Let's open our Bibles again to
Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31. I was thinking, Bert, as you
were reading that passage from Revelation 19 about the fine
linen and the wool, and I thought of one other fabric that relates to the gospel, and it's
in the scriptures as well, and that's silk. And silk comes from
a worm, and how appropriate that is. All these many, many years,
some of you all are old enough to remember polyester leisure
suits. I actually made those in an eating
factory back in the 70s. And, well, what horrible fabric that
was. I mean, it was cold in the winter and hot in the summer.
You know, we haven't been able to improve on wool, linen, and
silk, have we? In all the modern technology
that we have, we still go back to those natural fibers that
the Lord has made. This is what his church is weaving
together. Let's go back to our text in
verse 19. She lays her hands to the spindle
and her hands hold the distaff. We take the silk that's been
so finely woven by the the worms of God. And we're worms because
he made himself a worm. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am no man, but a worm. The Lord, as he bore our sins
on Calvary's cross, became one of us as our substitute. He bore our sins in his body
and he was forsaken of his father. and in order to provide for us
this clothing that we're so in desperate need of, to hide our
nakedness before God. The very first thing that man
did was try to cover himself, didn't he? Adam hid from God,
and the Lord said, where art thou, Adam? Lord knew where Adam
was, but Adam didn't know where he was. Adam didn't know he had
separated himself from God. And what did he say? He said,
I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, and I hid myself. Isn't that what fear does? Fear causes us to hide from God. And that's the The law is such
an oppressive, fearful thing. If I have to do something, if
I have to do anything in order to earn favor with God, in order
to secure my salvation, if I have to come to God with a broken
heart that I have created, or if I have to put together some
sort of faith that I've decided on, That's a fearful place to
be. And yet, if I have a clothing that
God has made, what'd the Lord do? He slew that lamb in the
garden, didn't he? And he provided a covering, an
atonement. That's what our Lord did. on
Calvary's cross. And what does her, what does
his bride do? She just keeps talking about
him. She just keeps working that tapestry on that, on that, on
that staff. And she's weaving together the
wool and the, and the, and the linen and the, and the silk in
order to, in order to clothe her nakedness before God. Look at verse 20. She stretcheth
out her hand to the poor. Yea, she reacheth forth her hands
to the needy. None are so poor as the one who
has nothing to give to God for the forgiveness of their sins.
Is that you? Nothing. Nothing in my hand I
bring but only to the Christ of the cross do I claim. Oh,
he's all we have. Are you poor? I remember my mother
telling me stories about when she was a little girl during
the Depression. My grandfather was an engineer
with the railroad, and so he had work during the Depression.
But she can remember, as a little girl, men coming to their house
and looking for food, and her mother preparing them a meal,
and them sitting out on the front porch and eating that meal and
then moving on. What a horrible time that would
have been. We don't live in times like that today. But that's poverty. And here's a good woman. Here's
a good woman. I didn't know my grandmother.
She passed away long, long before I was born. But look at this. Look at this verse again. She
stretcheth out her hand to the poor. And that's what we're doing
right now. Oh, we're so poor and needy. No one is more needy as one who
is without food to nourish their souls and without clothing to
cover their nakedness. And so every time we come together,
the gospel is only for the poor and the needy. It's not for everybody. You remember when the Lord told
Moses to make that serpent, that brass serpent, and put it on
a pole? Tim, you pointed this out to
me a couple of weeks ago. I never had seen it before, but
the children of Israel were murmuring because they were tired of manna.
They said, we loathe this light bread. We're just tired of eating
the same old thing over and over and over again. You know, the
flesh is not, would never be satisfied with eating the same
thing over again. You know, you don't eat leftovers
after two or three days, do you? You're just tired of them. You
got to do something different. Well, can you imagine eating
manna every day? for 40 years, breakfast, lunch
and dinner, that's all they had. Imagine the recipe book, the
Hebrew women came up with how to fix manna, you know, but that's
all they had. And they were complaining. Well, you know, that's a physical
picture, but it's a gospel message because the flesh is never satisfied
with the bread that comes from heaven. The flesh is never satisfied
with the work and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
flesh wants to do something. The flesh wants to glory in itself. It cannot give all the glory
of their salvation to Christ. They want to take some credit
for it. And so the natural man says,
we loathe this light bread. We're tired of the same thing
over and over again. And God's people just, you come
here and you say, what do you say in your heart? Oh Lord, show
me more. Show me more of Christ. Let me
hear more of your voice and your word. And as I said in the previous
hour, we'll not be satisfied until we're made in his likeness
for the ear is never full of hearing and the eye is never
satisfied with seeing until we hear his voice. Lord, I want
to hear your voice. We hear his voice through faith,
through the ear of faith, and we see him through the eye of
faith, but we desire to be made like him and to hear his audible
voice and to see his glorious body, and then we'll be satisfied. But here's where our Lord is
saying, she stretched out her hand to the poor. She reaches
forth her hand to the needy. Lord, that's me. Poor and needy. I don't have anything. I can't
do anything. I don't know anything. And I can't be held to a message
that depends upon me for anything and find any freedom or any liberty
in that. So they loathed the light bread,
and the Lord punished them by sending fiery serpents into the
camp. And here's what the scripture
says. I think it's in Numbers 29, or Numbers 19, I can't remember,
but here's what the Lord said. If any man has been bitten, when
he looks, he will be made whole. Now, think about that. Not everybody
had been bitten. Yes, all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Yes, the wages of sin is death.
Yes, we born into this world sinners. But to be bitten means
that you have, that you have the sentence of death on you,
that you, that you're able to understand or at least believe
the consequences of this, of this snake bite. I'm, I'm hell
bound. I'm, I'm dead. If, if God doesn't
save me, I, you see, not everybody's been bitten. Not everybody's
been bitten. That's a work of grace in the
heart. when he causes you to come before
him and say, behold, I am vile. I had heard of thee by the hearing
of mine ear, but now mine eyes have seen thee, and I repent
in dust and ashes. In me that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. Woe is me, for I am undone. I
am a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of un...
Lord, I'm a sinner. I've got nothing about me but
that which is sinful. I've been stung by a bifurc snake. and I'm gonna die. And so God
said, if any man has been bitten, when he looks, he will live. You see, everyone that had been
bitten will look. What is the message of man-made
free will works religion? When you are bitten, If you will
look, do you see the difference? If you'll look, if you'll do
your part, then you'll live. That's not what God said. God
said, if you've been bitten, not everybody's been bitten when
they look, everyone that's been bitten will look. That's what
we want to do. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, here we have a picture of Christ bearing the
sins of his people on Calvary's cross. And the Lord said, and
I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to me. The Lord will
cause those who have been bitten to look. Matter of fact, being
bitten and looking happens at the same time. You don't know
you've been bitten until you look. You know, I'm not saying that
there's an order in time, I'm saying that they happen simultaneously. The fact that you've looked to
Christ is the evidence that you've been bitten. And they happen right there together. It's not if you look, but if
you've been bitten, you will look. The Lord's gonna see to
it. And here's, here, that's the,
you see, only those who had been bitten are poor and needy. There was a lot of Israelites
that were staying away from the snakes. They had not been bitten
by any of the snakes. They were fine. They didn't have
anything to worry about. Those who had been bitten, when
they looked, and every one of them had been bitten, looked.
were made alive. They were healed. They lived. Oh, that's what you and I need.
We need life. We need eternal life. Here's
what this virtuous woman does. She She lifts up. Look at verse,
let me go back to verse 10 because it's been a couple of weeks since
we looked at this. Look at verse 10. Who can find
a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies. And I repeat,
in case you weren't here the first hour, the Lord has hid
in this parable, in this allegorical, symbolic language, a picture
of his church. This is how he sees his bride.
And those of you that have been believers for a while and have
been around, you know this virtuous woman's few and far between. She's hard to find. She's not just living on any
street corner. No, that's the other woman that's
being spoken of in the beginning of this chapter. That's the harlot
that's on every street corner, this virtuous woman. Who can
find her? Her price is far above rubies.
Oh, she's everything to me. She's worth. I won't know Christ
apart from her. I've got to have. I've got to
have union with Christ in the church. She's concerned for the poor
and the needy. That's who we preach to, isn't
it? Oh, if you've got two cents to rub together to give to God
for your salvation, then you're not poor. Be poor, you got nothing. And if you got any part of your
body that's not leprous, then you're not needy. A leper is
a person who can't find a square inch of clean flesh on their
body. From the top of my head, Isaiah said, to the bottom of
my foot, I am putrefying sores. That's what we are. And the Lord
was wounded for our transgressions. He was. He was wounded. We sang that in the hymn, Tom,
that you led us in earlier, about the wounds of Christ being the
evidence of our salvation. And here, our Lord was wounded
in his head, and our head is sick, and he was wounded in his
hands, and our hands, everything we touch, we defile, And he was
wounded in his feet. Our feet are swift to shed blood
and our Lord was wounded in his heart. Heart is deceitful. The wicked above all things,
who can know it? Our Lord was wounded in the place
where our sin manifests itself in order to put that sin away.
And he did. By the sacrifice of himself,
he put away Once and for all, he put them away. He cast them
in the depths of the sea. He separated them from God as
far as the east is from the west. And God says, I remember them
no more. Oh, what a glorious husband this bride has. This virtuous woman has a husband
that doesn't look for spoil. She's his spoil. She is his reward. And now she's telling her maidens
who are poor and needy about their husband. Look at verse
21. She is not afraid of the snow
for all her household are clothed with scarlet. That word scarlet is actually
a word that means to be double clothed. We woke up to 26 degrees
a couple of mornings in Montana last week, and we saw some snow
at 11,000 feet elevation. Yeah, we tried to bring some
of it home, but it wouldn't fit in the plane. But here she's saying she's not
afraid of that. Why? Because we had to get up
and put a lot of clothes on first thing in the morning. She's double
clothed. She's got plenty of clothes on. She's going to be
warm. What is that double clothing? Well, Isaiah chapter 40, the
Lord, and I quoted this in the previous hour where the Lord
said to the prophet, he said, comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
speak ye comfortably, speak to their hearts and tell them their
warfare is accomplished and their sin is pardoned. And they have
received of the Lord's hand double for all their sin. What is the
double blessing that God has given to us? Righteousness and
justification. That's the double blessing. You
see, we've got to have a righteousness before God. We've got to be clothed
in wool and scarlet. We've got to be clothed in linen. We've got to have a righteousness. That's what you read in Revelation
chapter 19, Berg. The fine linen that was the righteousness
of the saints as they were called to the wedding feast. This is
the culmination of the bride of Christ coming together and
sitting down at a wedding feast. What a glorious day that'll be.
And she's got to have that double garment. She's got to have the
righteousness of Christ. Our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. We have no righteousness outside
of Christ. Why? Because we're poor and we're
needy. We've got nothing to offer God
but our sin. And as I said a couple of weeks ago, we don't come to
God with a broken heart and with faith. We come to him for a broken
heart and for faith. Lord, if you don't, if you don't
make me poor and needy, I won't be poor and needy because by
nature I'm proud and self-righteous and self-dependent. That's the
way I am. God's bride is poor. Why? Because
he's made her so. He's made her so. And she's needy. And she has not only the righteousness
of Christ, but she's got justification. Her sins have been atoned for.
They've been put away once and for all. What a glorious hope
she has. Look, and that's what she's doing.
She's not afraid of the snow for her household. She's not
afraid of that, that frigid gospel of free will and works. Not for
her children. She's not afraid of that because
she knows the Lord won't, he don't let her go there. He's
already taken out that cold, lifeless, hard heart of stone
and he's replaced it with a heart of flesh. Her heart beats after
her husband. And when he puts his hand to
the lock and she smells his appearance, we sang that a minute ago as
well. And she goes out and she says,
where is my beloved? I'm looking for him. All her household are double
clothed. And yes, her garment is red. It is red. Oh, it's been dipped
in the blood of Christ, hasn't it? Washed in his blood, scarlet. And this is a picture of, well,
look at the next verse. Look at the next verse. She maketh
herself coverings of tapestry or clothing as silk and purple. Where does silk come from? It
comes from a worm. You've got to be made a worm.
And that's what the Lord makes us when we see what he became. He became a worm. And no man,
he calls himself. When he bore our sins. and put
them away by the sacrifice of himself and suffered the forsaking
of his father. We don't know what that means.
We don't know what that means. We're so accustomed to sin and
we're so used to it. Our Lord was made sin. And then Psalm 38, Turn with
me back to Psalm 38, just a few verses. Look what he says. David speaking prophetically
of Christ. And he says in Psalm 38 verse
3, there is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger,
neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. for mine iniquities are gone
over my head. As a heavy burden, they are too
heavy for me." Oh, all you that labor and are heavy
laden, what do men do? They try to carry the burden
of their sin on their back. By his stripes, we are healed.
He was wounded for our transgressions. He's the only one that was able
to bear the burden of sin and put them away. And he calls it
my sin. He makes our sin to be his sin. And this is the only way. Behold what manner of love the
father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. You see, silk and purple is royal
clothing. We've been made children of the
king, not just any king, the king of kings. the sovereign
of the universe. This is what God has made his
bride to be. She's his queen. She's royalty. Is there any way he can deny
his wife? You don't see yourself like this, do you? Do you remember
what I said in the previous hour? The way he sees us is the way
we are. However, he sees us as the way we are. Oh, may God give
us the faith to believe what he said about his bride. She's
clothed in silk and purple. Robes of righteousness before
God. As he is, speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ, so are we. in this world right now, right
now. Anybody that would conclude from
that that it was a license for licentiousness doesn't understand. It's the one motivation that
makes us want to honor him, isn't it? It makes us want to be willing
in his presence. Look what he says. Will you still have your Bibles
open to Psalm 38? Look at verse 11. My lovers and my friends
stand aloof from my sword. My kinsmen stand afar off. My
bride forsook me. My father forsook me. All by
himself. Why? In order to get the spoils
of war. In order to win for himself,
his bride, his church. Look at verse 12. They also that
seek after my life lay snares for me. They that seek my hurt
speak mischievous things and imagine deceit all the day long. Look at verse 17, for I am ready
to halt and my sorrow is continually before me for I will declare
mine iniquity and I will be sorry for my sin. You see, some people
say in order for you to be saved, you've got to be, you've got
to, you've got to be really sorry for, well, how sorry do you have
to be? When God saves His people, they
are sorry. Oh, they mourn after Him as one
mourneth after his only son. They see the wickedness of their
hearts, and they're sorry that they're that way. They're sorry
that they're so sorry. Isn't that true? They've got a heart that doesn't
work. David said in Psalm 51, he said,
a broken and contrite heart that will not despise. What happens
when something breaks? It doesn't work anymore. How
well does your heart work when it comes to sorrowing after your
sin as you ought? How well does your heart work? Not very good, does it? It's
pretty broken, isn't it? Our Lord had a perfect heart,
and He's the only one that experienced sorrow like God required sorrow
to be experienced. And so He's the one who said,
I will be sorry for my sin. He took the sins of His people,
He made them His own, and He expressed to His Father the sorrow,
the grief, that God required and that God demand. Yes, yes,
God's people are sorry that they're so sorry. But don't look to the
depths of your sorrow for the hope of your salvation. He's
the only one that did that. Don't look to the sincerity of
your faith for the hope of your salvation. He's the only one
that had perfect faith. Look to Christ. Look to your
husband. He's the only one able to save
a sinner. She's not afraid of the snow
for her household. For all her household are clothed
with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings
of tapestry. Her clothing is silk and purple. Oh, how beautiful she is in the
sight of God. You see, This takes the eye of
faith to believe this. It really does. This is a work
of grace in the heart to say, amen. Oh, I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful that God has
told me this because if all he left me with is how I see myself,
I would have no hope. Look at verse 23. Her husband
is known in the gates when he sitteth among the elders of the
land. They will know that you are my
disciples because of your love for one another. Let your good works shine before
men that they may glorify your father in the day of judgment. The unbeliever and the Paul,
the Lord speaks of this in the book of Corinthians when he says
when an unbeliever comes in among you And they hear about your
Christ and they see the way in which you all love this message
and one another together. They will be convicted by their
own sin. This is the means by which the
Lord convicts his lost sheep. A lost sheep comes in. It's not
like going in a... You go in a self-righteous, freewill
works, religious service, and all you'll find is a bunch of
hypocrites pretending to be something that they're not. What a glorious
thing it is for God's people to be brought to esteem others
more highly than themselves and to see that this is Her husband is known in the gates.
You see that in religion, men call attention to themselves
by being so holier than thou and so self-righteous. But in
the gospel of God's free grace, with the bride of Christ, this
virtuous woman in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, everybody's
pointing to Christ. Everybody's pointing to her husband.
He's the one that gets all the honor. He's the one that gets
all the glory. You want to see a hypocrite,
just look at me. That's what a believer says. Difference between a believer
and non-believer. They're both hypocrites. A believer knows
he is. He knows he is, isn't he? Her husband is known in the gates
among the elders of the Lamb. She's zealous for good works. She is. Turn with me to Titus
chapter 2. Titus chapter 2, I speak thou the sound things
which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober, grave,
temperate, sound in faith and charity and patience, the aged
women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness
and false, not false accusers, nor given much to wine or teachers
of good things, teachers of good things. that they may teach the
young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their
children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient
to their own husbands, and that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to
be sober-minded in all things, showing thyself a pattern of
good works in doctrine, showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,
sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary
part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you." We'll
skip down to verse 14. Or verse 13, looking for that
blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he
might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar
people. That word peculiar means purchased.
A purchased people, zealous for good works. The Bible speaks of dead works
and good works. Dead works are the works that
men look to for the hope of their righteousness. Good works are
the works that believers do because they are righteous. Dead works,
men acknowledge and take pride in, don't they? Good works, men
don't, they don't notice them. Dead works are motivated by fear. Good works are done in love. Go back with me. God's bride, here's the bride
of Christ, child of God. May the Lord enable us to see
ourselves as he sees us and then to act appropriately. Her husband is known in the gates,
and he that sitteth among the elders of the land." You know,
I was thinking about, there's a lot of people in this world
that hate America. And one of the reasons why they
do usually is because they are jealous of our prosperity and
our liberty. Is that not true? Satan hates Christ. The reason
he does is because he's jealous of the prosperity and the liberty
that his bride has. What prosperity do we have? Oh,
we have everything. Everything that we need we get
from our husband. And liberty We stand fast in
the liberty where with Christ has made us free and we refuse
to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Was it not Satan
that went to the Lord and said, you know, the Lord said to Satan,
have you, have you seen my servant Job? And, and Satan said, yeah,
he serves you only because you're good to him. You let me touch
him and I'll, you will find out what his nature really is. Well,
some of his old nature showed, but in the end, the Lord was
pleased to perfect Job through all that, wasn't he? Now, read
this verse again with me. Her husband is known in the gates,
and he sitteth among the elders of the land. He's exalted above
all other All the other religions of this world, they're jealous
because of our prosperity and because of our liberty. And Satan
is jealous for that reason. And he makes accusations. And
our husband stands head and shoulders above all the rulers of the land,
all the prince of the powers of this air, all the things that
have been let loose by Satan in this world, keeping men in
bondage and in fear. Look at verse 24. She maketh fine linen, and selleth
it, and delivereth girdles unto merchants. Oh, she knits together
that robe of righteousness every time she comes together. We've
said that, and we're doing that now. Look at verse 25. Strength
and honor are her clothing, and she shall rejoice in time to
come. She shall be satisfied fully
when she sees him as he is and she's made like him. When she
sheds this body of death, this flesh, when this corruptible
is made incorruptible, when this mortal is made immortal.
When he splits the eastern sky and the trump of God sounds and
the dead in Christ are raised and those of us which are alive
should be caught up together with them in the air, then shall
she be fully satisfied. She's always, she's looking ahead
and she's looking behind. She's looking back to the accomplished
work of her husband for the hope of her salvation. And she's looking
ahead for his coming again. She's longing and waiting to
see him. She can't find anything in this
world to satisfy her soul. She's waiting for the coming
of Christ. She's looking to the time to
come. Look at verse 26. She openeth
her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness. This is the law of liberty. This
is the law of grace. This is the law of Christ. This
is the law of the Spirit. This is not a letter of the law
that holds men in bondage to do this or do that in order to
earn favor with God. This is the law of kindness.
This is the goodness of God that leads to repentance. This is
the love of God that breaks the heart and causes her to come
again and again and again to her husband, expecting nothing
from him but love and grace and mercy and kindness and goodness. Be kind and tenderhearted, one
toward another, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. This is the law of kindness.
What a blessing it is to be around kind people. God's people are. They are. Oh, we show ourselves,
of course, but right now, right this very minute, as you're listening
and reading this tapestry of grace, it's what you want to
be, isn't it? You want to be kind, don't you? May God give us the grace to
be so. as a result of his kindness toward us. She looketh well to the ways
of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness. Oh, may the Lord give us that
grace to look to the needs of one another. Scripture says that
we're to we're to do good unto all men, especially those of
the household of faith. May God give us the love and
the grace and the kindness and the concern and the burden to
see our brothers and sisters struggling with sin, even as
we do. And not standing in judgment, but coming along beside them
and encouraging them, helping them in their time of in their
time of need. Here's what she does. This is
what the bride of Christ does. She doesn't look down her self-righteous
nose at other believers and stand in judgment of them. She tries
to encourage them and lifts them up. Those that have been overtaken
will sin. Genesis, Galatians chapter six,
verse one. You that are spiritual. You that
are spiritual. What does it mean to be spiritual?
It means that you're not overtaken at the moment. lift one another up. We don't fulfill, in our, in our experience as men in a
local assembly, this, this doesn't look much like us, does it? This is the bride of Christ.
This is the perfect church. This is how the Lord sees his
bride, and he set this up as our standard to look to and to
follow after. Look at verse 28. Her children rise up and call
her blessed, her husband also, and he praiseth her. Oh, God's people leave this place
with a heart full of gratitude for having an opportunity to
hear the gospel, to worship, to fellowship again with God's
people. Heard a man say recently the
whole purpose of the church was fellowship. No, that's not. That's
the byproduct. It's worship. It's worship. It's to lift up Christ. That's
why we're here. And it's the only place where
spiritual worship happens. We are the true circumcision,
which worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have absolutely no confidence in our flesh. Do you have any
confidence in your flesh for the hope of your salvation? No,
no. But you rejoice in Christ? You
rejoice in what he's done and what he's accomplished? Putting
away our sins? Standing before God Almighty
as your advocate? We have an advocate with the
father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He stands in our stead and
presents himself before God almighty. And we've given an opportunity
to meet together where he promises to send his spirit and gives
us his word and calls us out of darkness into his marvelous
light. And the time when we're most
assured of our salvation is when we're here in the gospel, if
the gospel being preached. God's people saying in their
hearts, amen. Oh, what a blessed, what a blessed
thing we have here. She looks well to the ways of
her household and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children
arise and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praises
her. Oh my God. put a guard over our
lips and keep us from devouring one another with words, how evil
the tongue is. The scripture makes that clear.
No man can restrain it. God can. God can. And he praises her. He praises
her. He says to her, one look from
your eye ravishes my heart. And you know what that means?
That means when you pause for just a moment and you're able
by the power of the Spirit of God to offer up a sincere cry
of thanksgiving and worship and praise and supplication, you
got the Lord's attention. He said, one look from her ravishes
my heart. Her children arise and call her
blessed, her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters
have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all." That phrase in verse 29, have
done virtuously, have gotten riches. That's what it literally
translated means. A lot of A lot of wealthy women
in this, in this, in this, uh, world. We've gotten a lot of
riches. You remember the, you remember
the, uh, what Esau said to Jacob when Jacob, when Jacob tried
to give, uh, Esau gifts, Esau said, uh, you keep them brother. I have plenty. I have sufficient. I have enough. I got lots of
riches. And what did Jacob say? Jacob
said, no brother, you take them. I have everything. Everything. And Esau took them. I've got
everything and my husband provides me everything. Everything I need. He's lacking in nothing. He provides
me perfect righteousness. He cares for my soul. He feeds
me. He covers me. He provides me
shelter. Oh, he loves me. He loves me. He's ravished over me. He praises
me. Women, you love to be praised
by your husband, don't you? What a glorious bride that Christ
has here. He doesn't beat up on his wife. He doesn't shame her and demean
her. No, he praises her. Many daughters have a lot of
riches, but this virtuous woman excels them all. Favor is deceitful. Oh, you can look around our city
and find a whole lot of churches that are much more impressive
than this one, can't you? In terms of outward appearances,
that's what the Lord's saying here, favor. Their, their, their
size and their strength and their possessions and their riches.
Oh, that's deceitful. Beauty is vain. But a woman that feareth the
Lord. Do you fear God? You're thinking, not like I ought
to. No, you don't. But here's really what it means
to fear God. Do you fear the thought of standing
in the presence of God without the Lord Jesus Christ as your
surety, as your advocate, as your all in all, as all your
righteousness and all your justification? You've got nothing to add to
it. And if God doesn't save you based on the merit and the work
and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will not be saved
because you are poor and needy. You've got nothing outside of
Christ. That's what it is to fear God.
What a great place that is to find. You see, that doesn't describe
the other women of this world who call themselves the bride
of Christ, does it? They don't fear God. They've
got something to offer. Verse 31, give her of the fruit
of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates. The Lord Jesus Christ sent his
works before him. to recommend him to God, and
God saw the travail of his soul, and God was satisfied. God saw
his work of redemption, and God said, it is enough. It is enough. So does that mean that we become
irresponsible? No. No, we just, our works don't
go before us, except in Christ, to recommend us to God. But our
Lord, did he not say, lay up treasures in heaven? The bride of Christ, she does
work. Willingly, happily, lovingly, gladly. She works the good works
of grace. And they speak. Our heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. Thank you for raising up the bride of Christ here in this
place. Lord, forgive us for falling so far short of what we ought
to be and what we want to be. Forgive us for Christ's sake
and enable us to look to him and to rely upon him for all
our necessities in this world and in the world to come. for
we pray it in his name, amen. 186, let's stand together, number
186.