Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 392
“He who handles a matter wisely shall find good: and whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he.” Proverbs 16:20.
WISDOM is man’s true path—that which enables him to accomplish best the end of his being, and which, therefore, gives to him the richest enjoyment, and the fullest play for all his powers. Wisdom is the compass by which man is to steer across the trackless waste of life. Without wisdom man is as the wild asses’ colt; he runs here and there, wasting strength which might be profitably employed. Without wisdom, man may be compared to a soil untilled which may yield some fair flowers, but can never field a harvest which shall repay the labor of the reaper, or even the toil of the gleaner. Give man wisdom—wisdom in the true sense of the term—and he rises to all the dignity that manhood can possibly know; he becomes a fit companion for the angels, and between him and God there is no creature; he stands next to the Eternal One, because Christ has espoused his nature, and so has linked humanity with Divinity! But where shall this wisdom be found? Many have dreamed that they discovered it, but they have not possessed it. Where shall we find it? It were worth while to pierce the deep of the earth, to scale the heights of Heaven, to traverse the deserts, to plow the sea, to fly through the illimitable fields of ether—all were too little if we might but find this precious thing at last! “But,” the depth says, “It is not in me.” And the sea says, “It is not with me.” It cannot be had for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it—and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls—for the price of wisdom is above rubies! The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it—neither shall it be valued with pure gold. From where, then, comes wisdom? And where is the place of understanding, seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air? Destruction and Death say, “We have heard the fame thereof with our ears. God understands the way thereof, and He knows the place thereof.”
Let us listen, then, to the voice of the Lord, for He has declared the secret; He has revealed to the sons of men wherein true wisdom lies, and we have it in the text, “Whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he;” and that sentence is put in conjunction with another which teaches us this Truth of God—that to handle a matter wisely is to find good, and the true way to handle a matter wisely is to trust God! This is the short and brief method of escaping the greatest difficulties— this is the clue to the most intricate labyrinths; this is the lever which shall lift the most tremendous weights. He who trusts in the Lord has found out the way to handle matters wisely, and happy is he!
I shall take the text this morning, by God’s assistance, in two ways. First, we shall apply it to the wise handling of matters with regard to time and this present state; and then, secondly, with regard to the handling of the eternal matters relating to our destiny beyond the grave, and endeavor to show how trusting in the Lord is handling this matter wisely.
I. First, then, my dear Friends, with regard to THE WISE HANDLING OF MATTERS OF TIME WHICH CONCERN OUR BODIES AND OUR SOULS, WHILE WE ARE HERE BELOW.
A man must be prudent in such a world as this. He will soon cut his feet if he does not watch his steps. He will soon tear his garments with thorns and briars if he does not choose his way. This is a land full of enemies; we must be wise or the arrow will suddenly find out a vulnerable place in our armor. We must be cautious, for we are not traveling in noonday on the king’s highway, but rather at night-fall, and we may, therefore, be attacked by robbers, and may lose our precious treasures. He who is in a wilderness, and in a wilderness infested with robbers, must handle matters wisely if he would find good.
How shall we handle these matters wisely? Three or four come forward to instruct us, and the first lesson is one which Satan often teaches the young and foolish spirit. He says, “To handle a matter wisely is to make your own will your law, and to do that which seems to be the best for you, be it right or be it wrong.” This was the lesson which he taught to Eve, when in the serpent’s form he spoke the serpent’s wisdom, “You shall be as gods.” He said, “Mistrust the goodness of your Maker; believe that He is afraid lest you should attain to equal power, and dignity with Himself. Pluck the fruit. It is true He forbids, but who is Jehovah, that you should obey His voice? It is true He threatens to punish, but do not believe the threat, or if you believe it, dare it! He who cannot risk anything will never win; he who will not venture something, shall never make great gains. Do and dare, and you will be handling the matter wisely.” She plucked the fruit, and the next instant she must have perceived somewhat of her folly; but before many hours had passed over man’s head, he discovered nakedness, pains of body, weariness, toil, expulsion from Paradise, and tilling a thankless, thorny land, taught man that he had not handled the matter wisely, for he had not found good. And you, too, you sons and daughters of Eve, when the old serpent whispers in your ear, “Sin, and you shall escape from difficulty; be honest when you can afford to be so, but if you cannot live except by dishonesty, be dishonest; if you cannot prosper except by lies, then lie.” Oh, listen not to his voice, I pray you! Hearken to a better wisdom than this! This is a deception which shall destroy you! You shall find no good, but you shall find much evil; you shall sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind! You think that you dive into these depths for pearls, but the jagged rocks shall break you, and from the deep waters you shall never rise—except your lifeless corpse swim on the surface of the pestilential waves. Be wise and learn of God, and close your ears to him who would have you destroy yourself, that he may gloat his malicious spirit over your eternal misery! It is never wise to sin, Brothers and Sisters, never. However it may seem to be the best thing you can do, it is always the worst. There never was a man in such a position that it would be really profitable to him to sin.