hymn number 46 from your hardback
timbrel, number 46, Oh 4000 Tongues. Let's all stand together, number
46. Oh, for a thousand tongues to
sing my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of His grace. Gracious Master and my God, assist
me to proclaim, to spread through all the earth abroad the honors
of Thy name. Jesus, the name that charms our
fears, that bids our sorrows cease, tis music in the sinner's
ears, tis life and health and peace. Prisoner free, his blood can
make the phallus clean. His blood availed for me. Hear Him, ye deaf, His praise
ye dumb, Your loosened tongues employ, Ye blind behold, your
Saviour come, And leap ye lame for joy. Glory to God and praise
and love be ever, ever given by saints below and saints above
the church in earth and heaven. Please be seated. Good evening. I'd like for us
to read the first part of Proverbs 8 for our call to worship. and
in preparation for that I remind you of what the Lord has told
us in first Corinthians chapter one when he says but of him of
God the father are ye in Christ Jesus we wouldn't be in Christ
if God didn't put us in Christ who is made unto us all our wisdom
all our righteousness all our sanctification and all our redemption
The Lord Jesus Christ is our wisdom. We have no righteousness
outside of Him. We have no holiness outside of
Him. We have no redemption outside of His shed blood. And so when
the Proverbs speak of wisdom, James said it like this, he said,
If any man lack wisdom, let him ask it of God, who giveth to
all men liberally and upbraideth it not. That's what we're always
asking for, isn't it? Oh Lord, give us Christ. Show
us the Lord Jesus Christ and give us His righteousness, His
sanctification, His redemption, His wisdom. Proverbs chapter
8, here we have wisdom speaking. The Lord Jesus Christ calling
out to His people, doth not wisdom cry? And understanding put forth
her voice. She standeth in the top of high
places by the way of the places of the path. Every time the gospel
is preached, The call to come to Christ is extended to God's
people. She cried at the gates and at
the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto
you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple,
understand wisdom, and ye fools, be of an understanding heart.
How do I know that wisdom is speaking to me? How do I know
that Christ is calling me? Because outside of Him, I have
no understanding. Outside of Him, I'm a fool. I'm
a fool. That's what He said. I'm simple.
Simple, have no understanding. Verse 6, Herefore I will speak
of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right
things. The word there is righteous.
Righteous things. When God speaks, he speaks of
the righteousness of Christ. For my mouth shall speak truth. And wickedness. Is an abomination
to my lips. All the words of my mouth. Are
in righteousness. There's nothing forward or perverse
in them. They are all plain to him that
understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. Receive
my instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice
gold. For wisdom, Christ, is better than rubies, and all the
things that may be desired are not to be compared to him. He's
the pearl of great price, the one for whom God's people, when
they hear his voice, sell all that they have to follow him. Let's pray. Our merciful and gracious Heavenly
Father, how very hopeful we are that you will fulfill that promise
in our midst tonight. where you said that if two or
three are gathered together in thy name, there you are in the
midst of them. Lord, we do pray that you would
rend the heavens and come down, that you would speak to our hearts,
reveal to us from thy word and the preaching of thy gospel,
the glory of thy dear son, and give to your people faith to
rest all the hope of their salvation in his finished work. and in
his glorious person, or that we might leave this place tonight
with comfort, hope of our salvation made sure by thy son. For we ask it in his name. Amen. Let's stand together again and
we'll sing hymn number 361, Sweet Hour of Prayer. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour
of prayer That calls me from a world of care And bids me at
my Father's throne Make all my wants and wishes known In seasons
of distress and grief, My soul has often found relief, And oft
escaped the tempter's snare By thy return, sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour
of prayer, Thy wings shall my petition bear, To Him whose truth
and faithfulness Engage the waiting soul to bless. And since he bids
me seek his face, Believe his word, and trust his grace, I'll
cast on him my every care, And wait for the sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour
of prayer, may I thy consolation share. Till from Mount Pisgah's
lofty height, I view my home and take my flight. This robe
of flesh I'll drop and rise to seize the everlasting prize and
shout while passing through the air, farewell, farewell, sweet
hour of prayer. Please be seated. Yeah, we'll be in, we'll be in,
Well, we'll be in his presence, seeing him in the fullness of
his glory. But for now, let us come boldly
to the throne of grace. We might obtain mercy and find
grace to help in our time of need. We have a high priest that
is entered into the heavens. He has taken his rightful place
at the right hand of the father. He ever lives. make intercession
on behalf of his people. We are in Christ in the heavenlies
right now. Oh, what boldness. That's why
Paul said in Hebrews 4, come before the throne of grace. We're
not coming to a throne of law, we're coming to a throne of grace
and we come with confidence. Confidence that he has done everything
necessary for our salvation. We open your Bibles with me again
to Proverbs chapter 31. Proverbs chapter 31, we began
this message last Wednesday night and I'm calling this part two.
We're going to pick up where we left off in verse 18. But
I want to introduce this message again by repeating what I said
last week. Every believing woman, would
desire for the character traits of Proverbs chapter 31 to be
demonstrated in her life. No believing woman would consider
herself to be a Proverbs 31 woman. I've seen in religion, you know,
women walk around like, well, I'm a Proverbs 31 woman. It's
kind of like the fellow that won the badge for being the most
humble and they had to take it away from him because he wore
it. You know, it just doesn't work
that way, does it? We desire these character traits. Lord, make me to be like this. When we look at ourselves, we
don't see these things in ourselves. But we do see them in the church.
And the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 is not a woman. It is the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ because everything that's said
in Proverbs 31 speaks truth. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ fulfills all the character traits of Proverbs 31. Every
one of them. As she is married to her bridegroom,
by virtue of her union with the Lord Jesus Christ, everything
that's said about this woman is true about the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'm not talking about individual
assemblies of believers. I'm talking about the church,
universal, the church, if you will, invisible, the church,
all those who were put in Christ in the covenant of grace before
time ever began. All those for whom the Lord Jesus
Christ laid down his life on Calvary's cross. All those who
will be regenerated in the day of his power when the truth of
the gospel is spoken effectually to their hearts. All those that
are in Christ right now. That's the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is exactly the same size today as it was before Adam was
made. It's exactly the same size today
as it will be when this world comes to an end and all of God's
elect are brought to faith in Christ. Not one of his sheep
are going to be lost. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
going to fail in what he came to do. He came to save all Israel. That's the church. That's the
church. And the local assembly made up
of those believers? Oh, they rejoice in knowing that
this is how God sees them in Christ. This is how God sees
them in Christ. because of who the Lord Jesus
Christ is and because of what he's done for his bride everything
that's happened we get we get so distracted I wanna remind
you once again that everything that's happening in this world
everything that's happening in your life everything that's ever
happened or ever will happen it's all about Christ and his
church nothing else has any eternal significance nothing it's the
only thing that matters Everything else is going to come to an end,
isn't it? The only thing that has eternal
significance is Christ and His church. And part of knowing Him,
part of having wisdom, is seeing things as He sees them. And so,
that the Lord would enable us to realize that, you know, all
the things that we get so disquieted over, all the things that we
get so worried about, you know, they're In the grand scheme of
things, in the eternal scheme of things, they are of no significance. They really aren't. Now I'm not saying they're not
important to our daily lives and we ought not to be responsible
to the things that we've been given to take care of. That's
not what I'm saying. I'm saying in the eternal perspective. Christ and His Church And so
the Lord is describing his church here in Proverbs chapter 31 and
in verse 18, she perceiveth that her merchandise is good. Oh, she knows that what she's
got is the only thing that really is good. You know, when that
rich young ruler came to the Lord Jesus Christ and he said,
good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And what
did the Lord say? Why callest thou me good? There's
none good but God. God's the only one that good.
And Paul said in Romans chapter seven, in me, that is in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing, no good thing. I'll cause my goodness
to pass before you. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one who qualifies for good. When we call a person good, all
we're doing is comparing that person to a bad person. But we
stand in the presence of God. He's the only one that's good.
The only one. She knows that her merchandise
is good. Let the false prophets merchandise
men's souls with lies, and that's what they do. The false prophets
of this world are not described in Proverbs 31. This isn't every
group that calls themselves a church. This is the true church of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The false prophets are called
ministers of righteousness, angels of light, deceivers, clouds without
water, wandering stars, and there's lots of them, lots of them. And yet this is speaking of the
truth she knows. The true church, she knows that
her merchandise is good. She didn't have to be like a
deceptive salesman, does she? That's what religion is all about,
isn't it? Trying to pull on men's heart strings and tell them lies
and deceive them and get them to do something that they really
don't want to do and get them to follow after some rules and
regulations that have been established by that particular group. It's
just lies. and that's those are the men
that merchandise men's souls, but she knows, she knows that
what she's got is perfect. Now, what if you had merchandise
that was, and I'm not being irreverent here because the Lord's calling
the gospel her merchandise. If you had merchandise that was
absolutely perfect, Not only was it absolutely perfect, but
it was the one thing that every man needed. Not only that, but
it was free. And someone has said that the
evidence of man's depravity is seen in that there is nothing
he needs more than the gospel and there's nothing that he desires
less. There's nothing that man needs
more than the merchandise that this church has, and there's
nothing they desire less. And if God doesn't put a desire
for Christ in our hearts, we won't desire him either. She
knows that her merchandise is good. She's not engaged in those
lies that make promises that are false. Peace, peace when there is no
peace. You know, if you just make this decision, if you'll
follow these rules and regulations, if you'll pray this prayer, if
you'll walk this aisle, if you'll whatever, then you can have peace
with God. And they're saying peace, peace
when there is no peace. And they're healing the daughters
of Jerusalem slightly. They're putting Band-Aids on
cancer patients. She knows. She's got the cure. She's got the cure. She doesn't
have to go around deceiving men. The false prophets are like that poisonous stew that the prophets
cried out, there's death in the pot. There's death in the pot. And what'd the prophet do? Put
some meal in that pot, didn't he? And that bread got rid of
the poison. They're selling men a bill of
goods. They're selling wedding garments
that have holes in them. And like a dishonest merchant,
they cover up the parts that they don't want you to see. Oh,
but our merchandise is good. It's excellent. It's perfect. It's without fault. The Lord
Jesus Christ is our merchandise. He's the one that we're presenting.
He's the one that's good. And He's all we have. And so when we, what we say about
Him, He's without flaw. He's holy, undefiled, separate
from sinners. He accomplished what He came
to do. that you see the merchandise
of the false church is you know god wants to save you god's done
everything he can do to save you now it's up to you and they
put me in on the throne of god don't think but what did she
say my merchandise he's he's accomplished the salvation of
his people He's not trying to get anything done. He's already
got it done. When he cried from Calvary's
cross, it is finished. Everything necessary for all
of God's elect was accomplished in the sacrifice that he made
of himself on Calvary's cross. And all the law of God was fulfilled.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the end of the law. We don't send
men back to the law and say, well, now you keep this law.
You do this, you do that. Maybe you can be saved. Our robe is without holes. His blood is effectual. Not a drop of his precious blood
was wasted on Calvary's cross. It accomplished what God sent
him to do. And so she can say, she can say
with confidence, I am not ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth. to the Jew first and also to
the Gentile. She can say that with confidence.
She can say with confidence, I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. I'm confident that my merchandise is good. It's good. Nothing intimidates her, nothing deters her, nothing changes
her mind. She knows that her merchandise
is good. She knows that it's perfect. And no accusations against her
will cause her to change her message. She preaches the same
message all the time. And though the rest of the world
turn against it, she's going to continue presenting the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look at verse 18. She perceiveth
that her merchandise is good. Her candle goeth not out by night. Oh, the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ has suffered some dark, dark days of persecution over
the centuries. But the true church, though they
burned him at the stake, though they beheaded him, though they
crucified him, her candle wouldn't go out. She would not recant. She would not change her message. in the darkness of sickness and
poverty and plague and doubts and fears. The light of the gospel just
becomes brighter for her. Her candle will not go out at
night, regardless of how dark her days are. If she's the true
church, she's gonna remain faithful. to hold up that light and to
look to that light herself and to hope in faith that the Lord
is going to bring all of his children to do exactly the same
thing. Look at verse 19. She layeth
her hands on the spindle and her hands hold the staff. Now what is the spindle? This
is the spindle. This is the spindle. We don't
study anything else, do we? We don't go anywhere else for
truth. We don't have creeds. We don't have confessions. We
don't have the words of men. Why would we? We have the Word
of God. She lays her hands on the Word
of God. And what does she do? She skillfully compares Scripture
to Scripture. That's what we do every time
we come together. We just compare what God says
to what God says. And God confirms himself, doesn't
he? Comparing the spiritual to the
spiritual, scripture to scripture, she studies his word to show
herself approved, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth. And you know what it is to rightly
divide the word of truth. Robert, you and I have had some
wonderful conversations about this, because you and I had a
similar experience in religion, going to God's word and looking
for history and looking for doctrine and looking for theology and
missing Christ. We were like those Pharisees
when the Lord said, you search the scriptures because you think
in them you have eternal life. You think if you just learn the
Bible, you'll get to heaven. No, no, no. These are they which
testify of me, for in the volume of the book, it is written of
me. And so every time we go to a passage of scripture, just
like Proverbs 31, the self-righteous will say, well, this is the way
we're supposed to be. And we say, what does this tell
us about Christ and his church? This is the way we are. This
is what we are because of Him. Because of our marriage to the
bridegroom, this is how He sees us. You say, well, that's not
how I see myself. Well, what matters? What matters? How we see things
or how God sees things? What's true? What's true? The way God sees it is the way
it is, isn't it? It's just the way it is. And so the Lord's
describing His church, He's describing His bride, and He says, She's
going to put her hands to the spindle. She's going to
hold the staff. She's going to not boast in knowledge
or find something in My Word as a duty for her to perform
so that she can salve her guilty conscience. She's going to look
for Christ. That's what she's going to do.
Sir, we would see Jesus. Isn't that what she wants? That's
all she wants. Tell me what this passage of
scripture says about my Savior because he's the one I need.
He's the one I need to know. He's the one I need to believe
on. What does he tell me about himself? This book is a revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it is from beginning
to end. From beginning to end. Remember
when Paul went to Berea in Acts chapter 17 after having been
in Thessalonica and he said, the Bereans were more noble than
those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with readiness
of mind and they searched the scriptures daily to see if the
things that I said were true. That's how we come, isn't it?
We receive the word. Not just the written word, but
the living word. Is not the Lord Jesus Christ
called the Word of God? In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word was
made flesh and He dwelt among us. Christ is the Word. We don't
separate the living Word from the written Word, do we? The
written Word reveals the living Word. And so we receive the Word
with gladness. We want to know more about Christ.
We receive Christ with gladness and then we... I was talking
to a brother last night about this and he said, you know, he
said, I just, I listen to preaching, gospel preaching, that's all
I listen to. And very particular about who I listen to. But he
was telling me, he said, I listen to preaching and then I just
go back to the Bible and read the passages that were just preached
on. I don't try to follow along while I'm listening to preaching
because it's too difficult for me. He said, I just want to listen.
Faith comes by hearing. Hearing comes by the word of
God. But then I go to the scriptures to confirm what I just heard.
And I thought, that's exactly what Paul said about the Bereans.
And, you know, it's not that we go into our study and the
pastor needs to. The man preparing the gospel
messages needs to be doing that. But for the believer, listen
to the preaching. receive the word with gladness
and then go search the scriptures and see if that's not exactly
what God says. And that will confirm to your
heart the truth of the message. Look at verse 20. Is this not
the church? Look what she says. She layeth
her hands to the spindle and her hands holdeth the staff.
She's working in the word of God to discover the word of God.
She stretcheth out her hands to the poor, yea, she reacheth
forth her hands to the needy. Most folks are not interested
in our merchandise. And I'm not, I hate to say that,
say it that way, but the scripture calls it that way. You know,
don't take that irreverent, we're not. But they're not, they're
not interested in Christ. Why? Why? Because they're not
poor. They're not needy. The gospel
is for the poor and the needy. Now, what is a poor person? According to the scriptures,
a poor person is a person who has nothing, zero. What is a needy person? A needy
person is a sinner, a sinner. You know, I talk to folks sometimes
and they say, well, I know I'm a sinner, and they feel so ashamed
and guilty of the things that they've done in their lives,
as we ought. But you know, an unbeliever can
suffer pains of conscience over bad behavior. When God makes
you a sinner is when you come to realize that the very best
thing you've ever done is sin. That's when you become a sinner.
Are you ashamed of your good deeds? before God. Are you ashamed of your righteousness?
Are you ashamed of the things that other men pat you on the
back for? Man at his very best states altogether
vanity. That's when you become a sinner,
isn't it? Not when you become ashamed and guilty of your bad
behavior, but when you become ashamed before God. Lord, I've
got nothing. I'm poor. I'm needy. I've never done anything to warrant
or worthy your grace towards me. I'm completely dependent
upon Christ. And he is the pearl of great
price. Turn with me to Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14. You'll be so encouraged by this. and that's what the church wants
to do to for her children doesn't she wants to encourage him she
wants to encourage and that's what we do when we fellowship
together we encourage one another when we listen to the gospel
we're encouraged to know that we have a righteousness with
God a righteousness that we have anything to do with a righteousness
this completely outside of ourselves we have a savior we have an advocate
with the father look at Luke chapter 14, this is who the gospel
is for. Look at verse 15, and when one
of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said
unto him, blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom
of God. Then said he unto him, a certain
man made a great supper and bade many, and sent his servant at
suppertime to say to them that were bidden, come. For all things
are now ready. Everything's ready. Don't bring
anything. You know, you get invited to someone's house for dinner
and you think, well, you ask properly, well, what should I
bring? Is there anything I can bring? I want to bring something.
And they said, no, don't bring anything. And then oftentimes
you still do, don't you? You still do. You bring a little
something just to show you're, you can't bring anything to this
dinner. It's all made ready. Everything's finished. You bring
anything, you're going to defile it, and you're going to find
yourself cast out. Verse 18, and they with one consent
began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have
bought a piece of ground. I must needs go and see it, and
I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I bought a
yoke of oxen, and I must go prove them. I pray thee, have me excused. And another said, I've married
a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and
showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house,
being angry, said to his servants, now the call of the gospel goes
out audibly to all men. And all men everywhere are obligated
by God and responsible before God to believe him. And if they
don't, it's all their fault. Those who do believe are made
to believe by the effectual working of the Spirit of God. And that's
who's going to be described here. Look what he says. go out quickly
into the streets and the lanes of the city, that's where the
homeless people live, and bring in hither the poor and the maimed
and the halt and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it
is done as thou has commanded and yet there's room. And the
Lord said unto the servant, go out into the highways and hedges
and compel them to come in that my house may be full. The only
people that have ever come to this feast are the poor, the
lame, the blind, That's the only people that have ever come. You
know what? There's still room. Still room. How do we know there's still
room? Because we're still here. That's how we know there's still
room. When the last of God's elect is called, this whole thing's
coming to an end. We're all going home. We're all
going home. What a day that will be. For
I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden shall taste
of my supper." Go back with me to our text in Proverbs 31. She
stretcheth out her hand to the poor. Are you poor? The gospel is only for the poor.
It's for the naked. It's for the wretched. It's for
the blind. It's for the sinner. It's for
the person who doesn't have anything. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of God. You say, well, I don't know
if I'm, I don't know if I'm, if I feel, if I'm really poor
enough. Let me ask you this. Is there one single thing that
you would bring into the presence of God to warrant his favor? One thing, I mean an old rusty
penny, anything, anything, you got anything you can bring to
God? If you do, you're not poor. A prayer you prayed, a decision
you made, a work you performed, a good life that you lived, anything?
No, the poor don't have anything. They don't have anything. If
Christ doesn't stand in my stead and speak on my behalf and present
himself for me, I've got nothing. I'm naked before God. He knows
everything about me. And He knows that the best thing
I've ever done is sinful in His sight. So I ask you, are you poor? Do you trust in your knowledge?
Trust in your experience, trust in your decisions, trust in your
works, trust in... No. No. The poor trust Christ. He's the pearl of great price.
That's why they're poor. They're poor because they sold
everything for Him. They had to give up everything
they had, all their righteousness, all their... Paul said, that
which I thought was gain, I now know was lost for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ stretches her hand out to the poor. She reaches forth
her hands to the needy, the needy. The only people that she ministers
to are the poor and the needy. Verse 21, she is not afraid of
the snow for her household. When the cold winds of winter
come, she's not afraid. Why? Because her children are
dressed in scarlet. Never one single time has one
of God's children fallen away. Not once. When trouble comes, when discouragements
come, when death comes, whatever might come, he keeps his children
from falling and presents them faultless. I fear for men's souls
when they fall away from the gospel. I fear for them. But I know that if they are able
to stay away, they weren't God's children. They just weren't. She doesn't fear for her children
in the cold. When the cold comes, she knows
that the Lord is going to keep them Keep them dressed. He's going to keep them warm.
He's going to keep them coming. He's going to keep them believing,
isn't he? They're all clothed with scarlet. Look at verse 22. She maketh herself coverings
of tapestry. Her clothing is silk. and purple. That's kingly garb. And the Lord
tells us in Revelation chapter 5 that God has made us to be
unto our God kings and priests. And silk is what the priests
wore and purple is what the kings wore. And God's children have
been adopted into his family and they're dressed in the righteousness
of Christ as kings, as kings They are members of the royal
family. And as priests, they have access into the very presence
of God. What? What hope? Turn with me
to Ezekiel Chapter 16. Ezekiel Chapter 16. You're familiar with this passage.
The Lord describes his bride, his church. Look where she came
from. Ezekiel Chapter 16, Verse 1. Again, the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know
her abomination. You remember when the Lord told
Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 40, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
speak ye comfortably to her. Tell her that her warfare is
accomplished, that her sin and iniquity has been purged, taken
away. She's received a double blessing
from God. And Isaiah listens to this and
he says, But Lord, where do I start? Where do I start? And what does
God say to the prophet? Tell them they are grass. That's where you start. Tell
them that they don't have anything, they can't do anything, they
don't know anything, they're completely dependent upon me
for everything. Tell them they're sinners. Tell
them the best thing they've ever done is iniquity in my sight. Tell them that. That will be
a comfort to them because then they won't be looking to themselves
for their righteousness. They won't be fearful that they
have to stand in the presence of God based on something that
they've done or something they haven't done. And say, show Jerusalem her abominations
and say unto her, Thus saith the Lord God in Jerusalem, thy
birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan. Thy father
was an Amorite and thy mother were Hittite, pagans. You were
born into a pagan country. You were born by pagan parents.
You were a pagan. That's how you came into this
world. As for thy nativity, In the day which thou wast born,
thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water. To
supple thee, thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
None eye pitied thee to do any of these things unto thee, to
have compassion upon thee, for thou wast cast into the open
field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast
born. Now I guess that this is what
pagans would do with a deformed baby. They wouldn't even tie
off its navel. They wouldn't even wash the child. If the child came out grotesque,
they would just throw it out into an open field somewhere. Now God says, that's me and you.
That's how we came into this world. The Lord's using pretty
graphic language here, isn't he? show them their abomination
show them their iniquity now verse six and when I passed by
thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood I said unto thee
when thou wast in thy blood live yea I said unto thee when thou
wast in thy blood live what hope of life did that child that was
cast out into the into the field have? None Nobody in that pagan
culture had any compassion for that child. The sooner that child
died and was out of the way, the better off everybody would
be. And God says, I passed by and I saw you in your blood,
and I spoke. And I said, until you live, and
I have caused thee to multiply. Now, I didn't just speak life
to you, I raised you up. I have caused thee to multiply
as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased, and waxen
great, and thou hast come to excellent ornaments. Thy breast
are fashioned, and thy hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked
and bare. Now when I passed by thee and
looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love, and
I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness. Yea,
I swear unto ye, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith
the Lord God. and thou becamest mine. Then washed I thee with water,
yea, I have thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and
anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broided
work, and shod thee with badger skin, and girded thee with fine
linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with
ornaments. I put bracelets upon thy hands,
and a chain upon thy neck, And I put a jewel in thy forehead
and earrings in thy ear and a beautiful crown upon thy head. Thou was
decked with gold and silver and raiment was a fine linen and
silk embroidered work. And you did eat fine flour and
honey and oil. And thou was exceedingly beautiful. And thou didst prosper into a
kingdom. Now God's speaking of his old
Testament church here. And thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness. By virtue of your union with
the Lord Jesus Christ, all these things were true about you. You
were made perfect by virtue of my comeliness, my beauty, and
my strength, which I put upon thee, saith the Lord God. Now
the problem with Israel, everything we read up to this point applies
to the bride of Christ. Now the judgment's gonna come
upon Israel because she took pride in her beauty. She trusted
in her beauty for her righteousness. And there are those who will
trust in their beauty. They'll trust in what God's done
for them. And they'll trust in the outward
evidences of blessings that they've received. That's what I meant
by what God's done for them. We trust in what God's done for
us in Christ, don't we? But did you hear the language?
Broidered work and silk and purple and all these beautiful garments
that the Lord put upon his bride. That's what she's doing. That's
what she's doing. I pray that's what the Lord is
doing for us right now. Covering our nakedness with silk
and fine linen. Look at verse 23 in our text. Her husband is known in the gates
when he sitteth among the elders of the land. Now who's her husband? And who are the elders? We know
who her husband is. Her husband is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Who are her elders? Who are your elders? We don't
have elders here. We don't, you know, anoint men with some title. The penman of scriptures are
our elders. The apostles and the prophets,
those are our elders. And the Lord Jesus Christ sits
in the gate. What happens at the gate? The
gate of the city is where the elders sat and made judgments
for the city. You remember when Absalom came
home and he sat at the city gate and the people would come to
the city gate and he would make judgments for them and he said,
if I was king, if I was king, things would be different around
here. You remember when Boaz went back to reconcile with that
kinsman that was nearer to Ruth than he was, and he met with
the elders in the gate. This is where the judgments of
God take place. And so our husband meets with
the elders in the gate, and he makes judgments. What kind of
judgments does he make? Well, what kind of judgments
has he made to you? He makes judgments about us. We just read what he, the judgment
that he makes about us. We're sinners. We've got nothing. We're completely dependent upon
him for everything. He makes judgments about himself.
He's the son of God. He's the successful savior of
sinners. He makes judgments about how
it is that he's going to reconcile sinners to himself. And his judgment
is when I see the blood I'll pass by you, I'm gonna judge
you based on the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. However we come to God, whatever
grounds we come to God on is the grounds by which he will
judge us. You come to God based on the law and you're gonna be
judged by the law. You come to God based on the
shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our husband makes
judgments for us with the elders. And all the elders speak the
same thing, don't they? And people think, well, the Old
Testament's written very hard and the New Testament's very
soft. No, no. No, all the elders say the same
thing. They all say the same thing. Look at verse 24. She maketh
fine linen. Now linen is made from flax and
it has many uses in the scriptures. Joseph, when Pharaoh rewarded
him and set him up as the second in command in the kingdom of
Egypt, Joseph was robed in fine linen. Aaron, as the priest,
was robed in fine linen. All the curtains in the tabernacle
were made of fine twisted linen. Hey, we know that everything
in that tabernacle, it points to Christ. It points to that
holies of holies where the Lord Jesus Christ went in and put
the blood on the mercy seat and said, here, I will meet with
you. And all those curtains pictured
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he died on Calvary's cross,
the scripture says that veil, that curtain, was rent from top
to bottom. God said, now, your forerunner
has gone in. He's put his blood on the mercy
seat. Linen was used for wicks on oil
candles. And the scripture tells us in
Isaiah chapter 40 that the Lord will not snuff out a smoking
flax. Remember flax? Smoking flax. He did not put it out. She's giving her children linen. Making them priests and kings.
Tell them about the tabernacle. Tell them about Christ. Giving
them wicks and oil for their candles. That's what she does. She gives her children fine linen. and honor are her clothing and
she rejoices in the time to come. What is your greatest, greatest
hope? The time to come, isn't it? The
time to come. Paul said, for me, to die is
gain. John said, when we see Him as
He is, we'll be made like Him. Oh, that comfort ye one another
with these words, when the eastern sky splits and the trump of God
sounds, and the dead in Christ are raised, and those of us which
are alive will be caught up together with them in the Lord, in the
air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. She rejoices in
the time to come. She's looking forward to that
day. when she sees her husband in
the fullness of his glory sits down with him at that wedding
feast. She's like those five virgins,
isn't she? Remember the ten virgins? And
when the bridegroom came, five of them had oil in their lamp
and five of them didn't? Oh, Lord, make me to be a part
of this virtuous woman. I want to have oil in my lamp
when the Lord comes. I want to rejoice in that which
is to come. Verse 26, she openeth her mouth
with wisdom. She speaks of Christ. And in
her tongue is the law of kindness. She's not condescending. She's
not judgmental. She's not angry. She speaks with
pity and with kindness because she knows, she knows by her own
experience what it is to be a sinner. A lot of, a lot of preaching
is just self-righteous judgments that men are making and it's, That passage in Isaiah chapter
40, I've already quoted it once. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
Speak ye comfortably to her. Speak to her hard. In her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways
of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness. She's not idle. God has put into her a love for
Christ, a love for the brethren. She seeks to do good unto all
men, especially those of the household of faith. She's not
an idle woman. Her children arise and call her
blessed. What's the greatest blessing
you have in your life? The greatest blessing you have
in your life? What is the, apart from your own personal salvation,
what is your greatest blessing? I'll tell you what mine is. You
are. This church is a place where
we can come together and hear the gospel, preach on Christ and talk about
Christ and fellowship in Christ. This is the greatest blessing
of my life. It's the greatest blessing of Trisha's life. Her
children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also, and
he praises her. Look at my wife. Look how beautiful
she is. She's beautiful because I've
made her beautiful with my comeliness. Oh, she's a trophy of His grace,
isn't she? Many daughters have done virtuously. Now this word virtuous means
strong or wealthy and what I see in this in this verse many daughters
have done virtuously you compare us to some of the big religious
denominations and big religious organizations in the world and
what do we say some women are a lot stronger and a lot wealthier
than we are but Thou, here's her husband speaking,
Thou excelest them all. I'm not interested in their strength.
I'm not interested in their beauty. I'm not interested in their political
power. I'm not interested in their pride.
I'm interested in my bride and she excels them all because she's
got the pearl of great price. Favor is deceitful. Beauty is
vain. Oh, there's so much deceitfulness
out there in man-made religion, isn't there? People are attracted
to that. Well, look, God must be blessing
them. Look at the number of people they have. Look at the big buildings
they've got. Look at the programs they've got. God must be blessing
them. Let's go get in on that. And
they jump on the bandwagon. And God says, favor is deceitful,
beauty is vain. But a woman that feareth the
Lord, she shall be praised. give her of the fruit of her
hands and let her own works praise her in the gates. There's only
one person that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to say in that
day of judgment, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into
the kingdom prepared for you. And that's his bride. That's
his bride. And everything she does because
of her union with her husband. See, this describes the bride
of Christ. And by the grace of God, this
is who she is. This is who she is. And her works
are gonna praise her because her works are his works. All right, brother Tom. 272,
let's stand together. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness veils his lovely
face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. His oath, His covenant, His blood
supports me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all I hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand.