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Chuck Smith :: Sermon Notes for 2 Samuel 17:23

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"THE STUPID MOVE OF A WISE MAN"
Intro: Even wise men can do foolish things, and all the wisdom can be nullified in one action. Wisdom is no guarantee against folly.
I. THE WISDOM OF AHITHOPHEL.
A. His counsel was as if he were an oracle of God.
1. People would put the same kind of confidence as though God were speaking to them.
2. He had been David's close friend and counselor. "We took sweet counsel together."
3. The counsel he gave to Absalom was cunning and shrewd though evil.
a. He had an excellent understanding of human nature.
b. He knew how people would respond to certain moves.
B. When he saw that Absalom did not follow his counsel, he went and "set his house in order."
1. This indicates he was a prudent man.
2. He made careful deliberate steps to see that everything was in order.
3. He sat down and wrote his last will and testament.
C. It is never wise to think in terms of this world only.
II. THE FOLLY OF AHITHOPEL.
A. "And hanged himself."
1. We all of us face many crises in our lives.
a. We have great disappointments.
b. We have great pressure against us.
c. It seems our problems have no solutions.
2. We come to that place and moment where we can no longer maintain and we must reach out beyond ourselves.
a. This is the crises moment.
b. Where, or to whom we reach is vital.
c. This is where worldly wisdom many times leads to folly.
a. Because we know there is no human way we assume there is no way.
b. Any wisdom that fails to reckon God is folly.
3. How tragic when one reaches for the sleeping pills or revolver.
4. What true wisdom when you reach out to God.
5. This wise man Ahithopel reached for a rope, how stupid.
B. He had also manifested folly when he turned his back on God's anointed to follow a rising star.
1. It is folly to think that you can better your life apart from God's ordained plan.
III. I OBSERVE WISE PEOPLE TODAY DOING FOOLISH THINGS.
A. I see a wise farmer.
1. So careful about his work, rotating his crops, choosing the best seed, cultivating the soil, careful as to how he plants and what he plants, for he knows the fruit depends on it.
2. He is so foolish about his own life and soil.
B. I see a wise accountant.
1. Keeping accurate books taking care with each ledger, so interested in profit and loss.
2. He has not taken into account "what shall it profit a man if he gains..."
C. I see a wise doctor.
1. So careful in his diagnosis so that he might prescribe the right treatment to hasten the cure. So interested in the physical health of his patient. He insists on precautionary shots against maladies that might strike.
2. He is dying himself from a fatal dose of sin which can be so simply prevented or cured by the blood of Jesus Christ.
D. And so the judge, the defending attorney, the builder, the pilot, the engineer...
Sermon Notes for 2 Samuel 17:23 ← Prior Section
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Sermon Notes for 1 Samuel 1:15 ← Prior Book
Sermon Notes for 1 Kings 3:11-14 Next Book →
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