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What Is Biblical Wisdom and Why It Matters

Hey everyone, I want to talk to you about something that will challenge the way you think about knowledge, truth, and decision-making.

Wisdom is not wisdom if it is not from God.

I know that can feel strong. I know there can be pushback on that idea. But the truth is this. God created the world and everything in it. He is the author of truth. So if something is truly wise, it must align with how God has ordained things to be.

Scripture tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That means wisdom does not begin with experience, education, or intelligence. It begins with God.

If it is not rooted in Him, it may be knowledge. But it is not wisdom.

Knowledge vs Wisdom: What Is the Difference?

We live in a world that elevates knowledge. Degrees, information, opinions, research. But knowledge alone is not enough.

Knowledge is only valuable when you know what to do with it.

You can have information and still make the wrong decision. You can know facts and still walk in error. Wisdom is knowing what to do with what you know, according to God’s truth.

There is a difference between knowing something and being transformed by it.

And that difference will shape your life.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil Explained

When you go back to Adam and Eve, you see this clearly.

They had access to everything in the garden. Everything was theirs except one thing. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

That tells us something important.

We were never meant to know everything.

There are some things that come with a cost. There are some things that once you know them, you cannot unknow them.

Adam and Eve had the instruction. Do not eat. True wisdom would have said, God said no, so there is a reason.

But they chose knowledge over obedience.

And it cost them everything.

The Cost of Knowledge You Were Never Meant to Carry

Once you truly know something, it affects you.

It touches your emotions. It touches your thoughts. It changes how you see things.

You can learn something about a person and wish you never knew it. You can discover something and lose your peace over it.

That is because knowledge is not neutral.

Knowledge either drives you to act, or it eats away at you from the inside.

You cannot truly know something and remain unchanged.

That is why you must be careful what you allow yourself to know.

Why Where You Get Your Knowledge Matters

I want you to really think about this.

Where are you getting your knowledge from?

Because it matters.

The enemy understands that knowledge drives action. That is why there is such a push to influence people early, especially children. If you can shape what they believe, you can shape what they do.

This is amplified by social media, where your senses are constantly being bombarded.

So you have to be intentional.

You have to vet your sources.

Not just for yourself, but for your family.

The 5 People Influencing Your Life the Most

Stop and think about the five closest people in your life.

The people you listen to. The people you go to for advice. The people you allow to speak into your decisions.

You are being shaped by them whether you realize it or not.

So ask yourself:

• Do they live a God-centered life
• Do they give advice based on scripture or experience
• Do they care more about righteousness or their own agenda
• Are they concerned about your eternal life
• Do they live a holy and disciplined life
• What “tree” are they eating from

These questions matter because influence is powerful.

And if the answers are no, you need to make changes.

The Story of King Joash: A Warning About Influence

When you look at King Joash, you see this principle play out in real time.

As long as he listened to the godly priest Jehoiada, he did what was right in the sight of the Lord.

But after Jehoiada died, everything changed.

Joash began listening to ungodly leaders. He turned away from God. He made destructive decisions. And it ultimately led to his downfall.

Nothing about his circumstances changed first.

His influence changed.

Who he listened to changed.

And that changed everything.

You Don’t Need to Experience Darkness to Recognize It

There is a powerful truth in this.

You do not need to have knowledge of darkness to know that it is dark.

If you have the light, you can recognize darkness without participating in it.

There is a lie in our culture that says you need to understand everything. That you need to experience everything.

That is not wisdom.

That is dangerous.

Some knowledge will cost you your peace, your clarity, and your intimacy with God.

Guard Your Heart: The Key to Living in Wisdom

Scripture tells us to guard our hearts with all diligence because out of it flow the issues of life.

What you allow in matters.

What you listen to matters.

What you watch matters.

Because it will produce fruit in your life.

This is the difference between life and death. Light and darkness. Peace and confusion.

You do not need more information.

You need wisdom from God.

Final Prayer

Father, we just thank you that you have been so gracious to give us your word and your instruction. We haven’t been left to wonder and to not have your word, to not have your instruction.

Lord, we’re looking for the peace that comes from knowing we know what you have said and we live according to that and we are protected in it, we are provided for in it and we can live in peace.

That we are not so bombarded by the things going on around us in this world and sucked into the rabbit holes of all the information where we can never unsee the things that we would see or unhear and unknow the things that we now know.

Father, guard us. Help us to guard our own hearts. Help us to be so careful to not put an evil thing before our eye.

We can know it’s dark. We can know that those things are happening and those things are true, but we don’t have to get intimate knowledge of them.

Help us to protect ourselves from that and to not make that decision that we are not now disturbed and have our senses bothered, our emotions bothered and have that sick, weighty darkness inside of our souls.

Deliver us from that darkness.

If we have already partaken of that and we need your cleansing and your washing Lord help us to spend the time we need in your presence, in your word, in your washing that we could be set free.

That the light of your word can come in and bring bright light into that darkness and dispel that darkness from us, that we could live in the security of your light and in the warmth of the sun.

Father, we thank you for the things that you have provided for us. We thank you for the love that you have given to us, the salvation you have provided for us and the assurance of our eternity with you.

We give you all the glory and all the praise for the things that you have done.

In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Chapters

• 00:00 – What Is True Wisdom
• 02:30 – Knowledge vs Wisdom
• 05:00 – The Danger of Knowing Too Much
• 09:00 – The Cost of Knowledge
• 13:30 – Who’s Influencing You
• 18:30 – Evaluate Your Circle
• 38:30 – The Story of King Joash
• 57:00 – Guard Your Heart

Full Transcript

This transcript is auto-generated and not perfect. We hope it blesses you.

Jaime Luce (00:00.27)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Jaime Luce podcast. I am so happy to be with you today. Thank you for taking time out of your day to dig into God’s word. This is our manna. This is what feeds us. So I’m really happy to be with you today. We’re going to be talking about the fact that wisdom isn’t wisdom if it isn’t from God. Wisdom is not wisdom if it is not from God. And I know I’ll get pushed back on that, but I

I I can back up what I’m saying. I know that the tendency is to think that there is worldly wisdom, but the fact is this, God created this world and everything in it. And it is as he says it is. He is the author of truth. So if there is any wisdom to be had, if it’s actually truly wise, that means it lines up with how God has ordained things to be. It’s according to his plan. It’s according to his principles.

and it is in accordance with his word. And then the scripture tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So I cannot attain wisdom without first having the fear of the Lord. That’s according to God. That’s not me saying my opinion. That’s God in his opinion. And you can argue with God all you want, but does it make you right? We can really fight for things sometimes and it doesn’t make us right just because we believe it doesn’t mean it’s right.

If it’s in God’s Word, it’s right. This is the standard. The Bible is the standard. And so we’re going to be looking at two main passages of Scripture today, one being 2 Kings chapter 12, well, a little bit of 11 actually, and 12, and 2 Chronicles 23 and 24. Those are the same. This is the same information.

Recorded in second Kings. It’s also recorded in second Chronicles. There’s just more information given in second Chronicles So that’s why we’re gonna hit both today. I want to make sure and give you that extra information It’s really where the weight of what we’re going to be talking about today is located But it also starts before that so we’re gonna talk a little bit about Eve Adam and Eve and I want to kind of drill down a Principle and an understanding before we dive into the scriptures

Jaime Luce (02:25.902)
I think I’ve got several things here that are very noteworthy. I’m to be asking you to ask yourself some questions and in case you want to actually do this in your own journaling time, I suggest you get something to write with so that you can do that. Because you’re going to want to, you could probably answer them somewhat quickly, but some of them may take a little, they may take a little investigating and to know the answer to them, but they’re so important you’re going to want to do this.

Okay, so if we know that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then we understand wisdom only starts here. And when I keep pointing down, I’m pointing to my Bible. It starts here. That’s where it starts. That’s where it’s going to be. Knowledge, the rest is simply knowledge. Now we tend to live in a society that has elevated knowledge

to the stratosphere, so much so that we worked ourselves out of jobs. have people who go to get knowledge in colleges and they spend tons and tons of money to get degrees. And then they cannot get jobs for this because the knowledge they’re acquiring isn’t useful for a job. It’s just knowledge. And many times it’s not even wise knowledge. It’s just.

knowledge to know something. Knowledge is only valuable when you know what to do with it. And if what you’re doing with it is for lack of a better term, prosperous or good brings forth goodness, right?

I guess I shouldn’t say that because there are two parts to knowledge. We’re going to talk about both of those parts, but it’s only valuable if you know what to do with it. If you, if you have good knowledge and you know what to do with it. And by good, mean good, according to God’s standards, it’s true according to God’s law, God’s word, then that is actual wisdom. Cause you know what to do with it.

Jaime Luce (04:51.126)
Now Adam and Eve, I’m not going to take you to Genesis. You could read that if you’d like, but Adam and Eve lost everything for the sake of eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, as a rule, if you understand that they were set in the garden,

And that was a tree out of the entire garden. could have everything. Everything was theirs. There was nothing withheld except one tree out of thousands and thousands of trees. There was simply one tree that they were instructed not to eat of that true wisdom. If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, wisdom would have said, if God said, don’t touch that.

Excuse me, that means there’s a good reason why you shouldn’t touch it. That would be wisdom. That would be having the knowledge that you’re not supposed to touch it and knowing not to do it. That’s the wisdom. Knowing who the information came from. So you can have knowledge, but then there’s wisdom. And according to Genesis, there is knowledge of good and evil.

So we technically were never supposed to know everything. We were never supposed to know everything. There was a tree of the knowledge, the knowing of good and evil. And we weren’t supposed to know all that.

Jaime Luce (06:43.948)
you will, because you were never supposed to know it, that means that some knowledge, whether good or evil, you shouldn’t have known because there are consequences to knowing it. Okay. There are consequences and consequences to knowing it. To know something about either is to in some

respect to experience it so that you have some intimate knowledge of it. If there’s a difference between reading something and understanding what you read because you can read something and not know what it said. There’s also a difference between let’s say someone tells you a bunch of facts about a famous person.

But even though you have all those facts, you don’t know that person. There’s a difference. There’s a difference between knowledge and wisdom. There’s a difference in information and knowing. Okay, Adam and Eve had information not to touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But the knowledge about it was wrapped up in the tree, okay, to know it.

wrapped up in the tree. They had information. They did not know it until they partook of it. So when scripture says that Adam knew his wife Eve, that meant that he had intimate relationship with her that produced seed and conception. To know her is an intimate term.

And so that knowing that intimate knowledge of her led to conception. There was intimacy, seed and conception. This also means that knowledge encompasses our senses.

Jaime Luce (08:58.592)
So that means I can know something and now that I know it, I actually feel something about that. You can know something and wish you never knew it. You can now feel all kinds of ways about something when you get knowledge of something that you did not have, especially if that knowledge is evil.

Jaime Luce (09:27.826)
Knowledge. and it did this with the tree. This is how the enemy was so deceptive. one of the ways he was so deceptive, it intrigues our senses. That’s why it, you, that’s why the word no is an intimate term. It intrigues and produces curiosity in the senses. I want to know why not. And those

want to knows usually lead to an action to know. This is the partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It arouses our senses. You can, you can know, information about me. You can Google information. You can, get all kinds of information, information on me, but you will not know me. You, you won’t know how I am wired. What, you know,

what makes me tick the way I tick and, and the things that only someone like my husband would know who lives with me and has intimacy with me and he knows me. So you just have to understand not all knowledge is good. And, to have real knowledge means that there’s some form of intimacy with that knowledge to truly know it. Okay. Once you know something,

Like really know it once you know something, you can’t unknow it. Have you ever learned something about someone and you wish you didn’t know that because it changed everything? It changed everything.

or a food that you loved until you found out what it was made of and now you can’t ever eat it again. You can’t enjoy it. You used to enjoy it. You can’t enjoy it now. Can you see how the enemy was robbing Adam and Eve in the garden? Not having certain knowledge kept them free, kept them happy, kept them content. They were satisfied.

Jaime Luce (11:44.706)
They were at peace. There were so many things about not having that knowledge. Now I am not talking about ignorance is bliss though in some circumstances it feels that way. I’m not talking about being blind to something. Okay. I’m not talking about, ignoring your responsibilities because you know something. That’s not what I’m talking about though. Having true wisdom will tell you what to do with what knowledge you have.

But it costs you to know, it costs you to really know. Someone who wants to be a doctor and know how to treat a patient has to, it costs them years and time and exhaustion and endurance and dedication to learn everything they need to learn to be able to then take that knowledge and use it to help someone.

It costs you to truly know you have to become intimate with that textbook, all those textbooks and with all those procedures and all the numbers and, all the medications and all the stuff. So it costs you to know you can’t truly know something and then do nothing with what you know. You really can’t. If you think about this, if you really know something, you have intimate knowledge of something.

You can’t actually know something and then do nothing with it. It will either drive you to action to do something with it. Or if you try not to, it will eat you away at the inside because of your inaction. It will, for people who ignore things that they need to deal with, it eats away at you on the inside.

It eats your peace. It eats your freedom. It eats at your choices and your ability to make good decisions. Cause eating away at the inside of you. So it either drives you or it eats you, but knowledge is not free. Knowledge costs. So I want to ask you, where do you go to get your knowledge from? Because it

Jaime Luce (14:14.518)
matters. It matters where you get your knowledge from. This is so important. I really hope that you don’t tune me out. I hope you can capture your thoughts right now and, and not think that you’ve heard all this before so that you can grasp the truth and the weight and severity of, of this piece of information that we’re talking about today. This is why the devil’s agenda

Right now in our world, the enemy’s agenda is to get to our children first, to get them young, as young as possible. Because those who partner with evil to accomplish evil know the power behind the quote unquote so-called knowledge that they are imparting. Why?

because they know it drives action. It drives real knowledge drives. It’s a driver and where there is needed action for an evil agenda, you need people who have your quote unquote knowledge to empower that agenda, to put it into practice. So they put it into children and that’s critical for them.

because you have to get them before they get another piece of information that would expose that it is a lie, that it isn’t actual wisdom, it’s knowledge, but it’s knowledge of evil, not knowledge of good, that it’s not wisdom to act and walk out in that knowledge.

That tactic of the enemy is used and it starts from infancy. It goes through their adolescence in school. It goes into their early adulthood in colleges. It is used to capture their attention and drive their motives and actions. Their emotions get involved. It drives them and their senses are completely touched on every side.

Jaime Luce (16:32.37)
their aroused, their senses are aroused in every possible way. And right now that is fortified by social media. All of those senses being completely bombarded constantly is driven by social media. So it is imperative that you intently, intently vet your sources of knowledge, not just for you, but if you have children for your children as well, you have to vet them out.

Stop for a moment. I want you to really do this. If you’re driving, I understand if you can’t do this, please go back and do this later. Stop for a moment and I want you to think about the five closest people, the top five people that you truly listen to, the people you rely on, the people you go to and look for advice.

the people that you allow to speak into your life.

To those who you may, and not many allow people to correct them, which we should, but if you allow correction into your life, please look at the top five people around you. Because science actually proves this to be true, that you are the sum total of the five closest people in your world.

They influence you significantly and they influence your habits. They influence your behaviors and your mindsets. What you lock onto, what you decide, where is your jump off point? Where, where do you put your stake in the ground? These people have the power and do in some way form those things in us.

Jaime Luce (18:34.922)
It’s an open door into our heart. They influence SIG nificantly. Now I’m going to ask you a series of questions, six questions actually, that I want you to think about and think about each of these five people. It would do you a real service to sit down and journal this for each person, answer these questions for each person. Question number one.

Do they live a God-centered, God-first life?

God centered everything springs from God, not just yes. God is the center. We don’t use that term the way we’re supposed to. If God is the center, then everything else radiates out of that. So do they live a God centered God first life? Question number two, do they advise you based off of their own experience or

based off of scripture.

Jaime Luce (19:48.728)
Do know how many people, this is so important because you’ll have, there’s a, an upside and a downside to what I would call group therapy, so to speak. and the reason is this, you can get people to surround you to be your encourager.

who they aren’t looking down on you, but they’re looking at the best for you and they actually want to hold you accountable. There are real groups of people who want you to grow from where you’re at. And so they know all the tricks, so they’re good for you. But we can have the same type of group on the other side who they want you to stay that way because they’re that way and they don’t want you to grow from that position. And they’ve done

studies on this that if you are a person who’s married, but all of your close friendships, people are divorced. won’t be long before, before you’ll be divorced as well, because you will listen to them by their experience and they will tell you that’s how it is for you. And the influence they have is significant. You will then look negatively on something you didn’t use to look negatively on.

They will highlight ugly things that they’ve been through and say to you, yeah, I saw them do that to you too. Because misery loves company. That is the truth. You need to pay attention to this. Are the people who are giving you advice, the people that you look to, your top five, are they giving you advice based off of their own experience? Or are they giving you scripture that comes from the word and says, this is what God says you should do?

Just think about it. Think about it. It’s really important. Number three, do they care more about righteousness? What is right? Okay. Not even what they think is fair. Cause sometimes we go through things and it’s not fair. Not everything’s fair in the world, but some things are just, some things are right. Even if we don’t like them, we don’t like to face that. We don’t like to admit that, but it’s the truth.

Jaime Luce (22:05.24)
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Jaime Luce (23:02.968)
Do they care more about righteousness or their personal agenda? This can be how someone climbs a ladder at work. They aren’t necessarily concerned that they do everything on the up and up. They just want to make sure and cast themselves in the best light, maybe cast someone else in a bad light so that they can get that promotion. Or they’re jockeying for position in relationships with people.

Do they care more about righteousness or personal agenda? Important questions to answer. Number four, are they concerned about your eternal position? If you’re asking them to speak into your life, are they concerned about your eternal position?

Because that changes how people want you to act and behave. The things they want you to participate in. Give your time to. Are they concerned about your eternal position? Number five. Do they themselves live a holy lifestyle, a disciplined lifestyle according to God’s word?

you can have people who are very disciplined but they’re not at all godly or holy. So I’m coupling these two together, I’m not separating them. Do they themselves live a holy life? And I’m not talking about holiness according to you know scripture Jesus said of the

of the Pharisees that they were whitewashed coffins, that on the outside they were all cleaned up, everything looked good on the outside. They had it together on the outside. They were disciplined on the outside. They followed all the laws on the outside, but their hearts were terrible. So please understand what I’m saying. I’m not talking about legalistic things. You know if your behavior is something that would either bring glory to God, honor to God, or he’s just, he enjoys that you’re enjoying.

Jaime Luce (25:17.88)
that he delights in your happiness. If you know that pleases him in any of those ways, that is holy. Okay, that’s holy unto God. We’re supposed to do everything with hands that are holy and we’re supposed to offer it up to God. Or, and I should say not or, and disciplined, meaning I’m someone that is careful about God. I’m careful about his word. I’m careful.

to order my life according to him being God-centered, God-first, okay? And last question, question number six. What tree do they regularly get their knowledge from? I’d asked you earlier which one you’re getting it from, but I’m asking you now to look at the five people around you.

Which tree do they regularly eat from?

If it’s the Word of God.

Or is it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

Jaime Luce (26:28.846)
If the answer is no to any one of the first five questions, I would suggest that you make changes in your relationships. And in some cases, run, run. Get as far away from them as possible. You cannot underestimate the power of

what it gives you versus what you think it’s gonna cost you to change that relationship. You can think, I don’t wanna do that because then I’ll lose this, that, and the other. Well, I’m telling you right now, your eternal position matters. How you live your life now matters. The consequences you’re going to deal with in life will be a direct result of you deciding about this very factor. You’re not the outlier.

You’re not the…

Exception to the rule you’re not the exception We know That based off of it’s why we say birds of a feather flock together if you are surrounded by people who are not God-centered God first who don’t Make a habit of living their life according to this word Who who care more about their own personal agenda and position than they do?

about righteousness. And all of these things are, they are your eternal goalpost. We are aiming for something here. And we are aiming not just to look more and more like our savior, to be conformed into his image, but we are looking to spend our eternity with him, having accomplished every good work that he had established for us to do.

Jaime Luce (28:29.878)
And it’s going to take discipline to do it. It’ll take discipline to do it. Joy Dawson, I’ve spoke of her before. I truly love this woman. She’s a missionary, was a missionary to youth, youth of the nations or an organization anyway, that went all over the world and into some of the most bleak places.

and she’s a wonderful author, wonderful teacher. You can find her on YouTube and you can get ahold of her books. But she tells the story, and I had never forgot it. She tells the story of once when she was on a plane with a woman who was sitting next to her, and this woman was attempting to share literature with Joy that explained the homosexual lifestyle.

And she was saying she wanted her to read it because she felt that it would help her understand these people so that she could more effectively minister to them. Now to many people they think, yeah, well that sounds wise. That sounds wise to learn and gain knowledge about this so that I can talk to these people more effectively and be a more effective minister. But I want you to hear what she said.

Joy responded by saying, do not need to have knowledge of the dark to know that it is dark because I have the light. Now that is extremely deep if you’re willing to think about that. It is profound. I do not need to have knowledge

of the dark to know that it’s dark.

Jaime Luce (30:32.746)
Now that, that my friends is true wisdom. That my friends is true wisdom. She knew not to part, to partake and in essence then in her emotions and in her senses participate by the knowledge of the information that was trying to be given to her.

Joy knew that it is dangerous to gain knowledge of evil. That is dangerous. It was dangerous in the garden and it is still dangerous now. That wisdom is from God because it’s having a fear of God. Joy feared the Lord. Now you need wisdom, but you don’t need knowledge to navigate your life.

You need wisdom. The difference between knowledge and wisdom is literally life and death. It’s why I don’t want to know the evils that are being perpetrated right now and purported all over our media. I don’t want to watch all the vile videos, all the social media posts, and all of the pure evil that is happening right now. It will affect me.

Things have already affected me that I didn’t even mean to eat of. And I partook up, didn’t even mean to. I won’t be able now to unknow it if I know it. And neither will you. You can’t unknow the stuff that we have found out and heard even with our ears. Even when you could have someone come up and you say, did you hear the blah, blah, blah, blah? And before you know it, you partook of it, right? And now you can’t know it. You can’t know it. It affected you. It intimately affected you right away.

because it truly was done. Things were truly done. They were done. It’s information because you can think, yeah, but if the information is true, that makes it good. No, because this information is true, but it’s evil. It’s evil. I know it’s dark. It’s dark information, but I have the light. That’s why I know it’s dark.

Jaime Luce (32:53.974)
I know by instinct you can know before you walk into a dark room that you’re walking towards a dark room. You know that already. Light dispels darkness. So you are carrying light. You can see where darkness is without entering into the darkness. I know that vile evil right now is rampant. And I must take it.

We talked about this last week, but I have to take that knowledge and I have to bring it to the Lord. I have to give it to him. I have to offer it to him. I have to ask him to take it from me. I can’t go and be a vigilante and do all the things that need to get done because I will then be sinning. I will enter into things that I cannot enter into.

the only time that you enter into something is if God leads you into it. For instance, the Spirit of the of the Spirit of the Lord led Jesus, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. The Lord was following the Holy Spirit. There are times when you have to do certain things and there is a protection that you have

because his mind was so bathed in the word of God that even though the temptation was brought to him in that place of need and want, he had an abundance and a surplus of God’s word ready and truth ready. His knowledge tank was full of God.

You should never enter into something that you don’t have God’s God, God knowledge on that. You don’t have God wisdom on Jesus had wisdom. He knew how to take here’s wisdom for you. When Satan tested him, he twisted, he used scripture, but it was twisted. was twisted. Real wisdom and knowledge says, I know what you just said, but I also know what it really said. And I know how to use that verse.

Jaime Luce (35:06.818)
I don’t just know that verse, I know how to live that verse. I know what to do with it. That’s wisdom. Okay?

In the garden, before Adam and Eve partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they lived in complete peace and unity with God their father, which is where contentment was plentiful and all of their needs were provided for. The knowledge of good and evil is what robbed them of all of that.

They immediately ran in hid. The relationship was severed. The way they saw God, they now saw him different. Their perspective completely changed. Instead of knowing they could trust him with their entire lives, that he was their provider. They just simply received instruction and obeyed it. And everything was wonderful. Wonderful. Perfect.

And at the minute that they partook, they now were afraid of God. Now they saw their position changed. Things change when you partake of the knowledge of good and evil in this way.

The knowledge of good and evil robs us of a peace that we are waiting for until that day. We want so badly to have our feet shod with peace. And we do that if we will trust and rely on the scripture. But to be free from the world the way they had it in the garden, to be completely free and live in his presence unhindered, unencumbered is

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a piece that we, we know we are reaching for. We know that someday we will have that. Thank God Jesus is coming back. And when he does, we will once again live in that perfect peace. But Hebrews four 11 says, let us therefore strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

We strive not with the knowledge, but instead to have wisdom by God in whom we have faith to keep us, lead us, and sustain us. If we will follow his knowledge, his word, that according to Hebrews 4.12 says that his word is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.

Piercing even to the division of the soul and the spirit and of the joints and of marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart I Can’t stress this enough be careful where you get your knowledge It is the difference between good and evil light and dark because it will produce fruit and action in your life Okay, so now I want to take us to

the scripture references for all of this. We’re going to start with second Kings. We’re going to look at second Kings chapter 11 to start with and we’ll go through 12 and I’m going to read a couple of verses, but I’m also going to do some summarizing and then we’ll read more in second Chronicles. But in chapter 11, we start off with

Jehu, who we spoke of last week, King Jehu, has now died. And when he dies, there is a transfer then of power. But what takes place is a king is murdered and the mother of that king, when she finds out he’s murdered, wants to then take over the throne.

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instead of one of his successors his sons so she literally kills all the sons and when she’s killing all of his sons there is a sister of the king who was killed and she runs in and she finds the young child he’s he he was young i think he was maybe an infant still she runs in and she takes him and his nurse and she hides him and go take and takes him to the to the temple

And she hides him with the priests and lets him grow up there hidden from this woman while she rains. Okay. So she’s raining. And when she’s raining and doing all of this nonsense, the priest who’s in charge, it’s like he’s the regent in charge of all the, all the priestly duties and all the different priests and even having to do with the guard for the, for the queen. His name is Jay Hoida.

I’m not saying that right. know, but that’s the way it looks. Jay Hawaii. and he’s a God fearing priest. He serves the Lord and he is the one who is watching over this young true King. He’s supposed to be King. He’s the true successor and he’s guarding his life until they feel that it is time to make him King.

This king’s name is Joash, the one who is living, the child’s name is Joash. And all of the first part of chapter 11 is Jehoiada the priest giving instructions to all the commanders of the armies to guard him and protect him until the day that he is pronounced king. So if we look at,

verse let’s start in verse 11 no I’m sorry let’s start in 10 and the priest gave the captains of hundreds of spears and shields which he had that sorry that had belonged to king David that were in the temple of the Lord then the escorts stood every man with his weapon in his hand all around the king from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple by the altar and the house and he brought out the king’s son put the crown on him and gave him

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the testimony. made him king and anointed him and they clapped their hands and said long live the king. Okay, verse 13. Now then Athaliah, which is the queen who took over, heard the noise of the escorts and the people. She came to the people in the temple of the Lord. When she looked, there was the king standing by a pillar according to custom and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king.

All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. So Athaliah tore her clothes and cried out, treason, treason, which is hilarious because she actually had done treason. She was the one who committed treason to do what she did, but she’s, isn’t that the tactic we see so much right now in our world? You have.

this very ungodly group of people who are constantly yelling foul foul that you’re not following the rules you’re not doing it right but it’s because they’re the ones who are actually breaking the rules i mean this is hilarious to me this is people who like to say that the bible is outdated is so wrong there’s nothing new under the sun and they were doing everything back then that we see going on now it’s so relevant to today verse 15 and jay hawai to the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds and the

the officers of the army and said to them, take her outside under guard and slay with the sword. Whoever follows hers for the priest had said, do not let her be killed in the house of the Lord. So he knew you don’t shed blood in God’s house. So he takes her out. So they seized her and she went by way of the horse’s entrance into the king’s house and there she was killed. All right. This is a key verse, verse want you to lock onto this. Then Jay Huayda made a covenant.

between the Lord, the King, who is Joash, and the people, that they should be the Lord’s people and also between the King and the people. So they made a covenant. We are all going to serve the Lord, all of us. And all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They thoroughly broke it in pieces, its altars and its images.

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They killed Matan, the priest of Baal, before the altars, and the priest appointed officers over the house of the Lord. Okay, now I’m gonna drop down in verse, I’m sorry, in chapter 12, this is said of Joash, and I want you to hear this. This is very specific language, and it means what it says. So there are inferences in this scripture, and then we’re gonna turn to second Chronicles and read what those inferences are about.

chapter 12 verse 2 says. Joe Ash, Jehoash, sorry, Jehoash and Joe Ash are the same names. They are like saying Robert and Rob. There’s you’ll see this a lot in scripture. It’ll look like they just said one name and they say another, but it’s the same name. So Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the Lord. All the days, not all his days.

all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

So the man who is the man he listens to, the man he takes advice from, the man that he takes correction from, the man who he said, yes, you were in charge of me. You protected me while I was growing up. You’re the one who made me king. You are my mentor. I follow what you say. I believe what you say. I trust what you say. It says that Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada.

the priest who instructed him. Okay, now I want you to turn with me to 2 Chronicles and we’re going to look at Chapter 24.

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And I’m gonna read you quite a few scriptures here, because this gives you a bigger picture. And I want you to understand this is exactly what we were talking about today. This is so important. It is the difference between life and death. Okay. Chapter 24, second Chronicles, chapter 24, verse one. Joash, which is Jehoash, same thing. Joash was seven years old when he became king and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem.

His mother’s name was Zabiah of Beersheba. Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. And Jehoiada took two wives for him and he had sons and daughters. Now it happened that after this that Joash set his heart on repairing the house of the Lord. Then he gathered the

priest in the Levi’s and said to them, go out to the cities of Judah and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God for from year to year and see that you do it quickly. However, the Levi’s did not do it quickly. Now, again, you can read all of this in second Kings, but this is there’s more here. So the king called Jehoi to the chief priest and said to him, why have you not required the Levi’s to bring in from Judah and from Jerusalem, the collection?

According to the commandment of Moses the servant of the Lord and of the assembly of Israel for the tabernacle of witness for the sons of Athaliah that wicked woman had broken into the house of God and had also presented all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord to the bales Then at the king’s command they made a chest and set it outside at the gate of the house of the Lord

And they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring to the Lord the collection that Moses, the servant of God, had imposed on Israel in the wilderness. So they’re literally going back to God’s laws, God’s ways. They want to do it the right way. This is what Joash wanted to do with Jehoiada as his priest. Then all the leaders and all the people rejoiced and brought their contributions and put them into the chest until all had been given.

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So it was at that time when the chest was brought to the king’s official by the hand of the Levites. And when they saw that there was much money that the king’s scribe and the high priest officer came and emptied the chest and they took it and returned it to its place. Thus they did day by day and gathered money in abundance. the people were happy to bring these things and they know what it’s going to be used for.

The king and J. Hawaii to gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of the Lord and they hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the Lord and also those who worked in iron and bronze to restore the house of the Lord. So the workmen labored and the work was completed by them. They restored the house of God to its original condition and reinforced it. I mean, that’s really a wonderful thing that he’s done. Verse 14, when they had finished.

They brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada and they made from it articles for the house of the Lord, articles for serving and of offering spoons and vessels of gold and silver and they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada. All right, go to verse 15. But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days.

and he died. He was 130 years old when he died. And they buried him in the city of David among the kings because he had done good in Israel both toward God and God’s house. Verse 17. Now after the death of Jehuada, the leaders of Judah came and bowed down to the king, to Joash. And the king listened to them.

He used to listen to Jehoi to the priest, the godly man, the man of God. Now he’s listening to leaders in Judah, just these men in Judah. Verse 18, therefore they left the house of the Lord God, which means they no longer served him. They left off from serving him. They left the house of the Lord God of their fathers and served

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wooden images and idols and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their trespass. Yet he sent prophets to them, God did, to bring them back to the Lord and they testified against them but they would not listen. They wouldn’t listen to the godly. They they turned their backs on God

They listened to men who had knowledge that was not the knowledge of God. Okay. Can you hear where this is what we’re talking about today? Verse 20, then the spirit of God came upon Zachariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest who stood above the people and said to them, thus says God, why do you transgress the commandments?

of the Lord so that you cannot prosper. I mean God is literally saying I can’t prosper you. You’re not going to prosper listening to their knowledge. You’re not going to prosper that way because you have forsaken the Lord. He also has forsaken you. So they conspired against him and at the command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court.

of the house of the Lord. Thus, Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but he killed his son. And as he died, this is what the son said, the Lord look on it and repay.

I mean, this is just, this is awful. This is so discouraging. Verse 23. So it happened in the spring of the year that the army of Syria came up against him and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and they destroyed all the leaders of the people from among the people and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.

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For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, but the Lord delivered a great army into their hand because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash. He’s saying it only took a little army to come do this on them because God had said, if you’re not serving me, I’m not protecting you.

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Alright, verse 25. and when they had withdrawn from him, for they left him severely wounded, his own servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.

I’m gonna stop there. You can see that literally who you listen to, the knowledge that you partake of is the difference between life and prosperity and death.

listening to the wrong people caused King Joash to not only walk away from the Lord, but to commit evil and kill the son of the very man who preserved his life, who refused to hear the correction of the Lord. And God tried, he sent others to, he would send priests to them to give his word, prophets to them to give his word so that they would repent. He gave them time to get it together.

but they wouldn’t listen any longer to the godly. Where you get your knowledge from matters. It really matters. Life and death, light and dark, there are consequences, both good and bad, depending on the knowledge that you eat from. Life or death, light or darkness.

and in some cases, extreme darkness. Choose wisely who you will surround yourself with, who you learn from, who you are influenced by, what tree are they eating from?

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Now, when you think about the people that you allow to speak into your life, I am asking you when you evaluate them and when you ask these questions to yourself about them, do not be generous with your evaluation. What do I mean by that? I mean, be utterly honest. Don’t try to make up for what’s missing in your mind. Be honest.

because this will affect you. This this matters.

And if you don’t know which tree they are truly partaking from, where they get their knowledge from, run away. Make a change, cut them off. Don’t go that way anymore. Better to guard your heart because you can’t unknow what you now know. You will be accountable now. I mean, that’s why the king’s son, while he’s dying, says, the Lord look on it and repay.

you knew what was right and this is what you did and the lord sees i want to finish today by going to proverbs the book of wisdom we’re talking about wisdom i would be very remiss to not read from the book of wisdom i want you to turn to proverbs chapter four i’m gonna read you that chapter and we’re gonna be done i’ll just pray for you and we’ll be done but i want you to hear the cry of the cry of solomon’s heart

that he is imploring of his children who are listening. Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to no understanding. For I give you good advice and good doctrine. Do not forsake my law. Good doctrine, I mean, it’s from the scripture. This isn’t just his opinion. This isn’t just his experience.

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This is doctrine. When I was my father’s son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me and said to me, let your heart retain my words. He’s talking about David instructing him. Keep my commands and live. This is so important. Keep my commands and live.

Get wisdom. Get understanding. Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Don’t be like Joe Ash and forget.

Do not forsake her and she will preserve you. Love her and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principle thing. Therefore get wisdom and in all you’re getting get understanding. Exalt her and she will promote you. She will bring you honor when you embrace her.

She will place on your head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory. She will deliver to you. Hear my son and receive my sayings and the years of your life will be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in right paths. That’s righteousness. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered. And when you run, you will not stumble. Take firm

hold of instruction. Do not let go. Keep her for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it. Do not travel on it. Turn away from it and pass on. For they do not sleep unless they have done evil and their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

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But the path of the just is like the shining sun that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness. They do not know what makes them stumble. My son, give attention to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart, for they are life to those who find them and health to all.

all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it springs the issues of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put perverse lips far from you. Let your eyes look straight ahead and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet and let all your ways be established.

which means that they’re in the word if they’re established. Do not turn to the right or to the left. Remove your foot from evil. That is wisdom. That is where surety and prosperity come from. That’s where your preservation and your safety, your health are found in God’s wisdom.

Be so careful who you let surround you and speak into your life. Be so careful to judge. Make sure you know that if you’ll judge your life rightly, according to these things, the scripture tells us that you won’t have to be judged later. That’s wonderful that we actually have that kind of power right now to judge our own behavior and correct these things ourselves so that we don’t have to be judged later. I don’t want us to end up like Joash.

That for a time we have a voice of a holy one speaking and we’re listening, but the minute that voice is gone, we run off and follow evil voices and turn away from the Lord. But that decision is all of ours and we all have to be diligent to make it every day. Choose wisely.

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I feel the heaviness of this, but I don’t really know what else to say to you other than let me pray for you. But I do want to hear from you before I pray from you. I’ll just say this, that if you need prayer, you can send me an email. My address is mail at Jaime Luce.com. You could also get ahold of me and find everything available on my website, which is just Jaime Luce.com. And if you have friends or family that you know,

that they are in a place of decision making and they need this kind of instruction. Why don’t you share this with them? That would be a a great way to try and use your position in their life, your influence to get wisdom into their hearts that they would seek the Lord and seek his word. I just encourage you to do that. But let me just pray for you right now. Father, we just thank you that you have been so gracious to give us your word and your instruction. We haven’t been left to wonder.

and to not have your word, to not have your instruction. Lord, we’re looking for the peace that comes from knowing we know what you have said and we live according to that and we are protected in it, we are provided for in it and we can live in peace. That we are not so bombarded by the things going on around us in this world and sucked into the rabbit holes of all the information where we can never unsee the things that we would see.

or unhear and unknow the things that we now know. Father, guard us. Help us to guard our own hearts. Help us to be so careful to not put an evil thing before our eye. We can know it’s dark. We can know that those things are happening and those things are true, but we don’t have to get intimate knowledge of them. Help us to protect ourselves from that and to not make that decision that we are not now disturbed and have our senses bothered, our emotions bothered and have that.

that sick, weighty darkness inside of our souls. Deliver us from that darkness. If we have already partaken of that and we need your cleansing and your your washing Lord help us to spend the time we need in your presence, in your word, in your washing that we could be set free, that the light of your word can come in and bring bright light into that darkness and dispel that darkness from us, that we could live in the security of your light and in the warmth of the sun.

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Father, we thank you for the things that you have provided for us. We thank you for the love that you have given to us, the salvation you have provided for us and the assurance of our eternity with you. We give you all the glory and all the praise for the things that you have done. And it’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen. Thank you so much for spending time with me today. I’m so grateful for you. Thank you for being with me today. We’ll see you next time. Bye-bye.