Pray with me, please. O gracious
and merciful Father, Lord, we confess to you that we've acted
the fool. So we pray that you would be
merciful to us in Christ. Draw us, Lord, we pray, to Christ,
that in him we might become wise, seeking to walk through this
world by faith, which is a faith that is given
to us in Christ. Make us wise. Draw us. Draw your people to
Christ. So that rather than trusting
in our own foolishness, we might trust only in Christ, in whose
name we pray. Amen. The text for today is in Proverbs
chapter 3 and verse 35, but we're going to look at a number of
verses before we get there. It might be wise to keep Proverbs
handy, but there's no greater foolishness
in this world than the foolishness of ignoring Christ and the coming
Judgment Day. But that's what most people do. As Proverbs 9.10 says, the fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of
the holy is understanding. But most people ignore Christ
and most people ignore the fact that a Judgment Day is coming.
The beginning of wisdom for any man is when God first reveals
their sins, the law, death, and judgment to their minds and to
their consciences so that they see the sinfulness of their sin.
And so our prayer for the lost, for lost sinners, is the prayer
of Moses. In Deuteronomy 32.29, Moses prayed,
oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they
would consider their latter end. But you know, the beginning of
wisdom isn't really to fear death and judgment. Though if God gives
wisdom to a man, then his sin condition and his coming death
and judgment will make a deep impression on his soul. which
then brings great consternation and fear to him. But what most
men do when they are impressed with the foolishness of their
sin is to begin a struggle. A struggle that goes on in their
own strength. They struggle to try and stop
sinning and then also they try to give up their sinful companions
because they blame their companions for their sin. That's not wisdom. It's just a different kind of
foolishness. By nature and without Christ, all men are sinners.
They enjoy their sin. They enjoy their evil companions. And no matter how hard they struggle,
they can't stop sinning. Or they may give up some of their
pleasures, but they can't stop sinning. But on the other hand,
if the result of realizing that you are a sinner is what God
uses as his instrument to cause you to turn to Christ, not out
of fear, but to turn to Christ out of love, then that's the
beginning of wisdom. And it's clearly, clearly an
act of God's mercy. It's an act brought on by the
power of the Holy Spirit. Only that man is truly wise who
has been given his wisdom in Christ and he is then being led
by the Holy Spirit of Christ, though actually at the beginning
anyway he probably doesn't realize that it's the Holy Spirit that's
leading him. So the next step that a wise
man will be led by the Spirit to take is to begin searching
the Scriptures to see if there is any basis in Scripture for
his relief, his instruction, his encouragement, and his hope. That's still more evidence that
the Holy Spirit is working in his heart because he's deeply
aware that he not only needs help and he needs instruction,
but also that he has no power over his sin or the ability to
stop sinning. As Proverbs 18 verse 1 says,
it's through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and
medialeth with all wisdom. But he begins to search his scriptures,
just as sure as he begins to be taught from the word of God,
by the Holy Spirit. He will begin to leave his old
companions and the saints of God will become his chosen companions. As Proverbs 13.20 says, He that
walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will
be destroyed. All convictions which come to
us from God by the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit will be
complied with, they'll be yielded to, by the convicted sinner because
he will and he must come to the light of truth so that his deeds
will be revealed as being done in God's power and under God's
influence and in that God is glorified. In 2 Corinthians chapter
12 and verses 9 and 10 Paul writes that God said to him my grace
is sufficient for thee For my strength, talking about God's
strength, God is speaking, my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, Paul
says, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power
of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am
strong. Paul says he is strong in Christ. You know, I don't think you can
overestimate the value of the indwelling of Christ and the
leading and guiding of His Holy Spirit. The Word of God is a
light to your feet and a lamp to your path and the Scriptures
are able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus according to 2 Timothy 3.15. Oh, listen to me carefully, please,
because you can count on this. A troubled soul, a troubled soul
which is concerned about its sin, and that doesn't drive us
to the life of the Gospel or to the Word of God as it's read
and preached, or also that doesn't cause us to seek the fellowship
of God's saints, is going to leave us exactly where it finds
us, and that is without Christ. Leaving us without Christ. Leave
us only as blind fools. In Jeremiah 8, verse 9, it says,
The wise men are ashamed. They are dismayed and taken.
And this is why they are ashamed and dismayed. Lo, they have rejected
the word of the Lord, and, and I'll add the word so, what wisdom
is in them? And that's a good question. Without
Christ, what wisdom is in them? There is no wisdom in a fool,
because Jesus Christ is the wisdom of a child of God, and it is
by the word of God as it's preached and meditated on that the Spirit
of Christ conveys wisdom to the soul. And so Jesus Christ, who
is the Word of God, is called the Word of Wisdom. As 1 Corinthians
12 verse 8 tells us, For to one is given by the Spirit the word
of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge by the same
Spirit. That part of knowledge which
is called the gospel is the wisdom of God and the mystery. As 1
Corinthians 2.7 says, but we speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the
world under our glory. When the Spirit of God opens
the promises of God and then He applies them with God's power,
applies them to our hearts, it is then that the hungry soul
begins to love God's Word. He begins to feed on God's promises. No honey in the mouth is so sweet
as the words of life to the soul of a sinner. In Jeremiah 15 verse
16, the prophet says to God, Thy words were found and I did
eat them. And Thy word was unto me the
joy and the rejoicing of my heart. And wisdom, and of course wisdom
is Christ. Wisdom says in Proverbs 24 verses
13 and 14, My son, eat thou honey, because it is good, and the honeycomb,
which is sweet to thy taste. So shall the knowledge of the
wisdom, the knowledge of Christ, be unto thy soul. When thou hast
found it, then there shall be a ward, and thy expectation shall
not be cut off." The entrance of the word of wisdom into a
believer's heart is what gives him hope. It respects the future
and gives a great reward in the expectation which is founded
in the hope of Christ, which is not to be cut off from the
reward that God has promised to his people. And wisdom, or
the word of God, brings the experience of comfort, which comes by the
word of God, which brings hope. Christ is our wisdom. Christ
is our hope. because as Romans 15.4 says,
for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures
might have hope. Then the next step which the
spirit of wisdom takes as he works his salvation in his soul
lies in the believers taking the gospel lamb by the hand of
faith and the oil in the gospel lamp which feeds the flame is
the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells us
about the wise and the foolish virgins. The foolish virgins
took their lamps, but they took them without any oil in them.
Those were the foolish virgins. But the wise virgins took their
lamps with oil in them. Turn please to Isaiah 62 in verse
1. The best description of these
gospel lamps of the saints is in Isaiah 62 verse 1 where God
says, for Zion's sake will I not hold my peace and for Jerusalem's
sake I will not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth
as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burns,
that burneth. It's only a fool who attempts
to go forth to God without the brightness of the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and His salvation
is a bright and a wonderful thing. But you are a fool if you try
to go to God without them both. You must go with Jesus Christ.
In John 14, verse 6, Jesus said to Thomas, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Our text this morning, and this
time I'm asking you to turn to Proverbs 3 and verse 35, and
we'll look at it several times. Our text this morning is in Proverbs
3 verse 35, which says that it is the wise shall inherit glory. The wise, it is going to be the
wise who shall inherit glory. But shame shall be the promotion
of fools. There are two things in this
text which go hand-in-hand and they always come to the heart
of poor sinners together. They go hand-in-hand. You don't
have one without the other. The first one is righteousness
and the other is salvation. You can't have one without the
other. A divine radiance or glory goes
with the first and a flaming fire attends the other. Righteousness
goes forth as brightness and salvation goes forth as a lamp
that burns. This gospel lamp is carried by
the wise virgins. Or, if you will, the gospel is
carried by the church. But then, what's salvation? Salvation,
when God gives it, is the forgiveness of sins and the knowledge of
Christ is the experience of salvation. Now remember that Christ is our
salvation so the knowledge of Christ is our experience of salvation. It's written in Luke 1 verse
77 that John the Baptist came as a herald for Christ to give
knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their
sins through the tender mercy of our God whereby the day spring
from on high has visited us to give light to them that sit in
darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into
the way of peace. The fire that comes with salvation
is the love of God. The love of God which is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. The fullest discovery
and the sweetest enjoyment of divine love are each made known
to the soul at the same time that we experience pardon and
forgiveness. When by faith we look to the
cross of Christ and we see his love for us as he died in our
place to save us from our sin. When by God's grace we first
believe that Christ took away all of our sin when he died on
the cross, that's when we experience or we come to know that we're
saved by Christ. In other words, when we believe
the gospel of Jesus Christ then we experience salvation. Turn please to Luke chapter 7
and verse 47. Luke 7, 47. And it is then when we experience
salvation that Christ's love flows into us and the overflowing
of divine love in us inflames our whole soul with love to God.
Or if I would say it a little more evangelically, The Holy
Spirit fills us with God's love through Christ so that Christ's
love is reflected back to him again. But as it's reflected
back to him again, it's our love, our love that returns to him
and it is now attended by the love and the affection of a pardoned
sinner. And so Jesus said about a sinner
in Luke 7 verse 47, Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins which
are many are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom
little is forgiven, the same loveth little." Sin is removed
in our experience. Sin is removed when we have the
knowledge of it, when we have the knowledge of Christ. When
God gives us the faith to trust our Savior's blood, to wash away
our sin, that's the experience of salvation. Salvation heals
the conscience. Salvation brings health to our
souls. While love binds up the broken
heart and fills it with joy and peace, salvation, the experience
of salvation, causes us to look to Christ continually. Salvation
with love like a burning flame both heals and justifies. The
two always go together because the same faith which purifies
the heart also puts the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness
on the saved sinner. The fatted calf and the best
robe of Christ's righteousness are brought forth together at
the same time. As Luke 15 verses 22 and 23 tell
us about the prodigal son, it says, the father said to his
servants, bring forth the best robe and put it on him. Put a
ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring hither the
fatted calf and killeth and let us eat and be merry. Of course,
Christ is that fatted calf. The death of Christ, when we
see it, when we see Him dying for us, is when we feed on Him. That's what makes us merry. The
prophet ascribes fire to salvation and brightness to Christ's righteousness.
And so it's no wonder then that when God accepts us in His Son,
Jesus Christ, accepts us as being clean and righteous in Christ's
righteousness, accepts us as being just, that God then reveals
His dear Son in us, with all of the saving benefits that are
in Christ, and with all of Christ's fullness and glory. In Malachi
4, verse 2, this salvation and justification in Christ is called
the Son, the S-U-N, of righteousness, rising on us with healing in
His wings. And as 2 Corinthians 4, verse
6 says, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Turn please
to Acts chapter 2 and verses 2 to 4. God's pardon in Christ
removes sin. And Christ's righteousness removes
the curse and all of the condemnation of sin. of the law. In this work
of God we are baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire we're
baptized. There's a marvelous picture of
this experience of salvation in Acts 2. In verses 2 to 4 it
says, And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing
mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire. Doesn't say it was fire, it says
it was like fire. And it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak
with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. We know, or when we first experience
the love of God, which is given to us through Christ Jesus, His
love is then shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. So
in Isaiah 4, verse 4, the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of
burning. Isaiah 4, verse 4 says that when the Lord shall have
washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, those wise
virgins, the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood
of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the Spirit of judgment and
by the Spirit of burning. It's then that we experience
salvation. The word of life, the love of
God's word, which brings life to the soul, is like a live and
burning coal from off the altar of God. In Isaiah 6, verses 6
and 7, the prophet says, Then flew one of the seraphim unto
me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with
the tongs from off the altar, that altar of God. And he laid
it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and
thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged. That is a
picture of a man experiencing salvation, God's salvation. And
the joy of salvation in the heart is the flame that blazes forth
from his gospel lamp. And it's expressly called the
light in Proverbs 13, 9, which says, the light of the righteous
rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. This
lamp of salvation, this gospel lamp, will give off a blaze of
joy when all of the other kinds of joy which are raised by self-righteous
religious passions will be put out. Because without a joy that
is in Christ, our consciousness of sin and the expectation of
God's wrath are sure to extinguish any other joy that we might have.
Look at our text again in Proverbs 3 verse 35. It says that the
wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the promotion
of fools. The basis for or the foundation
of our joy is the forgiveness of our sins. Those who worship
Christ because they have trusted Christ's death and His blood
to take away their sin, they believe with a God-given faith
that their sin debt has been paid, And the result is that
all of their joy is in Christ and it's an eternal joy. It's not in themselves. They
haven't done anything. Their faith is only in Christ.
So as Hebrews 10 verses 1 and 2 says, for the law having a
shadow of good things to come and not the very image of things,
can never, with those sacrifices which they offered, which religious
people offer all the time, year by year, continually make the
comers thereof thereunto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers once
purged should have had no more consciousness of sin. Only those
who are without the faith of Christ will still have consciousness
of their sin. Do you trust Christ? If you believe
that Christ died in your place, and that when He died, He took
your sin on Himself, paying the debt that you owed for your sin,
then there is no more consciousness of sin. Because your sin has
been laid on Christ, And so you have no sin to be conscious of. In other words, do you believe
that Christ died for you? If you do, then that's good evidence
that your sins are gone forever. If you were once purged from
sin by the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, your Savior,
then what else needs to be done? Is there anything left? Nothing
else needs to be done. Your joy, your peace, is all
complete in Christ. Now, that doesn't mean that you
don't sin, or that you don't have a sense of your sin, or
that your conscience isn't seared when you do sin. It doesn't mean
that you shouldn't confess or acknowledge to God that you do
sin, but it means that you're free from the guilt of sin because
you can't ever be condemned for your sin again. Why not? Because you're not under the
law. You can never be condemned because there's no law that can
condemn you. You're not under the law. So by the application
of the blood of Christ, you have peace with God, You have joy
in the Holy Ghost if, by faith, you trust Christ as your Savior.
The basis of the joy and happiness of a child of God is that he
trusts that Christ died to save him from his sin. But those who
trust in anything else are only foolish, because Jesus Christ
is God's only provision for the salvation of sinners. Nothing
you do can save you. Salvation is all of Christ and
all in Christ, because Christ is our salvation. So it is that
in Christ, God gives the believer an everlasting robe of righteousness.
This righteousness, the prophet says, goes forth as brightness
or as being the righteousness of God. And Jesus said in Matthew
13, verse 43, that then shall the righteous shine forth as
the sun in the kingdom of their Father, who hath ears to hear."
Let him hear. And both the atonement and the
best robe are brought forth and applied by the Holy Spirit of
God. Because as 1 Corinthians 6.11 says, and such were some
of you, But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of our God. And it's this most holy and blessed
Spirit who is the comforter that abides with us forever. So we
see that salvation is attended with the fire of love and righteousness
with the bright flames of heavenly joy. As it is written in Isaiah
61 10, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be
joyful in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments
of salvation. He has clothed me with Christ's
righteousness. He has covered me with the robe
of righteousness as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." So
we see the wise virgins of Matthew 25 who are made wise unto salvation
going forth to meet their great Redeemer that Redeemer who has
washed them from their sin in His own blood. The church sets
out in her wedding robe to meet her bridegroom with His love
shed abroad in her heart. She goes forth to meet her beloved
under the influence of His Holy Spirit. And she goes rejoicing
and carrying her gospel lamp with her with plenty of oil in
the hope of an endless enjoyment of her husband for all eternity. Nor is this virgin in any danger
of her lamp ever running out of oil, because she has the promise
of returning to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon her
head. In Isaiah 51, verse 11, the prophet of God says, Therefore
the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing
unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be on their head. They
shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall
flee away. When they believe, when they
believe that Christ died for them, when you believe that Christ
died for your sin, to save you from your sin, that is your experience
of salvation. And the church is so far away
from ever being shut out of the marriage chamber that is with
gladness and rejoicing that she will be brought to the king and
she shall enter into the king's palace In Psalm 45 verse 15,
God says that with gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought.
They shall enter into the king's palace. Can you see the wisdom
of the wise? I hope you can. The wisdom of
the wise is Jesus Christ. The wisdom of the wise is that
they trust Christ. To not trust Christ is nothing
but foolish. And now let's look at the glory
of the wise. Our text in Proverbs 3, verse
35 begins, the wise shall inherit glory. There is a glory that
is already put on the wise by God and that glory begins with
the Spirit of Christ when the Spirit of Christ first enters
into the heart. Under the power of the Spirit
of Christ, the poor sinner begins to separate himself from the
world. Now that's not something that the believer does. It's
something that the Spirit does in us because of who and what
the believer loves. If you love Christ and if you're
seeking Christ, then the things of the world will be a whole
lot less attractive to you. Turn please to 1 Peter 4 and
verse 14. The gospel that a child of God
carries in his heart, carries in his mouth, and even is reflected
in his face is an offense to the world. The things of Christ
which you love are not what the world loves at all. And so you
are an offense to the world because of what you love. You're an offense
to the world because Christ is in you. As 1 Peter 4 verse 14
says, if you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are
you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their
part, he is, Christ is, evil spoken of. On the part of the
world, Christ is evil spoken of. But on your part, he is glorified. Now turn to Isaiah 60, verses
1 and 2. The light of God's countenance
in which our secret sins appear, the light of the gospel of Christ,
which reveals all things that are reproved, and which shines
on the sure word of prophecy until the day dawns and the day
star arises in the heart, is no less than the glory of God
shining in our hearts. In Isaiah 60 verses 1 and 2,
God says, Arise, shine, For thy light, which is Christ, for thy
light is come, and the glory of the Lord, who is Christ, is
risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall
cover the earth, and gross darkness the people. But the Lord shall
arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee." The
result is that those of the world are always offended, and you
find that they no longer seek your company. They're just not
comfortable in your presence. There's a wonderful display of
divine glory in the creation and formation of the new man.
God shining on the soul and giving us a discovery of his own glory
in the face of Christ reflects the image of God on us. It isn't
that Christ is recognized in us, but it's that those people
who are worldly are offended by Christ. And so under the glorious
rising and shining, the new man is formed and the divine image
is printed on the believer's soul. Your interests, your tastes,
your words, all change. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians
3.18, But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory
of the Lord, are changed in the same image from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord. The love of God, the love
of God which fills the soul of every believer, the love of God
which is uncommunicable joy that springs from our love for Christ,
our Savior, has, according to Peter, a fullness of glory in
it. In 1 Peter 1.8 it says about
Christ, whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now you
see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory." Glory, as it's mentioned in the scriptures,
usually means light. I could not see, Paul says, for
the glory of that light. And again, the Lord shall be
unto thee an everlasting light and by God thy glory. And again, arise, shine, for
thy light has come, and the glory of God has risen upon thee. In
Isaiah 60, verse 19, God says, The sun shall be no more thy
light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto
thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and
thy God thy glory. The glory of Christ is His church. In Isaiah 62, verse 3, God says
to His church, Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand
of the Lord, and a royal diadem, or a royal crown, in the hand
of thy God. And in Isaiah 28, verse 5, we
see the crown of the saints. It says, In that day shall the
Lord of hosts be a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty under
the residue of his people. So the glory of the wise is Christ. And the wise, or the church,
is the crown of the glory of their Savior. It's way beyond
my understanding, but I just don't understand how a sinner
like me could be a crown of glory for Christ. Can you understand
that? But this much I do know. Whatever is called a crown in
the Word of God must be referring to Christ Jesus. Because Proverbs
16.31 says that the hoary head is a crown of glory. if it be
found in the way of righteousness. Or in other words, gray hair
is a crown of glory if it's found in Christ, who is the only way
of righteousness. The next phrase in Proverbs 335
tells us that shame shall be the promotion of fools. Now in
my many years of being on this earth, I have discovered that
there are many kinds of fools running around. But what I have
found since God has revealed Christ to me, is that what all
fools have in common is that they have no need for Christ. Some fools, like the worm in
a barnyard, are so blind and so buried in the earth that they
never give one thought to either God or to their own conscience.
They just don't care at all about spiritual things or the things
of Christ. They're fools. And another kind of fool isn't
really a fool at all, but he isn't nearly as wise as he thinks
he is. He isn't like the worm in the
barnyard, and he may be very intelligent, but he isn't truly
wise either. He isn't wise in the judgment
of God or even wise in the opinion of those who have the wisdom
of Christ. But he's a fool because he's wise in his own conceits.
like the Jewish scribes and the Pharisees who became vain in
their imagination so their foolish hearts were darkened. This is
the kind of fool who, professing themselves to be wise, they became
fools, as it says in Romans 1, verses 21 and 22. They profess
Christ, but they don't know Christ. Paul says about them in 1 Corinthians
4.10, and I'm sure he's speaking with tongue and cheek, He says,
we are fools for Christ's sake. Paul says, but you are wise in
Christ. We are weak. Tongue in cheek,
he says, but you're strong. You're held in honor, but we're
held in disrepute. These fools may know a lot about
scriptures, but they don't know Christ. They don't have the wisdom
of Christ, and so they're fools because their faith is in themselves,
not in Christ. They want to be known as being
devout Christians, but they have no oil in their lamps. Like the
foolish virgins, they've set off to meet the bridegroom without
any knowledge of him. They don't have any true love
for him. They don't have any sense of their need of him or
desire for life in him. They don't have his spirit in
them or one grace for the fullness of his grace to influence them. They have no unction. They have
no oil or anointing from him because they take no oil with
them as they go. They aren't led. They're not
taught by the Holy Spirit. And these are called foolish
virgins. But the fool in our text is more
foolish than any of these other fools that you could think of.
The fool in our text is ranked in the highest class of fools
and he is in his own conceit the wisest creature in all the
celestial or telestial worlds because he attributes folly to
both worlds as I pray you'll see in this description of him.
Turn please to Proverbs 21 and verse 24. The fool is the proud and haughty
scorner. It sort of sounds like I'm talking
about Satan when I talk about this proud and haughty scorner,
but I'm not. I'm talking about fools that
walk around, often in sheep's clothing. As he looks at the
world that God has made, he's scornful of everything and everyone
that's in it. In Proverbs 21, verse 24, it
says, proud and haughty scorner is his name who deals in proud
wrath. Acting scornfully seems to ease
the burden of this fool's heart. And maybe being scornful gives
him some desperate or momentary delight. I don't know. These
scorners are said to delight in their scorning, though. Turn
to Proverbs 1, verse 22. Because these scorners are fools,
they hate knowledge. Proverbs 1.22 asks, How long,
you simple ones, how long, you foolish ones, will you love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their
scorning and hate, and fools hate knowledge. This fool is
the scorner who makes a mockery of sin. And in doing this, they
mock at all of the anger, wrath, and the just indignation of God.
They mock at all of the dreadful, threatening, and curses of broken
law. They're skeptics. skeptics who
mock at all of the weeds and briars and thorns on the earth
because God's purpose, curse, is only to be mocked at in their
foolish minds. And so they mock at all of the
chains and torments of devils, at all the labor, toil, and misery
of men. They mock at all of the sufferings
and agonies of the Son of God, at all of the sorrows and afflictions
of the saints at the Day of Judgment. at the awful sentence of God
that will come to them, and at the groans of the damned. They
mock because not one of these would ever have been either revealed,
threatened, feared, felt, born, or endured if sin had not entered
into the world. But they don't see themselves
at all as sinners in need of a Savior. They think of themselves
as being wise, but they're wise only in their own conceit. A
scorning fool is one that scoffs at all true religion, and he
makes a jest of the worship and the worshipers of God. The very
preaching of Christ, Paul says, is the power of God and the wisdom
of God. But this scornful fool calls the weakness of God the
foolishness of God. You see, they trust in their
own wisdom. They trust in their own strength. And so they reject
Christ. They have no need for Christ.
Be it so, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 125, The foolishness of God is
wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
And yet this fool sets his mouth against the heavens, and his
tongue walks through the earth. He sets his mouth against the
heavens by insulting his maker, and by ridiculing God's gospel,
the gospel of Jesus Christ, which comes from above in Christ. And
he mocks God by despising those that are born from above. The
scorner's tongue walks through the earth as his pupils and admirers
zealously circulate his bold and arrogant words. They repeat
his speeches often and become mockers like he is. But we're
forbidden by God to offer any advice or counsel to this scornful
fool, because God says in Proverbs 23 9, Speak not into the ears
of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words. No reproof,
no rebuke, no judgments or afflictions will have any humbling or softening
effect on the heart of the scorner because he is so completely in
league with Satan. He's so hardened under Satan's
influence that he thinks himself to be wise when he's only a fool. His foolishness is so interwoven
in his soul that God says in Proverbs 27, 22, that if you
crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle, along with crushed
grain, yet his folly will not depart from him. Only the power
of God can save a fool." Well, that's enough about fools. We're
all foolish at one time, weren't we? Without Christ, we were all
foolish. Let's look at our text one more
time. Proverbs 3, verse 35. Do you see the last phrase of
our text? Last phrase of Proverbs 335?
It says, shame shall be the promotion of fools. What is the promotion
of a fool? Well, in every class of rational
creatures, there are some who are promoted above the rest.
We read about angels and archangels in heaven. We read about thrones
and dominions, principalities and powers. And even among fallen
angels, we read about a king who is Satan and his inferiors
who are in subjection to him. And we read about Beelzebub,
the prince of devils. Even Paul says that Christ, by
his death, spoiled principalities and powers on the cross. And
he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in his death
on the cross. But turn now, please, to Judges
9 and verses 8 to 15, where I think we find a very interesting parable. In political bodies, in governments,
in clubs and organizations, there are always promotions. And so
we hear about emperors and empires and kings and kingdoms, princes
and principalities, The Congress has a speaker, the Senate has
a vice president, and the president presides over the country. All
the clubs have their chairman who preside over the other members.
Men and women, even boys and girls, are selected and promoted
over other people all the time. Now, wisdom describes the fool
in our text as a fool who delights in scorning and who hates knowledge. And all of the fools reject Christ
and refuse to be promoted except the scorner. He rejects Christ
too, but he doesn't so much reject Christ as he is scornful of Christ.
And in his scorn, he would rule over Christ. You see, the scorner
wants to be God. He wants to rule like God. In this parable in Judges 9,
promotion is refused by all but the scorning fool. according
to this parable in Judges 9 verses 8 to 15. Because when all of
the corrupt trees went to anoint a king over them, every plant
in the woods begged to be excused except one. He thinks he's wiser
than God, but he's a fool, this one who didn't refuse the promotion. In Judges 9 verse 8 it says that
the trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them, And
they said unto the olive tree, all the trees got together, and
they said unto the olive tree, rain over us. But the olive tree
said, should I leave my fatness wherewith by me they honor God
and man and go to be promoted over the trees? And the tree
said to the fig tree, come thou and rain over us. But the fig
tree said unto them, should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit
and go to be promoted over the trees? Then the trees said unto
the vine, Come and reign over us. And the vine said unto them,
Should I leave my vine, which cheereth God and man, and go
to be promoted over the trees? All of the trees seemed to show
some regard either to God or to man, and so they refused the
promotion. But the next offer in verse 14
is made to the scorning fool. Verse 14 says, Then said the
trees under the bramble. Come thou and reign over us,
same thing that they said to the other trees. And the bramble
said unto the trees, if in truth you anoint me king over you,
then come and put your trust in my shadow. The bramble was
willing when none of the trees of the plants in the parable
would accept the promotion. And that's a badge of God's curse
on the earth. God has given us a type or a
picture of that sort of sinner who is called briars and thorns
which are rejected and which are going to be cursed. In the
end they will be burned. In Hebrews 6 verse 8 it says,
but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is
nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned. That's a clear
picture of the scorner and he's a fool. The same choice has been
put to the trees since the fall of man, and the choice was always
the same. Not this man, but Barabbas. As John 18.40 says, they cried
all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was
a robber. A fool chooses any robber over
Christ Jesus, who is our only salvation. And so he is robbed of his joy. He's robbed of his peace by the
fool. Among all of the different classes
of sinners, hectics, hypocrites, imposters, worldly, none of them
are promoted so high as the scorning fool. He's the chairman. He stands first and highest,
and he is the front of all that enter the gates of death. But
God says in Psalm 1-1, Blessed is the man that walketh not in
the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. I did a little research
on that seat of the scornful and I cannot find in Scripture
any reference to this exalted seat of the scornful to which
sinners are promoted except this one right here in Psalm 1-1. which is called the seed of the
scornful. But this scornful chairman, this chairman of fools, who is
scornful of everything about God, is sure to have many people
who follow and admire him, and many of those fools will look
up to him, and they will wish that they could imitate him in
everything that he does. This scornful fool is a ringleader,
and so he gains a lot of recognition and applause by mocking God.
And so it's only right that he should be supreme in his misery
as well as supreme in his wickedness. God declares in Proverbs 3 verse
34, which I point out to you is the very verse which precedes
our text. God says in Proverbs 3 verse
34 that he will deal with this sinner as the scorner has dealt
with God. Then wisdom says about God, surely
he scorneth the scorners but he giveth grace unto the
lowly, the wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the
promotion of fools. And as in this world, those that
despise Christ will be highly esteemed, so these scorners at
the day of judgment will be despised, destroyed, and abhorred, even
by their own followers and admirers, and they will hate him and cursing
and tormenting to all eternity as their worst enemy and soul
destroyer. The scorner is a destroyer of
souls who is in league with Satan. Our television news is filled
with these kinds of people. Young people today who are following
after these scorners, trying to be like them. People merchandise
what they wear. They are leaders, leading people,
to death and hell. And God declares that he's going
to pay them back, these scorners, with their own coin. This is, God will laugh at his
calamity and mock him when his fear comes. The scorners' own
atrocious crimes and the heinous guilt of them, his fears and
anguish and torments, God is going to laugh at. And they'll
all be his promotion in that great day. as soon as the last
trumpet shall be blown. As Daniel 12.2 says, many of
them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to
everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Shame and everlasting contempt will be the promotion of this
fool, who all of his life has scorned God and the things of
God. His chief glory has been in his own shame, and shame shall
be his future promotion. But one more time, Let me tell
you the good news. One more time, I pray that you
hear the gospel. God has sent fools a Savior.
God has sent fools a Savior to save them from their sin. We're
all fools, but there are different kinds of fools. I pray that you
would not be the scorner, but that your foolishness, in your
foolishness, you would look to Christ. The Savior, Jesus Christ
our Lord, is God's only provision for the salvation of fools. But
as foolish as it may sound, all to come to Him shall be saved. May God's Word draw you to Christ,
because only in Christ can a fool be made wise. I pray that none
of you will ever hear the words of God spoken to you. Thou fool,
today shall your soul be required of you. Amen.