Let's take our Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 31. Proverbs 31. Having attempted to deal with this blessed book, Proverbs, My heart's been made to rejoice as we continue and behold the marvelous grace of the Lord Jesus Christ as we take these scriptures and we behold the love that the Lord has for his beloved, precious bride. This virtuous woman, is going to be making a couple of statements. The Lord is going to comment. It's the Lord. The Lord is the author of this book. This is the Bible. This is God's Word. But he's been pleased to write it in such glorious terms concerning himself As this bride relates to us, his people, there's a personableness about these scriptures.

He's writing concerning his bride. And he's going to write concerning her some glorious truths, praising her, blessing her. but only as she is found in him. None of these things we're gonna look at is concerning her in her fall, in Adam's transgression. That's not what he's gonna, but it's going to be that which he has done for her.

And I pray that the Lord will bring that to our memory. Let us remember, Lord, this is not what we think of us. This is what you say. that we are in you. Now, seeking the Spirit's direction in these verses, I want us to remember what the Lord said of the bride. Here we are tonight. We know what we are in ourselves. We know what we are being born in Adam, but the Lord is going to say something about this woman, and this woman, according to his word, has ravished his heart.

Song of Solomon 4.9, ravished my, you've stolen my heart. I'm heartless. I think, Lord, as you say it is, it is. I don't see it, but Lord, this is why you say it is.

So let's never forget that anything that is said concerning this woman and what she does in this world, and she is in this world as the people of God. This is the bride of Christ and has, as the Lord opens our eyes to behold that which the bride has Performed.

I mean we're doing something tonight. We're here. We're sitting here in a congregation and we're actually sitting here and we're doing something. We're listening to the word of God and God is going to speak to us through his word and I want to hear it. I want to hear what God has to say.

She's the vessel. Through which these things are brought about. But the bride as you're going to see in just a moment. She's never performed these things in her own power. It was always God which worketh in you both the will and do of his good pleasure. Now let's consider what the scriptures has to say about the bride, her attitude. Verse 17, Proverbs 31 verse 17. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. And she perceiveth that her merchandise is good, and her candle goeth not out by night.

Now, here's the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ going about her calling. He called her out of darkness. He's given her a new heart. He's given her some wisdom, some knowledge concerning himself, who is wisdom. And she's going about in a spirit of preparedness. As she goes about, she's prepared for the work. She hasn't prepared herself. The Lord has prepared her, but she's in a State of preparedness and strength. She's strong in what she's doing. She does it in might, power. When I say preparedness, what I mean concerning her is she's prepared for the work.

Like I said, don't ever, let's never forget that without him we do nothing. We do nothing. I look at these scriptures, and I read them, and I try to get the meanings of the words and look them up. I want to be prepared. But with all the preparation that I've done of myself, I've done nothing. Without Him, I could do nothing. Without Him, I'm just I'm empty. I'm undone. But scripture says concerning her, it's quite, she girdeth her loins with strength. She's equipped. She girdeth her loins with strength. She's equipped with the accutements or the equipment. for her calling. I want you to hold your place right there and turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians 6. Ephesians chapter 6. Let's read verses 10 to 18. Ephesians 6 starting in verse, chapter 6 verse 10.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. and in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand in the day of evil, and having done all to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. I read those words and I thought to myself, Lord, that sounds so honorable. Take the shield of faith. Gird about your loins with strength. Let me ask you this, you the believer, how are you going to do that? How do you do that?

Unless the Lord does something for me that I can't do for myself, it's not going to happen. Lord, you're going to have to do it. But the scripture says back in Proverbs chapter 31, verse 17, she girdeth her loins with strength and strengtheneth her arms. How is that, Lord? Lord, it's you that's doing it. You're the one, Christ in you.

But in that, all of the things that we just read concerning the implements of battle, all those accoutrements that she puts on like a soldier, the one that is dealt with in our passage of scripture in Proverbs 31, verse 17, is this word, strength. She girdeth her loins with strength and strengtheneth her arms. Now, the bride has been blessed by the Lord to have these implements of warfare, but the one that The Spirit of God was pleased to bless our hearts tonight is this word, strength. She girdeth her loins. It actually, when you look at the word, the loins, it's talking about to wrap yourself, to put on a belt. It's like a belt. It's like you can look that word up and this is what it's going to tell you. It means to put on a belt.

She girded her loins with strength. Now, Christ is the strength of the bride. You know that. He is the force, the security, the majesty, the praise of the sheep. Here's how I know that the Lord is the strength. The Lord is the strength. We're not strong. You're strong. You're strong. Only in Him. Because without Him, listen to Psalm 28, 7,

8. The Lord, capital O, capital O, or capital D. The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusteth in him, and I'm helped. Therefore, my heart greatly rejoiceth, and my song will praise him. The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointing.

Oh, the peace, the comfort, and the joy that is found in the redeemed, that sinner that's been made to behold. the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to know, to know by faith, I'm not strong. I'm not strong. I'm not able. I'm not capable. I know I'm not. Man by nature thinks he is. He thinks he's able. He thinks he can perform. He thinks he can, you know, continue to walk in the faith.

If he doesn't keep me, how many times have you heard me say this? If the Lord doesn't keep me, I'm not going to be kept. If the Lord doesn't sustain me, I'm not sustained. I'm just a weak and frail creature. After all these years, you mean Marvin, you're really convinced that if he didn't keep you, that you'd walk away? You really think that your heart could be drawn away with the things of this world?

Ask Solomon. Ask Solomon. What happened to Solomon? You know what happened to him. His heart was drawn away with strange women. Neil, if the Lord doesn't keep us, we're gone. We're gone. It's my strength. No believer sees himself as capable. No believer sees himself as able. No believer, no. Hold your place right there and turn with me.

Exodus 4. One verse, but I want you to look at it. Exodus chapter 4. Exodus chapter 4. The Lord had met with a man named Moses. He crossed Moses' path. on a mountain, and the Lord spoke to him out of a burning bush, spoke to him, told him who he was. He told him, he said, Moses, he said, take your shoes off. The place where you're standing is holy ground. That passage of scripture right there just, I don't know, it just amazes me.

Where you're standing is holy ground. It's a place where God is. You think about where two or three are gathered together in my name. I'm in the midst of them. Brethren, this is holy ground right here. This is a place where God has revealed himself to be. He said, I am in the midst of you. Doesn't that excite your heart to know the Lord's here? The Lord is here. The Lord's here.

God met with this man, Moses, called him, go and speak unto Pharaoh. Moses, I don't doubt one second, thought back, you know, over what had transpired concerning Moses. But when Moses was called of God to go and stand before Pharaoh, he said, look what he said in verse 10, Exodus chapter 4 and verse 10. And Moses said unto the Lord, oh my Lord, I'm not eloquent. Neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant.

For I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue. I looked that up to find out what he meant when he said that. And most of the writers, most of the interpreters of these scriptures said that he had a speech impediment. He had a speech impediment, and he probably couldn't pronounce words well. He said, Lord, I'm slow of tongue. I can't articulate. There's words that I just can't say.

Well, Jeremiah was called of the Lord to be a preacher. I've called you. loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, I've called you, called you to be a prophet, a preacher. Here's what Jeremiah said of himself. Jeremiah 1.6, Oh, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak for I am a child. I can't do this. Who is sufficient for these things? Who's sufficient to rush in into the position of speaking on behalf of God?

I'm telling you, God helped me because there's an old man that's ever ready to lift himself up, brag I can handle this. I got this. Don't, don't worry about it. I got it. Y'all need some help. I'm your man. Pride comes before fall. Be cautious, be cautious.

Somebody so quick to be, be able to be ready to step into a place that's holy ground. Oh, the blessing to know just behold the wisdom of God, scripture, When the Lord said, 1 Corinthians 1, 26-29, For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound. the things that are mighty, based things of the world, things that are despised at God chosen, yea, and the things that are not to bring to naught, things that are, why? That no flesh should glory in his presence.

The Lord is our strength. The Lord is our strength. The Lord is our strength. The Lord said in Matthew 28, 18 to 20, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you all way, even unto the end of the world. By faith, back in Proverbs, 31, by faith, the scripture says concerning the bride, she girdeth her loins with strength and strengtheneth her arms.

She believes God. She has no strength in herself. But the way the scripture is written, it sounds as though it's something that she's doing. And she knows good and well it's not her. The Lord is pleased to use the bride. The Lord has assembled a people here tonight and called a frail creature of dust. Someone that has been made to see how frail he is. It's good for me that I've been afflicted. that I might learn of your statutes. It's good for me to see how weak I am. It's good for me. It's good for you. And it's glorifying to God that we see ourselves for what we are.

She girdeth her loins with strength and strengtheneth her arms. She does what she does in the power of his might. led by his spirit, blessed to his honor and glory and the good. Colossians 3, 23 says, whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto man. That virtuous woman again, the church, the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, she possesses a desire to discharge her duty unto the Lord and to do it heartily. to do it heartily. She wants to do it as best she can and be prepared to do it.

But she knows all the while that without him, she's nothing. She knows it. Verse 18, she perceiveth that her merchandise is good. Her candle goeth not out. By night. That word perceiveth. She perceiveth that her merchandise, that word perceiveth is actually interpreted, she tastes. She tastes.

I know, I know this. I know as I've just told you, I'm a frail creature. I'm a man of flesh, bones, flesh and blood. And I know this. I know that what the Lord has been pleased to do through a vessel of his calling, the strength by which that vessel does what he does. He knows good and well. He knows it's of the Lord. He knows that.

I don't have the ability to convince you of anything. I can say it as tenderly as, you know, I can try to, you know, get the lights down low. I can make the music softer. I can do all of these things according to the flesh, but I cannot cause this word to be effectual to you.

God's got to do that. But the bride knows, she tastes, she perceives that her merchandise, that word there means her gifted gain. What she has is him, his word, his truth, and it's preached. It's preached. She perceives, she tastes that what she has to give, which is what the Lord has given through her. She knows that she didn't come up, I didn't come up with this gospel. I'm just thankful that the Lord was pleased to teach me something of it. But she perceived it. I can actually say what this passage says, she perceiveth that her merchandise is good. It means it's valuable.

I can't produce the effect. I can't produce life. I can't. But I tell you what, through the preaching of the gospel, I can perceive. I can perceive. I can actually taste spiritually that the merchandise that is being put forth through the preaching of the gospel is good. because it's of God. God is good. There's none good but God, but this is good.

This is what the Lord uses to call his people, to feed his people. You're here tonight to hear basically the same thing that you've heard for this congregation. I mean, it's coming up 75 years, give or take a little bit, 75 years. God's been pleased to allow the gospel to be in Katy, West Virginia. What a miracle. And God has blessed it to the calling out of some sheep. Sheep that many have been taken home.

But we've beheld, we've perceived, we've tasted that the merchandise that the Lord has blessed That merchandise, that gifted gain, that profit resulting from her trade is what it means. When you look at it, her merchandise, what it is, it means the profit that is resulted from her trade. What she's called to do. Her job, if I can say it like that. Her trade, her business. What business are you in? I'm in the business of obeying God and preaching the gospel. That's what I do. She perceives that it's good, and it's by His grace.

And these blessed gifts, Romans 11, 29 says, these gifts, they're without repentance. I had to look that up again. You know that. What does that mean? This gift, to be able to proclaim the gospel, this glorious message of God's Mercy and grace. It's without repentance. It means it's irrevocable. I like that. It's irrevocable. No, Lord, not going to take it away. Irrevocable and her candle in closing her candle, the spiritual life light of her profession. What does it do? I love this. goeth not out by night. No matter what, it goeth not out. The Lord's gonna keep it alive. Do you know how long the Lord's gonna allow the gospel to be preached here?

You know this. As long as he's pleased to. I've told you by and large, I told you what Brother Henry said, I'm learning to kind of try to think back on some of these things that these men that when I was coming up had said that would be profitable to me. But now I'm starting to think back on them. I said, now I am the one that's the older one. But Brother Henry said as a general rule, usually the gospel is allowed to, with a long pastor, talking about Brother Scott, he said it allows one man to be in a place for a long pastoring.

That's when he told Scott, he said, I think maybe the Lord's possibly going to allow Katie to be there. Scott told me that, and I told him, I said, I pray so. I pray so. I'm so thankful. that we're still here tonight. I know that the Lord can remove it, but if the Lord is pleased to allow the light, the candle, to stay here, it's by his grace and his strength. And I'm thankful that we have tonight. I pray the Lord blesses to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.