turn there. Proverbs chapter
one. On Wednesdays, we've been looking
at the five parables of peace that Solomon writes to us from
the Lord in the first. Really, it's the first four verses,
but we say the first five. We've looked at two so far, and
tonight's the third and Solomon says these words to receive,
to receive the instruction. That's what I've titled the message
to receive. Let's read here. Proverbs chapter one, verse one,
the Proverbs of Solomon. the son of David, king of Israel,
to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding,
to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice and judgment
and equity, to receive instruction. And he gives us four things to
receive the instruction of wisdom, of justice and judgment and equity. This is a miracle of grace to
be able to receive of the Lord wisdom, to be able to receive
of the Lord justice, judgment, and equity. The word receive
here, don't confuse that with the word accept or reject. That's
not the same meaning of the word here. This receive is not a invitation. It's not a offering made. No, the word received here is
the word to get, to lay hold of, to buy, or I love this one,
to be captured. To be captured. Lord, I need
to be captured. I need you to capture me. to
be a bond slave in his court. I mean, there's no greater honor
or joy for a worm, for a sinner, than to know that you've been
captured of the Lord, not left to yourself. Lord, I was going
my way, doing what I thought was best. And yet in mercy, you
caused me to receive wisdom, which is Christ. That's who that
is. You caused me to receive the instruction of justice, the
instruction. I thought I knew what judgment
was. I didn't know what judgment was, but now I have received
the instruction of judgment and equity. No, we have to be captured
unless enabled. We cannot lay hold of eternal
life unless made willing in the day of his power. We have no
life in us. How can a dead man lay hold of
something? How can a dead man receive something? It wouldn't
benefit unless it's of the Lord saying, receive thy sight. If
it's the Lord saying, receive life, and who can stay his hand? Who can rebuke his word? Who
can challenge him and his authority? When he says receive something,
we're going to receive it, aren't we? The other day, there was
a package at my front door. I didn't order it. I don't know
to this day. I don't know who sent it to me.
I don't know anything about it, but I received something. I had nothing to do with it whatsoever. I didn't order it. I didn't make
the payment for it. I didn't buy it. I didn't choose
it. It was given. And anybody that
you know and us in this room included in that, we have a package
on the porch. We're going to open it up and
see what's in it, aren't we? Maybe it's something I need. Maybe
it's something I want. What is this? First of all, being dead
and trespasses and in sin, we can't receive anything in that
state that would do us any good. The Lord says, live, and he creates
the need for this wisdom. He creates the need for this
instruction. As we saw, I believe it was Sunday,
Psalm 119, maybe it was last Wednesday, I can't remember,
but it was, teach me, O Lord, cause me, make me, instruct me. You have, what did the disciples
say? Lord, to whom shall we go? You
have the words of eternal life. Where are we gonna go? You're
the only one that can instruct us to eternal life. We find ourself
the recipients of grace, not based upon our choice, but based
upon his. Based upon his. He told Nicodemus,
you must be born again. Now the instruction of wisdom
is, To understand the answer to the question, Nicodemus said,
how can a man, when he is old, enter into his mother's womb
a second time and be born? That doesn't make any sense,
Lord. How can that happen? He said, the wind bloweth where
it listeth. Thou canst tell whether it comes
or whether it goeth, but that's everyone that's born of the Spirit.
That word listeth, I looked that up, it's wills to. The Spirit
of God blows where He wills to. We love that about our God, don't
we? We find ourself the recipient of His grace, all by grace. It's
not anything that we've done, not any choice that we've made,
but His choice. Now the Lord is not saying here,
I wrote these words, I wrote this book, I wrote everything
in here, and now I've left it up to you to receive it. Left
it up to you to receive. No, He's saying to us, I wrote
these words to make you believe, to cause you to believe, not
so that you can choose, but I'm going to not only save you. You see the Lord never, uh, he
doesn't, he doesn't save us against our will. He, he gives us a new
will. He gives us a new want to, he gives us a new need. In
the book of John chapter six, we may look at that in a minute,
but the disciples are on the boat going across and the winds
and the waves are blowing and the Lord appears unto them on
the water walking to them and they were afraid. They were afraid
and he said, fear not, it is I. And you know what it says
after that? They gladly received him into
the boat. Why? They had a need. The most
amazing part to me is the next words after it says they received
him into the boat, and immediately they were on the other side.
The very moment that he steps in the boat, they're already
there. They couldn't see him, they didn't
know him when he spoke. See, it's the word of his power,
isn't it? That's what he does, that's how he instructs his people.
Word of his power. Now he's saying, I wrote these
words to make you believe. This is my word to give you life. My sheep hear my voice. They
hear my voice and I give unto them eternal life and they shall
never perish. You find out that you have eternal
life. You just received it. You didn't do anything. It wasn't
a, it was passive, wasn't it? It wasn't a choice. It wasn't
a work. It wasn't your will. It was His. It was His. My sheep hear my
voice, been made to hear. Well, we can't hear. We're just
a bunch of deaf sheep, aren't we? Lord, I'm gonna need some
ears if I'm gonna hear. My sheep hear my voice, and I
give unto them eternal life. He says I know them and they
follow me, but the next part is I give unto them eternal life.
What is eternal life? What did the Lord say in John
chapter 17? This is life eternal that they
may know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent. How do I know him? How do I know
him? Must be because he made me receive
the instruction of wisdom. The instruction of wisdom, justice,
judgment, and equity. If he doesn't cause us to receive,
we'll never receive, will we? We'll never receive it. The prayer
isn't, Lord, I'm going to allow you to cause me to receive my
sight. I'm going to allow you to let me see. No, the prayer
is, Lord, if thou wilts, thou canst make me whole. If you will,
you can give me sight. You have the power to do so.
It's up to you completely. That's the prayer of the believer.
And what does he always say? He says, I will, I will be thou
made whole. Every time a mercy-begging sinner
came to the Lord, begging for him, begging for his wisdom,
begging for his righteousness, begging for his healing, the
Lord never turned him away, did he? The Lord creates a need in his people, says live, and creates a need
and causes us to receive the instructions of wisdom. What
are the instructions of wisdom? Look in John chapter six. We
were there just for our call to worship. John chapter six. Look in verse 44 again. The only way we can understand
truly what any of this scripture says is by inspiration of the
Spirit, by the Lord causing us to understand. Otherwise it's
just a book, it's just a storybook. But when the Lord breathes upon
his word to the heart of his people, we understand what he
says when he says, no man can come to me. That's not complicated. But men will reject that, they
will not believe that, they will not accept that as the truth.
But this is Jesus Christ talking, no man can come to me except,
except the Father which sent me draw him. That's the only
way that a man will come or can come is if the Father draws him. And he says, I will raise him
up at the last day. That's that same thing that he
says, all that the father give me shall come to me and all that
come to me, I will not lose one of them. That's the same thing.
I'll raise him up at the last day. Verse 45, it is written in the
prophets and they shall be all taught. You know what that word
taught means? Instructed. Instructed, what are we taught
of God? The instruction, the instruction. It's not plural, it's not a instruction. It's not just instruction for
good living. It's not just instructions on
how we should walk and what we should do to have a better life.
It's the instruction. of God to his people, the instruction
of wisdom and judgment and justice and equity. They all shall be
taught of God, every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned
of the Father. See, that's, again, that's so
clear, isn't it? You have to hear because you
have learned of the Father. And everyone that's heard and
learned of the Father comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. Only because
we have been taught, we have been instructed We have been
instructed the wisdom of the Lord. Verse 46, not that any
man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen
the Father. You remember the disciples looked
at him and said, Lord, show us the Father. Show us the Father. He said, have I been so long
with you? Have I been so long with you?
I believe it's Philip, wasn't it? Have I been so long with you,
Philip? You don't know me. When you've seen me, you've seen
the father. He is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. He is the brightness of his glory. We heard Sunday, the express
image of his person. He is the message and the messenger.
I love that all these messages are tied together. This is, it's
the glory of the Lord over and over again, isn't it? It's his
wisdom. It's, it's all about him. No man has seen the Father,
save he which is of God has seen the Father. Why are they which
are of God seen the Father? Because they've heard and have
learned of the Father, because they've been drawn of the Father.
It all goes together, doesn't it? Verse 47, verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Now men will take that one verse right there and they will omit
the entire three or four verses before that where it says, no
man come to the father except the father which sent me draw
him. They say, okay, so all that I have to do is believe on the
Lord. Yes, is the answer. but we're
not capable of believing in and of ourself. None that's in the
flesh can please God. The flesh can't comprehend the
things of God because they're spiritually discerned. The Lord,
you're gonna have to give us instruction. You're gonna have
to make us to know wisdom. You're gonna have to make us
understand. Give us understanding. Verse 48, I am the bread of life.
Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead.
This is the bread that cometh down from heaven that a man may
eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread, which
came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, how can this man give
us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. What is it to eat the flesh,
the manna, the bread? What is it to drink the blood
from, what is it to drink the fountain of living water? They
thought he was talking about cannibalism. They go on the next
part and they believed he was talking about cannibalism. Why?
Because it's spiritually discerned. It's the same thing as you must
be born again. It's all the same mystery that the Lord has to
reveal, the dark sayings as we have in our text that it says,
no man can come to the father except the father which sent
me draw him. What is it to eat the flesh of
the son of man and drink his blood? It's to believe on him
as all your righteousness before God. It's to believe on Him as
your only hope of eternal life. And if you find yourself believing,
it's because He's created the need after He said live. If I
have a need, it's because He's put it there. You know, He never
creates a need that He doesn't give, that He doesn't satisfy. It doesn't become the, what's
the word I'm looking for? The need is met. The need, he
always meets the need that he creates. He creates a need that
only he can satisfy. And then he totally and completely
meets that need with the same bread for each of us and the
same blood for each of us. It's the same meat and drink.
And it satisfies, doesn't it? Why does it satisfy? Well, we've
received the instruction of him. We understand that Christ is
our wisdom. We don't have any. You remember, I said this a while ago about
the disciples. They were immediately on the other side of the boat.
They had a need. When they found out it was the
Lord, they were scared. They were afraid. He said, fear not. I
love the thought that it wasn't a suggestion. remember when Jairus
came to the Lord for his daughter and she was dying, a 12 year
old daughter was dying and the woman with the 12 year issue
of blood, I find that very interesting. Both had a 12 year need didn't
they? His daughter was 12 and the woman
with the issue of blood had it for 12 years. She pressed through
the crowd while he was going with Jairus back to his house.
And when she touched him virtue went out from the Lord, he said
that. And turned and looked and she was made to confess and the
Lord healed her. But during that time, because
of the delay, Jairus, what would he have been feeling? My daughter
is dying and we're stopping. We don't need to be stopping
right now. We need to keep going. You know, that's what we would
have thought. Unless, unless the Lord gives faith to believe.
Unless the Lord says, fear not. And that's exactly what happened.
Servant came up to Jairus and said, trouble not the master.
She's dead. And what did the Lord say? Fear
not. Before fear could even grip his throat, like it does. You
know what I'm talking about. Whenever you feel overwhelmed and afraid,
the mountains on top of you of your sin and your unbelief, before
it could ever even begin, the Lord said, fear not. And when
the Lord speaks, it happens. We know that to be true, don't
we? Peace be still, and it was peace. The Lord didn't say fear
not to his disciples as an option. He said, fear not. So they didn't
fear a bit, did they? He made them believe. I love
that. He made Jairus believe, and the Lord got all the glory
in the resurrection of that young girl. Remember when he told the disciples,
receive you the Holy Ghost? That wasn't optional, was it? That wasn't a offer, was it? No, he was commanding them to
receive the Holy Ghost. By God's grace, brethren, we've
received the instruction of wisdom just like that. He has caused
us to receive. He said, receive the instruction
of wisdom. Receive the instruction of judgment,
justice, and equity. We hear the master's call coming
to me, and we come. We hear the master's words, take
of the water of life freely, and we drink. We drink. We believe
his word, and in believing his word, we deny ourself. I have
no knowledge. Nothing that I wanna know but
Jesus Christ and crucified. That's our confession, isn't
it? I have no interest in knowing anything else but him. Now back
to our text in Proverbs 1. The purpose of these parables of
peace, the purpose is to receive, verse three, to receive the instruction
of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity. Lord's people are
enabled to receive all four of these. We don't receive one without
receiving the other. The simple answer to what does
all these mean would be Christ is all. Christ is all. And I'm
gonna look at these words here in just a minute, but that's
really the sum of it, isn't it? You and I can't have that confession
unless he makes me have that confession. It's always gonna
be Christ plus something or Christ minus something, but whenever
he gives you, when he says receive the instruction of wisdom, judgment,
justice, and equity, our confession is Christ is all. The word instruction, that's
something that's important in this as well. It means chastening,
chastening. It means correction. The scripture
is clear. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. If he doesn't chasten you, then
you're not sons. That's what he says. Look, you're in Proverbs.
Look at chapter three, verse 11. Chapter 311, my son despised
not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. For whom the Lord loveth, he
correcteth, even as a father, the son in whom he delighteth. Happy is the man that findeth
wisdom. How you gonna find wisdom? It's gotta be given. He's gonna
have to reveal it, isn't he? And the man that getteth understanding,
For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of
silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious
than rubies, and all the things thou canst desire are not to
be compared unto her. Nothing can compare to the revelation
of Jesus Christ, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. What does
he chasten us? What does that mean, he chasteneth his people,
or he corrects us? We are left to this resolve,
this one thing I know, whereas I was blind, but now I see. This
one thing I know, Christ Jesus crucified and nothing else. This
one thing I know, Christ Jesus saved sinners. This one thing
I know, the Lord Jesus Christ put away the sin of his people.
That's what the Lord corrects us to. He shuts us up to that
confession over and over and over. Although this revelation
of the Lord, it does strip us, it exalts the Lord in all of
it. He gets all the glory. It strips
us of all the wisdom we thought we had, the knowledge. That's
why men hate the gospel so much, is they're left empty. But only
when we're left empty will the Lord fill us. That's the most
amazing part. He has exalted His Son above
all. And the most glorious news to
us is with that same glory He's given to His people. We're in
Christ, exalted in Him. Not our flesh. But He's made
us, raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places, the scripture says. We've already passed tense, been
glorified. We're just waiting for it to
be experienced. I want to experience it. I believe it. I believe it
because the Lord said, receive the instruction of wisdom. That's
what it teaches us is that everything the Lord does is not, nothing
he does is temporary. Everything he does is eternal. Although his chastenings are
not pleasant to the flesh, it's always in love and mercy and
grace. Did you know that? He never chastises
his children. He never chastens his children
in anger or in wrath. You have children. How many times
have you jerked your children up and wanted to pop them, or
maybe you did pop them on the behind because they were acting
up? And then you see some kids at Walmart, and you really, you're
like, I'll do it myself if you don't do it. Here's a belt. I
remember thinking that several times. I was angry, angry at
my kids. The Lord don't do that. The Lord
does not do that in anger. He does it. Why? Because all
of his anger, all of the wrath that he had was satisfied on
the cross of Calvary. Now he just has mercy and grace
and longsuffering towards his people. If he chastens us not, we're
not his children. He leaves those who He did not die to, to themselves.
He does. He never chastens them. He never
corrects them. He never says, receive the instruction. The instruction. It's singular.
It's one instruction. Christ is all. But He makes us,
His elect, His people, to receive correction and wisdom. He makes
Christ our wisdom, don't he? He makes Christ all of our wisdom.
He makes Christ to be seen to his people as the power of God
and the wisdom of God. We can rest in that, can't we? Lord, also, corrects every notion. We don't think like we used to.
Lord's called us, Lord's saved us. We see that he's seated on
the throne, but we still have tendencies of unbelief even then,
don't we? In the world that we go into,
we're so full of unbelief. And what does he do? He corrects
every notion. He's not gonna let the flesh get any glory.
He's not going to let the flesh get any glory. We, we wrestle
against that. We, our flesh kicks against that,
kicks against him being God. And yet in love, he just keeps
saying, seek you my face. And the new man seeks his face.
See the elder, the elder will serve the younger. The Lord said
so. The Lord said so. The elder is subject to the younger. The old man is in subjection
to the new man. He corrects every notion, not
only about who he is, but what he's done. That's why it just
doesn't say that he's instructed us in wisdom. But he also says that we've received
the instruction of wisdom, judgment, justice and equity. And I want
to quickly mention to you what he's saying there. We've received all things from
his hand pertaining to godliness. You can turn back to our text,
we can look at that verse three again. To receive the instruction
of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity. If we were to take
these five parables of peace, we could say that this is all
things pertaining to godliness. All things pertaining to godliness.
You and I don't know judgment, not true judgment. Every judge
that sits on a council as a man, even the most honest, upright
judge, still can be swayed. Not God. He's completely holy. What about justice? What if some
crime is committed? What do we know about true justice?
A crime is committed and then they lock the person up for a
life sentence or they receive the death penalty. Is that justice?
No, you know what justice is? Restoring that which was broken
back to the perfect state from before it was. What does that
mean? That means when God was pleased
On the cross of Calvary with his darling son, justice was
satisfied, and you and I have been restored back to the very
righteousness of God in him. Everything we lost in Adam, we
gained back. You couldn't put a number. I
was gonna say 100 fold. That's unbelief to say 100, isn't it?
I don't know the biggest number I can think of, but it's bigger
than that. That's how many fold the Lord restored his people
back to him because justice was truly satisfied. The sin's gone. That's justice. That's justice. Justice has only been achieved
one time, brethren. Only one time in history. Now,
judgment has been carried out many times. You remember in the
Garden of Eden, the penalty for Adam and Eve sinning, the penalty
was death, and they had to leave the garden. That's the Lord's
judgment. That's the Lord's judgment. And what about Noah? The Lord
wiped out the whole earth, saved eight souls, didn't he? That's
just judgment. When it rained from heaven, that
was judgment. But justice has only been achieved one time in
history. Hell is a good example of what
I mean by that. Hell is eternal for that reason.
Judgment will constantly say guilty, guilty, guilty, and demand
justice. But justice will never be satisfied
with the torment of men's souls because we're not perfect. We're
sinners by nature, by practice, what we do. So we can't atone
for our sin. Our blood is corrupt. Justice
is never satisfied in hell. Judgment always says guilty those
not found in Christ Jesus. No amount of payment that you
and I could produce could put away one sin. No one single sin. But we have received the instruction. The only way to believe what
I've just said so far is to receive to having received the instruction
of wisdom, judgment, justice and equity. We've received this instruction
that when Christ was judged, bearing the sin of his people,
when his soul was made an offering for sin for his people, the sword
of justice awoke. The sword of justice awoke. That's what the scripture says.
Arise, my sword. Arise, O sword. Smite the shepherd. As wave after wave of the wrath
of God fell upon our Lord, the sword of justice pierced his
very soul. It did. It did. As his precious
blood flowed forth, there was a fountain opened, the remedy,
the only remedy for sin. It was opened. The father was
well-pleased with his son's sacrifice. He was well-pleased in the work
that he accomplished on the cross of Calvary, and now the call
is, the command is, come, take up the water of life freely.
Come to this fountain. See, that's the instruction of
judgment and justice. The Lord judged his son. He was
bearing our sin. He was found guilty. He owned
those sin. He felt the sorrow of our sin. That's how he know
he was bearing it in his own body. He felt the sorrow of your
and I sin. You can't feel sorry for something
that You're not bearing you think about the sin how embarrassed
you get whenever you you find yourself in Unbelief or you do
something and you know that it it's displeasing unto the Lord
it grieves you don't it it grieves you we don't go around Bragging
about our sin. No, we're embarrassed Lord. I
don't the things which I would do I can't do because I'm in
the flesh But the things I wouldn't do I find myself doing it. The
dog just returns back to his to his vomit, don't we? No matter
how sorry you and I are no matter how much we grieve because we've
received the instruction of judgment and justice. We know it doesn't
do us any good to feel sorry about it, because we can't feel
sorry enough. It doesn't accomplish anything
with us grieving about it. But he did. He grieved perfectly. He sorrowed perfectly. He pleased
his father with the sorrow that he bore for you and I, for his
people. Justice was satisfied in every
aspect of the word. The cleansing healing stream
washed away the sin of God's people. That's what God instructs
us to understand. That it's not you and I that
can save ourself. He saved his people from their
sin. Justice was satisfied. The glorious
news of the gospel is that now he is pleased to look on his
darling son at his right hand that's seated. to look on him
and pardon a dead dog sinner. Why? Because he don't see us
as dead dog sinners. He sees his people as the very
righteousness of God in him. That is what the Lord causes
us to receive in instruction, in judgment and justice. We see
that Christ is seated. We see that it's accomplished.
We see that everything required has been provided in the Lord
Jesus Christ. The sin is gone. Scripture says
we're whiter than snow. I have a dog that's partly, it's
a Dalmatian, it's got black spots all over it. White dog, you think's
pretty white until it snowed there a couple weeks ago. Well,
that dog looked dirty. Dog was, it looked partly brown,
tan color. He said, you're whiter than snow.
That's what he said. You're whiter than snow. I think
that's probably the whitest substance on earth. Maybe, I could be totally
wrong, but you're whiter than that. because of the blood of
Christ. The Lord's people is whiter than
that. They're cleaner than that. That's what that means, clean.
We've received double for our sins. We've received goodness
and mercy for our sin. We've received grace and faith
for our sin. We've received holiness and righteousness. We've received perfection and
unity with the Father for our sin. That's what he took it and
put it away. That's what Christ accomplished.
Otherwise we would have never been able to receive anything
of the Lord except death. That's the only thing we would
have received. Every man that is told, depart from me that
work iniquity, I never knew you. They received death, the second
death. They don't have a choice in that.
God said, depart. What are you going to do? You got to depart.
But hear what the spirit and the bride say, come. Doesn't
say depart. It doesn't say it apart. I just
mentioned a dog, and I'll use this example. You remember the
Seraphim woman? I've used this analogy quite
often lately, but the Lord called her a dog, and she said, truth,
Lord, but the dogs, they just want the crumbs from the master's
table. They just desire the crumbs that fall, the children's crumbs.
that fall from the master's table, that dog I have will risk my
wrath to just sit at my feet while I'm eating. That dog will
risk me losing my temper and be right there knowing that I
don't like that dog beside me whenever I'm eating. It doesn't
matter. That dog wants a crumb really bad. That dog desires
a crumb more than anything else. Human food is its favorite. It's
very goal-oriented when it comes to food. That dog will jump up
and down, shake your hand, sit, and everything else if you go
and give it a biscuit. That dog will risk my wrath. It will risk
my wrath. But do you know it's not the
same with the Lord? We don't risk His wrath when
we come to the table of His grace to receive a crumb. As a matter
of fact, we're instructed, come, take of the water of life freely.
You're not a dead dog sinner. You're, you're accepted in the
beloved because of what Christ done. You're accepted in the
beloved because of the precious work on the cross of Calvary
that he wrought. No, we don't risk his wrath. His wrath has
been put away. That's what we, that's what the,
that's the instruction that we have received of the Lord is
all about judgment and justice. The wrath is gone for his people. It's gone. No, we don't receive death from
the Lord, we receive life eternal at his word. At his instruction. I want to read this one more
time in closing and I want us to look at this last word. To
receive the instruction of wisdom. Justice and judgment and equity. That word equity means uprightness.
You have received the instruction of the Lord. of uprightness. Everything in this world is upside
down when it comes to God. I'm not talking about that He's
not purposed all things. That's not what I'm suggesting.
I'm saying pertaining to God, everything that we see, physically
speaking, is totally opposite of God. There's no Good among
men, there's no holiness among men, we're upside down. But whenever the truth comes,
when the Lord calls us to receive, he says receive the instruction
of equity. What is he doing? He's taking
us and he's flipping us right side up. He's causing us to see
that everything else is wrong and he is right. That everything
else is false and he is truth. That everything else is bad and
he is good. David put it this way in Psalm
40. He brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay and
set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. He pulled me out of
the horrible pit. I was upside down. More than
that, I was dead, but he pulled me out of the horrible pit, the
sin, the miry clay that I was in. He put a new song in my mouth,
even praise unto our God. See, we're no longer dead, but
we're alive. We've received the instruction of wisdom, of judgment,
of justice and equity. We've been put upright. We've
been put upright. What happened to those dry bones
whenever the Lord said to Ezekiel, can these bones live? Ezekiel
said, Lord, thou knowest. If they're gonna live, you're
gonna have to do it. What was the first thing that happened?
When they came together, they stood upright. That's the first
thing he does whenever he calls his life to be given. You stand
upright. What do you stand in? standing
in the righteousness of God. You know the armor of the Lord
talks about the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness,
having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of
peace, your loins girt about with the truth, the helmet of
salvation, the shield of faith. Then what does he say? Having
done all, stand therefore. I put you there with all of that.
I've given you everything. It doesn't say anything about
the back protection, does it? That's goodness and mercy back
there. That's what follows the Lord's people. The Lord says,
stand therefore, having your loins gird about with the truth.
We no longer are dead. We're alive. We've been made
upright. We've received the instruction of equity. We're no longer lifeless. He's made us stand upright on
one foundation. He pulled us out of the miry
clay and he put our feet on the rock. That's the foundation, the one
sure foundation wherewith we stand, whereon we stand. 1 Samuel
2 says this, there is none holy as the Lord, for there is none
beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God. Neither
is there any rock like our God. He's the only one that can cause
A blind beggar, a lame beggar, a dead dog sinner to receive
the instruction of wisdom, of judgment, of justice and equity. Lord calls me to receive, calls
me to receive. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we
see this miracle of grace as it's described here. We long
to receive of you, Lord, we long for the truth to be. Received
of us, we desire to be taught of the father, we desire to be
drawn, we desire to see Christ. Cause it to be so. According
to your will, in Christ's name, amen. In closing,