Discovering human viewpoint is zilch

 Acts 17: [16] Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

[17] Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.
[18] Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.

They said, “What will this babbler say?” You know, it's, “He’s just run off at the mouth; we don’t know what he says,” and that’s the way people are, explains Richard Jordan.

Verse 21: [21] (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)

People throw off on the Athenians because they’re always trying to hear and tell something new, but that’s like that verse in II Timothy 3: [7] Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

You see, if you’re always looking for something new it means what you got didn’t satisfy you.

Epicureans were named after a guy by the name of Epicurus. The Stoics were followers of a guy basically by the name of Zeno. They had two different philosophies and the two philosophies represent those two things.

For the Epicureans the supreme good was pleasure. They were total materialists. All that you had is what you see, feel, touch, hear, smell. All philosophers, especially of the ancient world, are looking for the supreme good—the summum bonum. For them, pleasure was the top deal. That’s the thing that’s of the greatest good.

Now the Stoics were on the other side. Stoicism is about grinning and bearing it. It’s a philosophy founded in self-sufficiency and the idea of mind over matter. Their concept is you put the ideas and concepts and mind and thinking, and regardless of what’s going on in your heart, you’ve got a mindset that gives you the capacity to endure. You have a thinking process; you’re focused on ideas.

Those two philosophies sort of ran the ancient world and were kind of the driving forces of Paul’s day. But they still are today.

It’s important to understand when you’re thinking about wisdom and philosophy that everybody has a philosophy. Everybody has an approach to life and a paradigm that you think out of. Some are good and some are bad.

James 3:15: [15] This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

Verse 17: [17] But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

There are two different kinds of wisdom. There’s a wisdom that descendeth not from above and then there’s a wisdom that is from above.  One is the wisdom of this world and then there’s one that’s the wisdom that comes from God.

I Corinthians 1:19: [19] For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
[20] Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
[21] For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
[22] For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
[23] But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

Knowledge is to know the facts; the collection of facts. That’s what science is; the word means knowledge. Wisdom is to know how to use the knowledge. Take the knowledge and make use of it. Understanding is to know that wisdom and knowledge is not enough. But you have to grasp the relationship between wisdom and knowledge; the relationship between that and God and His works. You have to have the divine picture.

I Corinthians 2:6: [6] Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
[7] But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

There’s a human viewpoint and there’s a satanic viewpoint and Satan’s attempt is to have man follow his thinking paradigm.

By the way, if you took the great philosophers of the world—Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Euripides, Homogenes, etc.—what you will discover is they all had in front of them the wisdom literature of the Scripture and you’ll discover that every branch of philosophy known to man is found in the books of Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

The wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, wrote a book about the pursuit of wisdom that he had, Ecclesiastes, and his conclusion is that human viewpoint is zilch. Every way you look for the good life, Solomon did it in spades.

It’s a fascinating thing that every philosophy—go get an encyclopedia and it will list them—originates with men who had all this information on the table in front of them. None of the philosophers of this world in history have added ONE piece of information that isn’t already in Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

What that tells you is all these big brains that everybody thinks is so great are a bunch of plagiarists because they never gave God credit for any of it. They never source-referenced their information and the reason for that is they reject divine revelation and only want to go on their own human viewpoint.

If you want to know what real wisdom and understanding is, go to the oldest book in the Bible, Job. Job 28:28: [28] And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Here’s wisdom: “Fear the Lord.” Proverbs says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” You want wisdom? You fear the Lord.

To depart from evil. If you don’t know what the fear of the Lord is, you’ll never depart from evil. If you don’t know what evil is, how would you depart from it? Well, you couldn’t. If you don’t depart from evil, you don’t have any understanding. You can have a lot of knowledge and even some wisdom, but if you don’t depart . . .

What I want you to see there is wisdom is to have some information. It’s more than just a collection of facts. You know how to use the facts, but understanding how it all relates to what God says and apply it in a way that you grasp the relationship between the facts and God Himself.

Isaiah 5 says, [20] Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
[21] Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

If you’re not wise enough to depart from evil, to distinguish between good and evil, how could depart from evil? What do you do? You use your wisdom to look for an alibi to continue to do the evil that you want to do. That’s the thing in Proverbs 18: [1] Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.
[2] A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.

Watch Solomon do this. In Ecclesiastes 2 Solomon starts out his explanation of his journey by dealing with the two fundamental philosophies—naturalism and idealism.

He writes, “I said in my heart.” He didn’t say, ‘God’s Word is where I went to find this.” Solomon, who wrote Proverbs, says, “Through desire a man separates himself.”

That’s exactly what Solomon is going to do. He’s going to desire to discover his own heart so he dedicates himself to it.

He says in Ecclesiastes 2: [15] Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.
[16] For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.
[17] Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

So he’s pursuing the sunnum bonum; the good. He said, “I’m going to pursue it in mirth, pleasure, laughter, folly, and I sought in my heart . . .” He’s not looking to God’s Word—you know, every one of those things God’s Word would tell him what the answer was. But he says, “I’m looking to myself.”

What’s the result of that? Verse 4: [4] I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:

He’s got wealth, industry, accomplishment, entertainment. [11] Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

You know what vanity is? It’s just empty worthlessness. You know what it is to be vexed in you spirit? You’re troubled; stirred up. You’re confused. You’re bitter. No profit. He got to the end of that-- all that stuff piled up--and you know what he said: “It’s just a waste of time. Nothing.”

So if materialism isn’t going to work: [12] And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.

He’s saying, “I mean, if I’m the king, I’m on the top of the heap, what can anybody do more than I’ve done because I’ve already done everything. I’ve been everywhere, man! I’ve breathed the mountain air; I’ve traveled and done my share.”

What do you do then? He said, “I know what.” [13] Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.

“Oh, I know what I need to do. I need to go into the world of IDEAS and thinking.” Now, this isn’t going to be divine viewpoint. He’s got wisdom, he’s got God’s Word but he’s going to do it his own himself.

Ecclesiastes 2: [14] The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.
[15] Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.

Uh-oh. Well, if a wise guy goes along and the same thing happens to him that happens to a dumb guy, what good was wisdom?

Conclusion: [17] Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

You ever see the bumper sticker on a fancy RV: “We’re spending our kids’ inheritance.”

You keep reading and you’ll see that the realism and pragmatism, and all the other branches of it, are the same. What they wind up doing—they’re vanity, vexation, no profit, “I hate my life.”

When you apply philosophy to science, what the two do is they make all of life meaningless—to the educated, the scholars and the elite. It’s of no value. The reason for all that is they discovered their heart and in their heart is vanity.

What happens when you reject God’s Word is that’s where you wind up. Now Solomon had a conclusion if you look at the end of Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 12:1: [1] Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

At the end of the book, you know what he said you need to do? Remember God. Remember your Creator. He’s not just saying to believe in God; he’s saying, “Remember that there’s a purpose the Creator has in His creation.” There’s a wisdom, knowledge and understanding that He put into His creation and that’s what you want to seek.

Verse 13: [13] Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

There’s the summum bonum right there; the purpose for man.

[14] For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Now, you try that conclusion at the end of a philosophy class and watch what happens. There’s not a philosophy class in any university you ever been to that will let that be the conclusion, and when you see people pursuing philosophy, that’s the conclusion they won’t come to. But if they had the wisdom, an honesty of heart, to actually examine (not science falsely so-called but a real examination) that’s what they come to.

I’m old enough I guess I can say this kind of thing, but I honestly believe that the greatest minds of history are a bunch of stupid blockheads. They are just out stumbling over their own self-righteousness on the road to hell, frankly.

I consider the simplest Believers like intellectual geniuses alongside any of these guys from history who are considered the philosophers of the world, ancient or current. The reason is that Book.