Well, it's good to see all of
you. I'm gonna ask you to take your Bibles and turn with me
to the book of Proverbs chapter 31. Proverbs 31. I would like for us to consider
verses four through nine. and this passage of scripture
that I've tried, prayed, sought God's leadership, direction on
this blessed, blessed, beautiful passage of scripture. The words of Paul the Apostle
came back to my mind So many times, who's sufficient for these
things? Who is sufficient to set forth
the glory of these blessed words? What I want you to do with me
before I look at this, because I'm going to tell you right now,
it is an amazing passage of scripture. And for myself, and I pray for
you, that as we look at these verses, let us remember these
words are God breathed. Everybody says, oh yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, I know that. Let me tell you something. These
words this morning are words that are so indescribably wonderful. Every time I'd go over my notes,
and I've been trying to go over my notes on this passage of scripture
now for three days, and every time I go over my notes again,
I'm lost in the wonder of the majesty of these words. To grasp something of the understanding
of these words, I want you to go with me in your mind before
we even look And I want you to just pray and seek that the Lord
would give us an ability to do something that I know is humanly
impossible. I want us to try to go into the, I want to say time, but I can't
even use that word. I want us to go into the thoughts
of eternity. when there was nothing but God. That's how the scriptures begin. In the beginning, God. And go with me and realize that
things that we consider, the wonder of God's majesty, glory,
redemption, that all of these things were known, settled in
the mind and heart, will, purpose of Almighty God before the foundation
of the world. When there was nothing created,
no animals, no earth, no nothing, God Almighty settled this issue
of redemption. Before there was a sinner that
fell, a sinner that was created, a sinner that failed, a sinner
actually in time redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All these things were done and finished. Here's the slate that
we're looking at. Acts 15, 18, known unto God are
all his works. the beginning of the world. I
looked at that and it just says when there was no beginning,
when there was no nothing, when there was God. Before the foundation of the
world, God knew. God knew that his creation of
mankind would fall in Adam. He knew that his people that
he had everlastingly loved would come forth from their mother's
womb, speaking lies. He knew that. But the scripture
sets forth that God had a people that he loved. And knowing all
these things, the Spirit of God has been pleased to teach God's
people something about this marvelous truth of redemption, salvation
in the person of Christ Jesus. Every regenerated saint knows
that God has eternally chosen a people in Christ before the
foundation of the world, eternally, that they should be holy and
without blame before him in love. God's people know that. They've
been taught by God's Spirit. They've read it in scriptures.
They know that. Every regenerated saint, every
regenerated man, woman, knows that they were born into this
world dead and without hope in themselves, possessing the same
heart and attitude toward God as every unbeliever. They have
a heart that is wrathful. against God, against God's truth,
against God's sovereignty, against God's right to do what he will,
with whom he will, when he will. They know that. But God Almighty, who knew before
this world was ever spoken into existence, when God himself said
with himself, let us create man, let us make man in our image.
But for any of that, God Almighty, who would in no wise clear the
guilty without His justice being satisfied, eternally purposed
to punish the guilt that His people in reality had never done. Nobody ever rebelled against
God in time. But in the mind of God, he knew.
He knew what they would do. And to justify them of any charge
of breaking his law, a law that they had never actually in person
broken because they were never created in time. But God knew. He saw. He knew what was going
to happen. He knew. Almighty God knew. that he would
redeem a people. He would do this through the
person of his blessed son, the one who in covenant agreement
had agreed to take upon himself the form of sinful flesh. Flesh, again, in actual reality
of being made, they had never done because they were never
created. God knew they'd fall. God Almighty
knew. In this knowledge of what God
had been pleased to see and behold and purpose in himself to redeem,
God Almighty made with himself a covenant before the foundation
of the world. The Father said, I will choose a people
unto myself that will be with me forever and live before me as
objects of my mercy. The Holy Spirit said, I will
redeem them. I will redeem them. I will come
into this world, and I will actually live for them. Now, they've never
been created yet, but all this is settled. This is all settled.
I will live for them. I will walk before you, Father,
as their representative. I will live for them. I will
obey your law that they will break. It was already done in
the mind of God. They'd already broken it. I will
live before you as your representative for them, for the elect that
you've chosen. And the spirit of God said, I
will call them out of darkness. I'll give them a new heart, a
new heart that loves you. A new heart that bows to you.
I will absolutely give them a new will. I'll create them anew. I'll make a new man. All of this
is settled now. It's all done. Every bit of it's
done. God ever made anything. This
is done. Now, that agreement that was
made by God with himself in the three persons of his being, Father,
Son, Spirit. That agreement, that agreement
is what set forth by Paul the Apostle in Galatians chapter
4 as the mother of us all. That agreement, that was called
the mother. of free grace. You remember the
allegory, talk about, you know, Hagar and how she and Rebecca,
they had the, had, you know, a squabble over and they were
going to, Abraham was going to have a child and he gave, Hagar
was given to a handmaid and they were going to try to produce
a child by flesh, works of the flesh. That was an allegory. It was going, it was an allegory
that was going to be setting forth. This, this is what's happened. Man is going to come into this
world, he's going to fall, and, and, and Adam's transgression,
God knew that, but God Almighty is going to save her. And this,
this, this covenant disagreement is called the mother. Turn over
there with me. We read this last time. This
is too important. Galatians chapter 4. Galatians
4. Galatians chapter 4. Starting in verse 21. Tell me
ye that desire to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham
had two sons, one of a bondmaid, filled by a free woman. But he
who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he
of the free woman was by promise. These things are an allegory. These are two covenants, one
from Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar. This
Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which
is now, which now is and is in bondage with her children. But
Jerusalem, which is above, is the free, which is the mother
of us all. So here we are. And we're going
to just go back in time. We're going to consider what's
happened and we're going to see how God has been pleased by sovereign
grace to save his people. And it's going to be done here
in Proverbs Chapter 31, we looked at the first three verses last
time. We know that these, these, the
persons that's involved in this scripture is the words of King
Lemuel. That's a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he's listening to a prophecy. He's listened to the teaching.
He's listened to the instruction of his mother, his mother, which
according to the scriptures, That mother of us all is this
covenant of grace. Now, just understand that this
covenant of grace that I'm talking about is personified as being
a woman, a woman. And the covenant of grace is
speaking to the son, my son, son of my womb, son of my vows. And here's the instruction that
she's going to give to her son. And again, Don't get it in your
mind that this is an actual woman. This mother is the mother of
all that is birthed into this world by God's grace. The mother of us all is the covenant
made with God himself in his three persons for all of his
land. And this is the calling out of
God almighty. come into this world in the likeness
of sinful flesh for his elect, and he would live as their representative,
earning as a man the righteousness that God would accept because
God produced it. God's going to accept what God
does. They were made what they are
by nature, sin, but according to the will of the mother. covenant
of grace. God's going to save them. He's
going to save them by His power. And so here's what the mother
says unto the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer. Here's her instruction. Now, here's the amazing thing.
Just understand that these verses we're looking at, this is God
talking to God. This is God, the representative
of His people talking to God the Father, talking to the Spirit.
This is God talking to God. And here's what, in verses 4
and 5, here's what the mother, the covenant of God's grace,
says to the representative that's going to stand and answer for
all of his people, those that had sinned against God. God knew
they were going to do it. I said, but he comes and he sends
this word of exhortation to all of God's people. And here's what
the mother says. She says in verse four and five,
it's not for kings, O Lemuel, it's not for kings to drink wine,
nor for princes strong drink as they drink and forget the
law and pervert the judgment. any of the afflicted. Mother,
the mother of us all, the covenant of God's grace is speaking to
the Lord Jesus Christ. And this covenant is giving instruction
to him who humbled himself and made himself of no reputation.
He's listening to her instruction. This is why I say, the more I
read this, the deeper it got. I've come this morning begging
God. Lord, please help me to say this in a way that it's understandable. I don't want to mix anybody up.
I want to set forth. But here is the covenant, the
mother of us all, the covenant of God's grace. And she's given
instruction to the one that's going to answer for us. Here's
what she's saying. Here's what the mother of us
all, the covenant of God's grace is saying to the Lord Jesus Christ.
She said, it's not for kings. Who are these kings? Well, it's
God's elect. Those have been made kings and
priests under God. It's not for kings to drink wine. It's wine of rebellion. I'll
show you in just a minute. Nor for princes strong drink.
Let's say drink and forget. You know how those of you that's
ever tasted alcohol, if you You just get a little bit too much
of it and things just get a little cloudy. You don't think like
you should. You're aware of where you are
and all this kind of stuff, but just you get cloudy, you drink. But let me tell you something,
spiritually speaking, when you drink the drink of rebellion,
the drink of the great whore, of false religion, your mind
is cloudy. The mind is, it's not for kings,
it's not for God's people, it's not for kings to drink wine,
the wine of rebellion, or for princes strong drink, lest they
forget. It's not for kings that's been
made so, by God's grace, strong drink of rebellion. Oh, what
a drink is offered. by Satan, trying to cloud the
minds of God's people. I was thinking, turn over to
Revelation chapter, I think it's Revelation 17, I'll tell you
in a second. Revelation 17. It's not for kings, those that
have been made so by God's grace. It's not for them to drink strong
drink. Here's the strong drink that they're not supposed to
drink of. Look at Revelations 17, starting in verse one. There was one of the seven angels
that had seven vows and talked with me saying, come unto me,
come hither, and I'll show you the judgment of the great whore.
that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth
have committed fornication, spiritual fornication, and inhabitants
of the earth that have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. This is the issue. This is what happens if God doesn't
deliver one of his own. If he doesn't pull any man, any
woman, out of the depth of this, the effects of this great whore.
False religion, false man-centered religion. That teaching that
says that men are the objects of their destiny. They're the
source of everything. You can make a decision. God
wants to save. And the Spirit of God has taught
us through the scriptures. It's not by works of righteousness
that we've done. It's not. It's according to His
mercy that He saved us. These works, these works that
men think that they can do in order to be saved, that God will
accept, that's the great whore. I don't want to be you know,
too graphic, but I just want to be plain with you. False,
man-centered teaching that says that man has a free will. That's
a whore. That's a spiritual whore that
says this. How do you know that? Because
the Bible says. So the scripture says who this
woman is. It says, So he carried away, verse three,
Revelation 17, he carried him away by the Spirit into the wilderness. I saw a woman sitting. I saw a woman upon a scarlet-colored
beast full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and horns,
and the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet-colored deck
with gold and precious stones, pearls, having golden cups in
her hand, full of the abominations filthiness of her fornication.
And upon her head, her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon,
the great, the mother of harlots, abominations of the earth. And I saw a woman, and I saw
the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood
of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with
great admiration, and an angel said unto me, wherefore didst
thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of this woman, and
the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads. The
beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and shall ascend out
of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition. And they that
dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written
in the book of life, from the foundation of the world. when
they behold the beast which was and is not and yet is. If you
want to know how bad is it, how bad is it to give yourself to
false free will, man-centered, man-deciding, man being the author
and finisher of his faith, that it's all up to man, how bad is
that? Bible says it's a whore. That
is a spiritual whore. You say, well, that's pretty
graphic. Well, I'm going to be just as graphic as God. The writer
of Revelation, John the Baptist, while he was on the Isle of Patmos,
saw this woman. Oh, she was beautifully decked.
She had, I mean, she had beautiful garments on. She's so alluring
to the world. You come, she's like that woman
that caught the man in Proverbs chapter seven. You go back and
see, she wooed him. She said, come, you know, good
man's gone out for a while. Come, let's take our love. Let's make our love, you know,
come with. And he didn't realize it until a dart had gone through
his heart, who she was. This is, this is, So here's back
in Proverbs chapter 31. The covenant of God's grace,
the mother of us all says, verse four, it's not for kings, O lame
mule. It's not for kings to drink wine or for princes strong drink. Let's say drink and forget the
law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. You
remember when the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross and they, a
soldier, came up to him. And here he was laying down his
life for his sheep. He was redeeming his people.
He was paying their debt. He was putting away the debt
that was owed to God Almighty. He was dying. He said, I lay
down my life And a soldier came up and he
took, he had some wine and gall and was gonna give it to him.
I read a lot of the commentaries that said what they would do,
they would give that to these people that were being crucified
to kind of numb their feelings and get it where they just couldn't
feel the pain. I mean, it was a painful death
to die by crucifixion. whether or not they would consider
that being merciful or kind or considerate, trying to take away
some of that numbness, you know, and trying to kind of assuage
the pain that they were going through. They'd give them this
wine gall, you know, to try to numb them. And they offered it
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he tasted it, he just,
and he said, wouldn't drink it. He would not drink it. That was
a picture. He suffered on Calvary's tree
fully aware of what he was doing. There was no numbness to him.
There was no taking the pain away from him. He knew what he
was bearing. He was bearing the guilt of his
people. He was bearing the justice of
God's law toward those that had broken his law. And he knew who
he was dying for. They'd broken his law. They were
his sheep, and he's going to save them. And he's not going
to do anything that's going to take away the realization of
that full, blessed, substitutionary death. It's not for kings to
drink wine, lest they drink and forget the law, forget what God
demanded, and pervert the judgment God's people failed in Adam and
all the high cost of what we call free grace. What a cost. The son of God himself, according
to the mother of us all, the covenant of God's grace, was
going to assume all the responsibility I'll die for. I will feel what
she deserves. I'll die for her. All the blessedness in verse
6 and 7. Says now. Give strong drink unto him that's
ready to perish. And wine under those that be
heavy. Be of heavy hearts. Let him drink
and forget his poverty and remember his misery now. When the Lord
Jesus Christ went to the cross, they tried to give him something
that would numb him, that would cloud his memory, cloud his mind,
cloud his ability to comprehend. He wasn't gonna have it. But what do we do now? What's
being said here in this 6 and 7? Now, the scriptures say, now
you give strong drink unto him that's ready to perish. wine
unto those that be of heavy heart. Let him drink and forget his
poverty and remember his misery no more. While we're warned against
drinking the wine of ungodliness and rebellion, false religion,
we're warned against drinking the wine of that great whore. That wine that numbs the understanding
of men That wine given by Satan himself, the great liar, giving
men that wine that gives men false hope, false strength. You know, I hate to be so blunt
again, but you know, you get you too many, get you a few glasses
of wine, you know, you think you're stronger than you are.
You think you can take on the world. That may be costly. And here, spiritually speaking,
we're warned against it. Don't do that, don't do that.
But this wine, we're encouraged to drink. It's not the wine of
false hope, but it's the wine that is to be given to those
that are ready to perish. I looked at that, I kept looking
over at that, and I kept thinking, now give strong drink unto him
that is ready to perish. This is the wine, the sweet wine,
of God's blessing and mercy. Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. Look at this. Isaiah 55, one. Oh, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. He that
hath no money, come. Come ye buy and eat, yea, come
buy wine and milk without money, without price. This wine right
here that's being spoken of is the sweet wine of God's blessing. Come let him buy by faith the
wine, the sweet wine of God's mercy. Not drink of the false
wine, that false deceiving wine, False religion, not that. That's
what the covenant of grace, the mother of us all, was telling
Solomon, the Lord Jesus Christ, on our behalf, don't drink that
one. Don't drink that one. Oh, drink this sweet wine. To
those, though, that is ready to perish, that was the part
that was getting me. But what it was, it was talking
to those that now, in their hearts, they're like Simeon. Old Simeon,
remember what Simeon said when he saw the Lord Jesus Christ? He said, Lord, let thy servant,
what? Depart in peace. I've seen your
salvation. God's people that know Christ
have been made to drink that sweet wine of the mercy of God's
covenant grace in Christ Jesus. They're ready to perish. They're
ready to die. I looked it up. It's what it
means, ready to die. How many people are ready to
die? Those that know God. Lord, I'm, now, Lord, let me
depart in peace. Let me leave this place. You
that's got a little age on you, do you ever find yourself just
a little bit more? I'm ready, Lord. Thank you for
mercy. I'm ready to, I think I know
a little bit more about ready to die, ready to go, for a long
time. You just think, I don't even
know why you could even talk like that. Give strong drink,
drink the sweet wine, buy that wine, that honey, buy that
sweet wine. Give it, give strong drink unto
him that's ready to perish, and wine to those that be of heavy
hearts. Oh, the heavy heartedness of
those that see something of themselves. They see something of their flesh,
they see something of their frailty, inability. Oh, wretched man,
Paul the apostle said, oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? Verse seven, let him drink and
forget his poverty and remember his misery no more. What, forget
what he is by nature? No, but forget that that poverty
has been borne by the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
put it away. And remember his misery no more. I see in me that
is in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing. Am I thrown to
despair? No, no. The Lord has borne all
this for me. Forget that God is still laying
to my charge what I am by nature. Christ has borne my guilt. Let
him drink. And then in verses eight and
nine, open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such
as are appointed to destruction. Now there was another, those
that are appointed to destruction. It made me remember those whenever
like Esther, and actually what it means is not appointed to
this destruction by God, but those that are appointed to die
in this world. When Esther, remember when she
found out what was being planned against all the Jews there and
she cried out and she sought mercy Asked the king, told the
king what was going on. It was those that this world
hates. Those that are appointed to destruction. Again, not, not to the destruction
of their persons, but you open your mouth. And here's again,
the mother of us all speaking to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. According to the covenant of
grace, open thy mouth, judge righteously and plead the cause
of the poor. and needy, that's what we are,
poor and needy. What is this opening their mouth
wide and judge righteously? What is that setting forth? That's the witness of the Lord
Jesus Christ that speaks to the hearts of God's people, pleading
their cause. I laid down my life for you as
the intercessor, as the substitute. I've borne all your guilt. I've
paid all your debt. Now you open your mouth wide.
Open thy mouth for the dumb. That's us. I don't know how to
open my mouth wide, but the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the
covenant of God's grace, knows how through the preaching of
the gospel to open his mouth wide and speak to us and teach
us of our redemption by his precious blood. Oh, the glorious conversation
that took place before the foundation of the world. God speaking to
God in that covenant of mercy, covenant of grace, and the covenant
of grace being set forth as the mother of us all. And she's speaking
to the Lord and the Lord is listening to her. He hears the demands
that's due. She agrees to it all. He lays
down his life and now the Lord is saying, now you go, you go
forth and you open your mouth wide. You tell people, those
that are ready to die, Lord, I'm ready. And you teacher, I
pray that God give us some understanding of the depth of this glorious
passage of scripture that we might see the beauty of redeeming
regenerating and keeping grace in Christ Jesus and not ourselves. For God's glory and our good.