We turn again to God's words
in Proverbs chapter 8 and I want to draw your attention tonight
to the words that we find here at verse 34. Proverbs 8 34 Blessed
is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at
the post of my doors. In Proverbs 8, verse 34, Blessed
is the man that heareth me, that is, wisdom, watching daily at
my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. And so the theme
that I want, with the Lord's help, to take up is that of hearing
the words of wisdom. Hearing wisdom speak. first of all let us establish
that it is wisdom that is speaking and who wisdom or what wisdom
is in the opening verse of the chapter we're told quite clearly
does not wisdom cry and understanding put forth her voice this wisdom
that we read of is evidently a person it's not just an attribute
from the content of the chapter and what he said with regards
to wisdom we see that those affections and those attributes that belong
to personality are the possession of the one speaking here For
example, in verse 13, we read of that that wisdom hates. It's
not some impersonal thing. Hatred is that that belongs to
a person. Pride, arrogancy, the evil way,
and the forward mouth, do I hate, says wisdom. And as wisdom hates,
so we see that wisdom also knows what it is to love. In verse
17, I love them that love me, and those that seek me early
shall find me. And then when we come to the
latter part of the chapter, we see that wisdom also knows something
of what it is to rejoice. to have the affection of joy
here at verse 13. I was daily his delights, says
Wisdom, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in the habitable
part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men. Wisdom then set before us here
in the 8th chapter of the book of Proverbs is evidently a person. Now wisdom is spoken of as a
female, it's a female gender, the Jews. Does not wisdom cry
and understanding put forth a voice? However, the person that is spoken
of is not a female, The person being spoken of here, of course,
is none less than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Eternal Son
of God, who in the fullness of the time was manifested in the
flesh, made of a woman, and made under the law. And oh, He is
that One who is wisdom to His people. Remember the words of
the Apostle when he writes to the Corinthians concerning the
Lord Jesus, of Him, that is of God. He says, i.e. in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lord. Oh, this is that wisdom that
is from above. that is first pure and then peaceable,
gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits,
without partiality and without hypocrisy. The wisdom from above,
isn't that the Lord Jesus Christ himself? And the words that we
have here in the book of Proverbs belong to the Lord Jesus when
he says to the Jews, search the scriptures, in them you think
that you have life and these are they that testify of me.
No part of the Old Testament is excluded. Christ is everywhere. Christ is here in the book of
Proverbs. And we see it quite clearly.
It is wisdom who is speaking in these verses. Going back to the opening part
of the chapter, wisdom cries. Understanding puts forth her
voice. She standeth in the top of high places, by the way, in
the places of the path. She crieth at the gates, at the
entry of the city, at the coming in of the doors. Unto you, O
men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. This is the
Wisdom literature, of course, and we didn't only read this
8th chapter, we also read part of the opening chapter. And there
again we see that Wisdom is the one who cries, who calls out
to men. There at verse 20, Wisdom crieth
without. She uttereth her voice in the
streets. She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the opening
of the gates, in the city. She uttereth her word, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity, and the scorners
delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? O observe
the language that is being used here. Where does she speak? In the streets, the chief place
of concourse, the opening of the gates. Now, surely we see
those words being fulfilled in the course of the earthly ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we read of Christ there
in the Gospels, if you turn for a while to language that we find
there in John chapter 7, Christ is now in Jerusalem, it's the
feast of the tabernacles, And what do we read there? John 7,
37. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. But this is spake of the Spirit
which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy
Ghost was not yet given, because of Jesus was not yet glorified."
It's the last day. It's the great day of the feast.
And here is the Lord Jesus there in the temple in Jerusalem. It's the Feast of Tabernacles,
one of the great three Jewish feasts. one of those occasions
when it was required that all the males should gather together
at the temple of the Lord. Oh, it was there then, at that
chief place of concourse, the entering in of the gates. This
wisdom that we read of then, who is speaking in this book,
and speaking particularly here in chapter 8, is to be understood
in terms of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He is that one who is
the wisdom of God, as he is that one who is the Word of God. Is there not a similarity there
when we think of the opening words of John's Gospel? In the
beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him.
Without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.
The glory is of the Only Begotten, of the Father, full of grace
and truth. The Word of God is the same that
we see here as the wisdom of God. that one who is the eternally
begotten Son of the Father. All the language that we have.
Verse 23, I was set up from everlasting, he says, from the beginning.
Whatever the earth was, when there were no depths, I was brought
forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water before thee, mountains were settled before
the hills, was I brought forth, eternally brought forth, eternally
begotten, the eternal Son of the Eternal Father. And we see
Him here. Oh, how the Father delights in
the Son. How the Father loves the Son.
What do we read in verse 13? Wisdom says, I was daily his
delight. All from all eternity. Now the
Father delighted in the Son, loved the Son. As we said this
morning, God is love. And God is love without regard
to any object outside of Himself. When we think of the doctrine
of the Trinity, all that relationship between the Divine Persons, the
Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father, and the
Holy Spirit loves the Father and the Son, and the Father and
the Son love the Holy Spirit. This is a union that is in the
Godhead. God is love. I was, daily is delight. For we observe then that even
when we think in terms of that great mystery of the doctrine
of God, There is such a relationship
between the Father and the Son. Remember how Christ prays there
in His high priestly prayer. O Father, He says, glorify Thou
my, with Thine own glory, with the glory which I had with Thee
before the world was. Is He not speaking of that glory
here at the end of this chapter, that glory before the world was? before ever God had created anything. Then I was by Him, as one brought
up with Him. I was daily His delight, rejoicing
always before Him. He was the delight of the Father
then. And how, when we see the Eternal
Son of God manifest in the flesh, or when we come friends to that
great mystery of Godliness, When we think of the Incarnation,
how He so willingly identifies with the sinful sons of men.
Or for as much as the children will partake as the flesh and
blood, He likewise takes part of the same. Made in the likeness
of sinful flesh, it says. Made in the likeness of sinful
flesh and for sin. Or no sin in Him. No, he is holy,
harmless, undiviled, separate from sinners, made higher than
the heavens, and yet he is pleased to identify with sinners. He
comes where the sinner is. And how the Father delights in
him, in that glory that belongs to
him as the one who is the mediator. between God and man. Well we
see it in the course of his earthly ministry at his baptising as
he begins to enter now into his public ministry submitting to
John's baptism of repentance when the heavens open as he comes
up out of the waters of baptism the heavens open the Spirit descends
upon him in the form of a dove and the Father speaks from heaven
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. All he is daily is denied. During
all that period of his humiliation here upon the earth, we see it
again of course in the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter,
James and John see through the veil of his humiliation. Oh,
they see something of the glories of the deity, the divinity of
the Lord Jesus. And again, the Father speaks
from heaven, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him, or to hear him as
that one who is the eternal Son of God manifest in the flesh. The Father delights in the Son. The language there in John's
Gospel again, and those words of the Lord, in John 12 and verse
27 and the following verses He says, Now is my soul troubled
and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour
but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father glorify thy
name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying I have both glorified it. and will glorify it again. Oh, the Father, you see, daily
delights in Him, owns Him, acknowledges Him, glorifies Him. The Father delights in the Son,
the Son delights also in the Father. Again, in this 30th verse, I
was daily His delight, He says, rejoicing always before Him. Though He rejoices before the
Father, He loves the Father. He comes to do all the goodwill
and pleasure of the Father. My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me, He says, and to finish His work, all that
work that He had undertaken. in the eternal covenant. He will
accomplish all that work that was committed into His hands
in that covenant. Again, He says in John 6.38,
I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will
of Him that sent me and this is the Father's will which hath
sent me that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing. but should raise it up again
at the last day, or he will save his people. The Father has promised
he is to see of the travail of his soul, and he shall be satisfied. And how the Son, you see, delights
to serve the Father. such is His love to the Father.
Oh, but such is His love also to all those that the Father
has given to Him, all the election of Christ, all that multitude
of sinners committed into His hands. We read of Him here in
verse 31, rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth. And my delights,
He says, were with the sons of men. He loves men, He loves the
sinful sons of men. Oh, you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich yet for your sakes
He became poor that ye through His poverty might be made rich. Oh, He does truly rejoice in
the habitable parts of the earth He loves. He loves all those
that the Father has committed to Him having loved His own which
were in the world Oh, are we not told that we love them unto
the end? The bitter death of the cross. Oh, to hear His voice. Blessed
is the man that heareth Me, He says. Oh, I say all of this because
we seek to identify who this wisdom is that he's speaking
in this book speaking particularly in this 8th chapter this is none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself this is God's eternal
son and blessed is the man he says that heareth mine have you
heard him? though he's not not the mark
of those who are his sheep they know his voice they follow him and he gives
them eternal life who are we those friends who have heard
that voice the blessing of hearing it it's a life-giving voice Where
the word of the King is, there, there is power. All wisdom speaks,
doth not wisdom cry. And understanding put forth a
voice, all powerful. How the Lord is pleased to address sinners personally,
specifically, how He comes and deals with us. are with those
then who desire to hear that voice. That's how faith comes. Faith cometh by hearing with
all and hearing by the Word of God. As we come together in this
familiar fashion week by week, whose voice is it that we want
to hear? Oh, I trust it is that voice.
of him who is the Word of God, the Wisdom of God. Blessed is
the man, he says, that heareth me. But let us, in the second
place, turn to consider what it means
to be watching daily at his gates. Blessed is the man that heareth
me, watching daily at my gates, it says. How are we to understand
this? Well, think of gates. And we
can think of two things here. We can think first of all of
the providences of God, the work of God. Remember how when Peter makes
that great confession of faith at Caesarea Philippi, thou art
the Christ, the Son of the Living God, And the Lord says, Blessed
art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood, I have not revealed
it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. It was a great
confession. It was not native to Peter. It was that that came from God.
It was a revelation. And how blessed Peter was to
receive that revelation, to understand who Jesus of Nazareth was. Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And then the Lord
continues upon this rock, I will build my church. He's speaking
of that confession. No foundation can any man lay
than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ the Lord. It
is Christ who is the foundation of the church. And the teaching
of the Roman church is utter nonsense, of course, where they
say that Christ is building his church upon Peter, whom they
claim to be the first Pope, without any historical evidence to establish
that Peter was ever in Rome. It's nonsense. What is the Lord
saying there upon this rock? It's the Confession. Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Upon this rock I will build
my church. and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it." Now what are we to understand by the gates
of hell? Well, in ancient times, the gates
were the place where men would gather together for counsel,
for deliberation, where important matters would be decided, where
judgments would be passed. I mentioned this previously we
see it we have an illustration of it in scripture in that lovely
book of Ruth and there in the fourth chapter of Ruth here is
Boaz and Boaz will be the kinsman redeemer to Ruth but there is
one who has a closer relationship who should he wish could be that
kinsman-redeemer before Boaz. What do we read? Chapter 4 of
Ruth, Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there. And behold, the kinsman of whom
Boaz spake, came by, unto whom he said, O such a one, turn aside,
sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down,
and he took ten men, This is Boaz, he took ten men of the
elders of the city and said, sit you down here, and they sat
down. And then the matter proceeds. Who has the right to be the kinsman
redeemer? Well, this man who has a closer
relationship declines, and it is Boaz then who stands forth
and takes Ruth to be his wife. But it's the place where all
of this transpires. It's in the gates. It's there
that the judgment is made. The gates suggesting the idea,
you see, of coming together, counsel being taken, decisions
being made, and then the execution of those decisions. Vesed is
the man that heareth me watching daily at my gate. or the gates
of wisdom. Are we not to think here in terms
of God and the counsels of God, the eternal counsels of the Godhead,
God's great purpose and plan that is executed. Executed of
course in the fullness of time concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
but all events Everything that comes to pass is the outworking
of that eternal decree of God. The providences of God. That's
the outworking of God's counsels. Our God is sovereign and sovereign
in all the details of our poor human lives. Nothing ever comes
merely by chance. All events at God's command. Or do we believe that? Remember
how in the 107th Psalm, the Psalmist discerns the dealings of God,
the providences of God. When we come to the close of
that 107th Psalm, he says, who so is wise. Or this is wisdom
literature, who so is wise. And we'll observe these things,
even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord.
who are with those who are watching daily at gates, the gates of
wisdom, the Lord's ways, the Lord's dealings. He assures us
all things work together for good to them that know God, to
them who are the called according to His purpose. How is it that
all things work together for good? Because God is sovereign
and God is sovereign in His providence. There are no chance events that
features power chance and fortune I defy. My life's minutest circumstance
is subject to His eye," says the hymn writer. How true the
words are! And how the Lord, you see, does He not deal with
us in His providences? Again, in the book of the prophet,
in Micah 6, 9, we read the Lord's voice, cryeth unto the sinner.
the man of wisdom shall see thy name hear ye the rod and who
has appointed it even when God crosses us when God comes with
his chastenings and correctings are we those who are watching
at his gates we can think in terms of God's works God's providences,
the outworking of his purposes but then also here when we read
of the watching at his gates we can think of the Word of God.
The ordinances of God's house and I think primarily of the
preaching of the Word of God. We know that the Lord loveth
the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Oh God
loves the gates of Zion it says. And where is it that Wisdom Christ
Verse 3, She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at
the coming in at the doors, Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice
is to the sons of man. Is it not to be understood in
terms of that that goes out of the gates? The proclamation of
the Word of God. How the gates, you see, are open.
Oh, how the gates are open in this day. Oh behold now is the
accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation. There is that faithful proclamation,
that preaching of the Word of God, and we see it in prophecy. There in the book of the prophet
Isaiah, that 26th chapter, it says, in that day. Now mark the
words, that day. And when we read of that day
and the last day, and such similar terms in the books of the prophets,
it's speaking of the Gospel day. In that day shall this song be
sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. Salvation
will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates that
the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. or to be those who are watching
at His guides, watching daily at His guides. We sometimes sing
those words in the 11th hymn, the doors of Thy mercy stand
open or die, for the poor and the needy who pass by the way,
or the gates of God's mercy, are they not open? And cannot
sinners, as this message comes out, cannot sinners come in,
enter in, and enjoy all the blessings of that great salvation? David
said, a day in thy courts is better than a thousand, I would
rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in
the tents of wickedness. Oh, are we content, friends,
just to have some place in the courts of God's house, even just
a creeping at the doors, but to know that we're those who
have heard this blessed voice of wisdom. Blessed is the man
that heareth me, he says, watching daily at my gates. As I said, it is those who are
the sheep, you see, who hear that voice and they follow Christ. We have to think in terms of
the ministry, the preaching, the proclamation, the setting
forth of the blessed Word of God. We can think of God's providences,
yes, and that's a great subject matter to meditate upon, but
all the ministry of the Word. Our faith comes by hearing. There
in Romans 10 what does Paul say? Oh, then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? Literally it says, how shall
they believe in him whom they have not heard." I know it says
in our Authorized Version, "...and shall they believe in him of
whom they have not heard." And in the preaching, sinners do
hear of Christ. He is the great subject matter
of the ministry. Paul's determination, as we see it there in Corinthians,
was to preach Christ, and Him crucify, the person of Christ. the work of Christ. In the preaching
we are to hear of Christ. But what does Paul say there
in Romans 10.14? How shall they believe in Him
whom they have not heard? Not simply hearing of Him but
actually hearing Him. And that's how it was with regards
to the experience of those at Ephesus The Lord Jesus, we know,
during the course of his own earthly ministry, never went
into Asia Minor, into Turkey. His ministry was in Palestine. His ministry was to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. But after he has accomplished
the great work of redemption and risen from the dead and ascended
on high, how he commissions his apostles to go to the ends of
the earth, and we find Paul there on his missionary journeys. all
over Asia Minor, Ephesus, one of those places that he visits.
And what does he say to those Ephesians? When he writes there
in Ephesians 4.20, "...Ye have not so learned Christ,
if so be ye have heard Him, and been taught by Him, as the truth
is in Jesus." Or they didn't just hear of Christ, they heard
Christ. They were taught by Christ. And
friends, it must be true with us with regards to the preaching. It's not the hearing of a man.
There is no authority vested in a man. The authority is in
the Word of God that the man is preaching. And what we should
desire is that when we hear the ministry, the expounding, the
preaching of the Word we hear Christ and he comes and addresses
us as that one who is the wisdom of God blessed is the man that
heareth me watching daily at my gates and then finally he
says waiting at the posts of my doors waiting at the posts
of my doors all this waiting waiting at the doors. Now we
see the people coming as it were to the doors of the temple during
the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus. In Luke 21 we're told
all the people came early in the morning to Him in the temple
for to hear Him. Oh, what an eagerness there was.
Oh, they couldn't get there quickly enough. You see, so we come to
the Lord's day, we long for it, we yearn for it, the coming of
the day. the services of God's house we want to hear that voice
of the Lord Jesus all will wait, we'll be there early ready, eager
to hear the ministry of the Word of God we read of that man at the pool at Bethesda 38 years
38 years waiting for the moving of the waters.
You can read it there in John chapter 5, Bethesda. What does the name Bethesda mean?
It means the house of mercy and there is that occasion when the
Lord Jesus is there and that man's been waiting and waiting
and waiting and waiting 38 years waiting And the day comes and the Lord
Jesus is there, and then we see that that man did not wait in
vain. Oh, look at what it says, John
5, verse 8, Jesus saith unto him,
Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made
whole, and took up his bed, and walked. and on the same day was
the Sabbath. I know there are remarkable chapters
everywhere in John's Gospel. There are remarkable chapters
everywhere in the Word of God. But what a chapter is this? This
is that chapter you see where the Lord Jesus by that miracle
so greatly offended the Jews. And what do they say? They sought
to kill Him. it says, because he not only
had broken the Sabbath by healing that man, that's what they said,
he had not broken the Sabbath at all he had done a work of
mercy at the house of mercy he had given healing to a man who
had been waiting 38 years but they said he broke the Sabbath
and they wanted to stone him because he not only had broken
the Sabbath, they said but also said that God was his father
making himself equal with God well we see it here in this chapter
He is equal with God He is that one eternally brought forth the
eternal Son of the eternal Father very God of very God begotten
not made of one substance with the Father. Oh but how this man
And here we read of waiting. Waiting at the post of my doors. Now, what is it to wait? Well,
we think of waiting, do we not, in terms of our prayers? The
psalmist, so many of the psalms are prayers. There in Psalm 40,
I waited patiently for the Lord. Literally, it says in the margin,
in waiting I waited. In waiting, I waited for the
Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry." Oh friends,
we don't wait in vain. If we're truly praying to the
Lord God, what does it say here? The following
verse, "...whoso findeth me, findeth life." and shall obtain
favour of the Lord. Those that wait and those that
seek, they find. And whoso findeth Me, wisdom
says, findeth life. Isn't the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
the life? He is the way, the truth and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father,
He says, but by Me. I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die, or believeth as is. Do we believe that? Do
we believe that? That when we wait on the Lord,
when we pray to the Lord, and He hears our prayer and we obtain
favour of the Lord, we find life, and that life can never be destroyed.
or death cannot destroy that eternal life which we have in
the Lord Jesus Christ no blessed is the man that heareth
me watching daily at my gates waiting at the posts of my doors
he is wisdom or do we seek him if any if any man lack wisdom Let him ask of God. Who giveth
to all men, liberal in that proudeth not, but let him ask in faith.
Nothing wavering for he that wavereth, he like a wave of the
sea driven of the winds and tossed. Let not that man think that he
shall receive anything of the Lord, James says. Oh, if we lack
wisdom, if we don't know this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the
wisdom of God, we're to ask. Let him ask of God. nothing doubting, all the importance
you see of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and knowing that real,
that true union with Him. Later here in the Proverbs chapter
19 verse 8 we're told, He that getteth wisdom loveth his own
soul. You love your soul tonight. Or
what is a man profited if he guides the whole world and looseth
his own soul? What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul, says the Lord Jesus? Are we concerned about our souls,
our never-dying souls? He that geteth wisdom loveth
his own soul. If we love our souls we'll be
earnest with regards to our knowledge of this man. the wisdom of God,
or to get Him, and to know Him, and to know that real union with
Him. We read of waiting at the posts
of my doors, and I thought of those strange words that we find
concerning the servant, who when the great jubilee, the year of
release comes, he doesn't want to leave his master. He wants
to continue in the household of his master. In Exodus 21 verse 5, If the servant shall
plainly say, I love my master, my wife and my children, I will
not go out free. Then his master shall bring him
unto the judges. He shall also bring him to the
door, or unto the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear
through with an oar, and he shall serve him forever. For to be
those who have that desire, we will not let him go, never departing
from him. O blessed is the man that heareth
me, watching daily at my gates, waiting, at the posts of my doors. May the Lord be pleased to bless
His word to us. Amen.