If we could meet an angel of God – as an angel of God – we would all be very impressed. I mean that this angel is not sent incognito on some special errand for God, as they were so many times in past. On this occasion he glows with the radiance of Heaven, and carries other insignia of his rank and authority. This time, you would know without a second look that this is one of God’s holy angels. If we had the opportunity to sit down socially to talk to this angel, we would be fascinated. Here is an being completely untainted by any form of sin. And this is a creature of God who has spent a considerable amount of time in the very presence of God. He has been around since before the creation of the world. He has been an eye-witness to thousands of important events from even before the Noahic Flood. He would be incredibly powerful, intelligent and skillful, but a the same time bearing humility never seen in man. Not only without sin, but without of the residue and dregs of sin – like weakness, decay, wrinkles and glasses. This being sitting before us would be glorious in himself, but at the same time reflecting the glory of the Omnipotent God unlike anything that we have experience on earth.

Of course, we would also find this creature unbelievably intelligent. It might possible to ask him/her/it questions about history and find answers where we have none today. What was the color of the average brachiosaurus, and what fruit was forbidden in the Garden of Eden. Who shot John Kennedy? Where is the body of Jimmy Hoffa. Was that woman really Anastasia Romanoff, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas? That angel might know the answers to such questions. But then again he might not have all the answers, because it might not be the will of God that we not know. Of if that angel was not actually present in Dallas, he might know who fired those shots at the President. Angels are not omniscient, nor are they omnipresent, they must learn things just as you and I learn. But, unlike us, our angel friend is full-minded, not confined to a small portion of the brain as we have been. And since he is uncorrupted by sin, he might not loose what he has learned over the millennia. Throughout all of his centuries and millennia of life, he has been collecting and storing vast amounts of information. What an encyclopedia our visitor could be to us. Forget about Google if we have Michael, Gabriel or some other equally noble creature to answer our questions.

But then again, as we all have learned, there is a difference between knowing about things and experiencing those things. There is a difference between book-learning and actual participation in things. And perhaps we'd find that our angel friend is just as curious about us as we are about him. That creature knows absolutely nothing about the pleasure of sin, which we know better than we'd like to admit. And he may be fascinated by the great subjects of redemption, justification, and forgiveness. He’s read about them in the Bible and the great theology books, and even witnessed them in greater detail than we have, but he has never experienced them. And perhaps what our angel friend knows about God's holiness, might not conform with grace any more in his mind than it does in ours. There is reason to believe that it is virtually inconceivable to him that God should care about sinners like us.

Ephesians 3:10 says that the angels of God are bedazzled by certain things about the Saviour. And to learn more about those things, they study what goes on inside the Lord's churches. The terms "principalities and powers" are often used to speak of different ranks of angels. And the term "church" refers to us, and to each of the New Testament "ecclesia" of Christ around the world. Believe it or not, the angels of God visit those churches of God to study the things of God. And we are told that something which particularly interests them is God’s wisdom.

Here is paradox of the highest order – those angels study US to learn the wisdom of God. Can anything be more ludicrous than that? Isn’t that is like studying the spending habits of the Oldfields, in order to understand the U.S. budget. Isn’t that is like observing the water in a glass, in order to understand the oceans? Isn’t that like studying a green bean on your dinner plate in order to explain the life-cycle of a giraffe? But here is the pont – if the angels of God have that much interest in the Lord, to study us to learn of Him, then how much interest should we have in the Lord – and His wisdom? Paul expressed a great desire that he – and all of us with him – might know the Lord fully – or at least – better. That we “may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness God.” Oh, “that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings....” Paul prayed that the Colossians would “increase in the knowledge of God.” He had learned by experience that to know a little about the Lord gave him a thirst to know more. And those angels have ten thousand times more information than us, and yet they want even more. Perhaps some of us have so little interest in the Lord, because we have so little interest in the Lord.

This morning I want us to think about the wisdom of God for a few minutes. It is not an obscure and unimportant subject in our Bibles as I hope that we shall see. But at the same time, we can only touch the hem of His garment. We don’t have the capability or means of doing anything more than that.

First of all, obviously, the wisdom of God is Divinely DIFFERENT – it is UNIQUE.

I have had a book in my library for years, and now I have it in my computer – “Nave's Topical Bible.” This is a book which tries to put together verses that relate to a particular subject. It is like a concordance, but more, because its editor tries to bundle more than just one key word. He links together ideas, synonyms and other related terms. On the subject the Wisdom of God it lists sixteen different scriptures. We read things like: "God is wise in heart and mighty in strength" – Job 9:4. "God by wisdom made the heavens” – Psalm 136:5. And "wisdom and might are his: he giveth wisdom unto the wise and knowledge unto them that know     understanding” – Daniel 2:20. Nave's Topical Bible was not written by God; it was edited by Orville Nave, former Chaplin in the U.S. Army. And as such, there are lots of mistakes in its pages. For example I found important references to God's wisdom which Nave doesn't list, such as I Corinthians 1:30 – “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” And under the “Wisdom of God,” he has listed Psalm 147:5 – “Great is our Lord and of great power; his understanding is infinite.” Both in Hebrew and English "understanding" is not the same as "wisdom."

The wisdom of God is not the same thing as the knowledge, understanding or even the omniscience of God. Perhaps the best illustrations of this are seen in the human realm. A man may know a great many things and still be complete fool. Spurgeon put it this way – “To know is not be wise. Many men know a great deal and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as the knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom. Wisdom is the right use of knowledge.”

In another place Spurgeon said that if he was called upon to pick the wisest man to have ever lived he might pick Solomon, the son of David. Yet at the same time there has never been a greater fool. Spurgeon said, “the cream of wisdom, when curdled, makes the worst of folly.” Poet T.S. Eliot put it this way: “All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance. All our ignorance brings us nearer to death, but nearness to death does not bring us nearer to God.” Jehovah is omniscient, knowing absolutely everything, and every thing possible. But even far beyond that, He is also “the only wise God.”

And God's wisdom is divinely different from our own human wisdom. Someone has said that wisdom is not so much knowing what to do, as in knowing what not to do when you are ignorant about knowing what you should do. A young man may learn how to operate an accelerator, brake-peddle, turn-signal, and windshield-wiper. He may know how to turn corners, parallel park and correctly enter a free-way. But that same young man may kill himself and eight others by wreckless driving. His knowledge doesn't necessarily make him a wise driver. He may not know what not to do in a new and sudden danger. No baby is born wise; wisdom is something that comes with knowledge and experience. At first he begins amassing facts, then he experiments with those facts. Eventually, he is able with those facts and with that experience to make correct choices. And hopefully with a lot of time he may become a wise man. And then we must factor in the fact that wisdom is a gift of God; that there is human wisdom and there is the gift of applied wisdom. And no baby instinctively knows that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” This takes us into another area of the subject of wisdom as found in man – applied wisdom.

God, on the other hand, did not BECOME wise through learning, experience and application. Romans 16:27 closes Paul’s letter with the words: “To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever.” I Timothy 1:17 says that Jehovah is “the only wise God.” These things mean that God is perfect in wisdom, infallible in wisdom, and He is the source of all wisdom.

You see, wisdom is an additive in man, like some good ingredient mixed into our coffee to make us smart. We may – or may not – have wisdom, and most of us at the very least don't have enough of it. But with the Lord, wisdom is a part of His essence. It is as much a part of God as holiness or life. The Lord's wisdom is allied to His omniscience and omnipotence. It is just as rooted in Him as deity itself. It is therefore wisdom at its absolute apex. David's former counselor Ahithophel was famous for his wisdom. But that man’s wisdom was defeated by the wisdom of Hushai, another of David’s counselors. One wisdom was overcome by another wisdom. God's wisdom, on the other hand, cannot be defeated – it is perfect and absolute. He cannot be defeated by men, nor by some make-believe God, or circumstances beyond His control. In other words the wisdom of God is intrinsically linked to His Sovereignty – a part of His deity.

So there is a lesson on wisdom of the Lord (Divine Wisdom 101), but so what? 

What is especially important is the fact that this wisdom is DIVINELY DIRECTED.

In the scriptures, wisdom is a moral quality and not to be considered as merely intellectual. I know that this is a poor illustration, but let’s try it on for size. Let's say that someone learns all the facts necessary to split uranium atoms. This fissure of the atom releases huge quantities of power – power enough to heat and illuminate. But this fissure also could be used to make a bomb big enough to destroy millions of people. Let’s say that wisdom is the beneficial use of this knowledge to be a blessing to the people of the world. But this particular knowledge in regard to uranium could also be used for evil or selfish gain. Can we call the application of our knowledge in an evil way – "wisdom?" At least as our subject is concerned, divine wisdom is a moral quality as well as an intellectual one. In this case, and perhaps with all – wisdom is not true wisdom when its not linked to a right conclusion. Wisdom chooses the highest ends, and it chooses the best means of reaching that end.

And what is the highest end and purpose of man? For what was mankind created? We were created in order to know, serve and glorify God. That we should love and honor the Lord, with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength and all our mind. That is the epitome of human wisdom – the glorification of God. And it is also the epitome of divine wisdom as well.

So here we are, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the “ecclesia” of God, assembled together once again. May I scripturally conclude that we may be surrounded by as many of God's angels today as we have human beings here? And why are they present? They are here, among other reasons, to learn the out-workings of God's great wisdom in grace. More specifically, they are here to study the salvation of sinful men by the great and gracious Jehovah-God. I Peter 1:10-12 might be said of angels as it was of the Old Testament prophets. “Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.” Why do I bring up the subject of God's Wisdom on a Sunday morning? Because it cannot be divorced from the Lord’s grace and our salvation from sin.

 Wisdom, even in human beings, is not an end, but the means to an end. Wisdom is not the destination we reach when we rightly use what knowledge we have. Wisdom is the right use of our knowledge day in and day out in an onward progression. A man is not considered wise who makes good choices today but is a drunkard tomorrow. A man is not wise who was wise, but now resides in a coma. A man is considered to have been wise when he has lived his life and died, leaving a positive influence on his friends and relatives. And in a much greater way, God's wisdom is not our salvation, but how we are saved and what flows out of the salvation which we possess. God's wisdom is an everyday blessing in our lives, producing in us glory to His Name.

The way in which the wisdom of God brings people to salvation may be different in a thousand different aspects. One person, raised in a Christian family, was brought up in church from the day he came home from the hospital. For him, knowing and loving Christ was different from a thousand others who did not possess that blessing. For someone else the wisdom of God meant a near death experience, fear of the grave and then fear of God. Through these he was convicted of sin and brought to humility and repentance before the cross. For another is was the friendship of a child of God, and the very slow wooing of the Holy Spirit over years. For one it was personal Bible study, for another it was a single sermon heard over the radio. Abraham's knowledge of God came entirely differently from Jacob's, his grandson. For one lady, praise to God was brought about through a wonderful life of joy and peace. And for another there was nothing but heart-aches and problems, but a growing dependence upon the Lord. The Wisdom of God is seen in everyone of them, where all things are working together for good and glory.

These things are just the a few measures in the middle of a great symphony that the Lord has written. The opening bars, are more dramatic than the beginning of Beethoven's 5th symphony.... It all began before the foundation of the earth and in the eternal decrees of God. It is seen in the voluntary surrender of the Second Person of the God-head, before man was ever created. It is seen in the incarnation, and Calvary, and the resurrection, and the ascension of Christ. These things excite and baffle those poor angels, despite all their fabulous knowledge of the facts. It baffles them because they cannot participate – salvation is something unexperienced by their race. And it baffles them because salvation at first appears to be contradictory to the nature of God. It appears contradictory at first glance, but actually fits in perfectly with His graciousness and love.

God's wisdom is divinely different from our own, and ultimately divinely directed towards His glory through our salvation. And I doubt that any human being can indeed be called truly wise, if he is not truly Christian. Because true wisdom means proper glory to God..

So again, how do these things relate to us? It think that together they should once again humble us. Who, or what, are the very best of us in comparison to the infinite God? Among all the wise men of nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto Jehovah – Jeremiah 10:7. Wisdom and might are His alone. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom, and rightousness and sanctification and redemption” – I Corinthians 1:30. God's wisdom should humble us, because without His grace we have no genuine wisdom whatsoever. Secondly, it should whet our appetites for more of that wisdom. Like the angels, we should be hovering around every detail of God's salvation strategy. We should be filled with wonder and awe that God should display His mercy toward us .

But are these your reactions to the wisdom of Lord this morning? Or are you a rebel, sneering at the Lord, spitting toward the cross and trampling the blood of the Saviour? If you have not been born again through the Spirit of God, you will never have any right to be called “wise.” Ye must be born again.