets.

Here's how it works. From His written revelation, you will get knowledge. God will give you knowledge from this book. Here's how you do it. When you're faced with an issue in life, you get a Bible concordance or maybe, let me give you another resource every family should have, a Bible dictionary. You say to God, "God, I'm having a problem with money." So what you look up is words that relate to money: finance, money, any of those words. And yes, it's going to take you a minute. It will show you all the major verses, all the major concepts related to money.

Because a lot of us here think we need more money when what we need is wisdom for the money we have. A lot of us are in debt not because we didn't have enough money; we didn't have wisdom for spending it, using it, saving it. We didn't have wisdom. Because you took out the time to get the knowledge from His word, He will then give you the Holy Spirit to give you the understanding of how to apply it.

The result of knowing God, he says, is a less problematic life. Life's got a lot of problems, right? The issue is not that you have problems; the issue is that problems have you. In this world, you will have tribulation, so I'm not even going to promise you to get wisdom and there are no problems. What I'm saying is when you get wisdom, you handle the problems, the problems don't handle you.

That's why he says in chapter 3, verse 2, "For the length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you." Anybody here need peace? You just wake up to turmoil. He says wisdom will bring you peace. Look at verse 24. He says in the same chapter, "And when you lie down, you will not be afraid. When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet."

Bad decisions can keep you up at night. Bad decisions can have you tossing and turning. He says, but when you learn wisdom's way, he says you sleep sweet. Ain't nothing like a sweet night of sleep where you're not tossing and turning and twisting. Colossians 1:9 and 10 says you'll have a productive life. You won't waste your life. Young people, you've got the opportunity to not waste years. Just live years, 25 years, just wasted.

Let me show you my last scripture. James chapter 3, verse 13: "Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy, selfish ambition in your heart, you are arrogant and you lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy, and the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

Now, here's what I want to point out. He says you have two choices. You can get the wisdom from above, the one we've been talking about, or he says you can get earthly wisdom. And guess what he calls earthly wisdom? He says and it is demonic. So the wisdom you're getting from your friends that contradicts the wisdom from above is wisdom from hell, demonic.

A lot of us go to church on Sunday and live our lives by hell on Monday because we get the wisdom of this age, which God says is foolishness. The wisdom of man separated from God is foolishness. But we like it because everybody else doing it, everybody else thinking it, everybody else going that way. It must be right. "There is a way that seemeth right to man," but the Bible says when it comes to its conclusion, it's death.

Now let me tell you where most of our problem is. Just flip back a page to James chapter 1. Here's the final blessing of wisdom. Verse 5: "If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." This is a passage in the context of a trial. You're going through a trial and you need to know what to do. "But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."

All right, now even if you didn't hear anything else from the sermon, here it is. Burger King says have it your way. God says not with me. Most of us are double-minded. Double, two; mind, think. To think two ways at the same time. We come to church for the wisdom from above, we go back out of church and get the wisdom from below, and we mix them. When you integrate wisdom from above with wisdom from below, God says, "Let not that man expect to receive anything from me." I'm not going to integrate my ways with your ways, my thoughts with your thoughts. You can have mine, you can have theirs, you can't have ours together.

Suppose the policeman pulled you over and you say, "But my friend said I could go 80. My boss told me I could drive 80." That would be an irrelevant conversation because they're not the authority when it comes to the law of the land. On those rare occasions when I pull up to McDonald's, I'm asked a question: "Do you want to supersize it? Do you just want regular or, with a little bit more investment, you can have this big thing of fries, this big thing of drink?" With a little bit more, you get so much more.

God is offering you the opportunity to supersize it. With just a little bit more investment, you get so much more God. You get to make good decisions for the rest of your life. And guess what else you get? Here it is. Guess what else you get? You get the years that the locusts have taken away.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans, talking about a spiritual upgrade we'd be foolish to pass up. Now, if your mind is starting to grasp the importance of making that choice, but your heart doesn't seem to be getting it, now's the time to consider the most important decision of your life. To get some help, visit tonyevans.org and follow the link at the top of the homepage that simply says "Jesus." There, Tony explains what it means to have your past forgiven and your present and future completely changed when you give God the reins of your life. Check it out today at tonyevans.org.

And when you do, look for the details on how to receive Tony's two-volume series, Parenting on Purpose. This 13-message collection offers practical biblical guidance for anyone who wants to build a stronger family and leave a lasting spiritual legacy. Through tomorrow only, when you make a donation to the ministry and request the Parenting on Purpose audio collection, we'll also include Tony's popular book, Raising Kingdom Kids. Together, these resources can help you navigate the challenges of parenting with greater wisdom, confidence, and purpose.

Make your request today at tonyevans.org or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222. Team members are available around the clock to help. That's 1-800-800-3222 or online at tonyevans.org. For a Christian, being set free means a lot more than just being turned loose. God wants us to put our freedom to good use. Tomorrow, Dr. Evans explains how we can make that happen. Be sure to join us.