The Prudent Deal with Knowledge Prov. 13:16 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

People are so anxious to get the scoop on any new story that they will speak conjecture, gossip, supposition, opinion or outright lies just to have something juicy to which people can listen – they want people to listen to their story [that’s what sells] – and according to this text that is the folly of fools – thus we have raised and are raising a generation of fools who get their News from newspapers, magazines, radios, television sets, and the internet without concern for whether they are getting the truth – like ole Pilate said, “What is truth?”

Do you think the Pharisees were interested in the truth when they condemned Jesus to death – no they perpetrated the lie that he would destroy the temple himself and raise it again in three days – he never said that and yet that was the news – thus the folks around the cross who reviled him repeated the statement as if it were fact – FOOLS – conversely, the centurion at the foot of the cross, a prudent man who dealt with knowledge, said, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

This kind of thing goes on all the time – the fools lay open their folly when they speak about evolution as a fact rather than the theory that it is – God tells us in no uncertain terms that they are foolish – Rom 1:20-22.

Listen, when a man knows something, it doesn’t take him all day to come to the point – he can give you the details succinctly, you can check him out on the details and he will be right on the money – and if he doesn’t know something he will tell you “I don’t know” – and if he wants to know, he will conduct a diligent search until he knows the facts and then he’ll know – liars often beat around the bush and answer without clarity.

There’s nothing more frustrating than to think that you have the facts from a reliable source and then repeat what you have been told only to find out from somebody who really knows that you were wrong – makes you feel like a FOOL – you were just a little too quick to start talking before knowing all of the details.

Here’s a classic example in 2 Sam 18:19-32 between Ahimahaz, who wanted to be the first to report to the king but who couldn’t tell the king what he really wanted to know, and Cushi who knew the full report and ultimately the very thing that the king wanted to know.

Here’s another one, even worse in 2 Sam 13:29-36, when Absalom killed Amnon.

Now look at this application of the verse – a kid in school is told by his friends that it’s ok to smoke dope because the effects won’t harm him – no hangover, relaxing, fun, good way to unwind, etc – I know a kid that had just such “facts” – I told him to research those “facts” without forming an opinion for or against marijuana – just study it and write a paper on it – he did – he presented his research as a boxing match – in each round the facts resulted in a score for marijuana or against marijuana – by the end of the match, marijuana had scored one round and the facts against marijuana had scored 5-6 rounds – he had concluded on his own with the facts that he had been misled by his foolish friends – some of the things he found were: diminished motivation (hurt school work) – diminished reactions (pilot study) – illegal – he quit.

Another example, safe sex – an outright lie, contrary to God, Heb 13:4

Another example, the Middle East peace process – ultimately God fights with Israel against nations opposing her and wins – peace comes when Jesus comes – end of story

Another example, you can go to heaven practicing religion – you’ll wind up in hell for sure

Conclusion:

You can go to the Bible yourself and read without prejudice exactly what it says cover to cover and in time you will get it – in Acts 17:10-12a that’s what the Bereans did.

The prudent deal with knowledge – so be prudent and deal with knowledge – quit being a fool and laying open your folly.