Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 23. Proverbs chapter 23. I'd like to look at verses 26
through 28. That first service this morning
will be posted, Lord willing. I know that we go verse by verse. I'm skipping a part that you've
heard, but again, the Lord is willing to be posted, but just
a moment of going over what I just said. Solomon, with the direction
of God's Spirit, admonished the people. He said, by the truth, consider the truth himself. The Lord said, I'm the way, the
truth and the life. He said, no man cometh unto the
Father but by me. So considering the truth himself
to be that which is everything, that which is of the greatest
value, he that hath the Son, he that hath the truth, hath
life, The Father admonishes His people, you buy Him. You buy
Him in the only way that He can be bought. Purchased. By faith. Without money. Without price. We buy the Lord
Jesus, the only begotten of the Father. He is full of truth,
grace, the only Savior of sinners, the One who has pleased the Father.
and redeemed those everlastingly loved and chosen of God in Him. You by Him, who is the appointed
great high priest, the only mediator between God and men, the judge
of all the earth, you by Him, in spare no pains, no cost, sacrifice
to obtain the truth, only by faith, Faith must be given. Buy him and sell him not. You know, when you buy something
on an investment, the reason you're buying it on an investment,
you buy a stock, you're buying something because of the potential
for return. I was going over my notes this
morning and I got to thinking about, I moved to Franklin, Tennessee,
1983. When I moved to Franklin, Tennessee,
there's a, back there in the middle of the square, there in
Franklin, it's got a statue there and that statue is looking down
3rd Avenue, looking straight toward the interstate. Looking right down 3rd Avenue
in Franklin, Little nice little houses, older part of town. I
mean, it's little frame houses, stuff like that, you know, 11,
12, 1300 square foot. 1983, I could have bought houses on an average,
$20,000, $25,000, just nice little houses, you know. Talking to
my son-in-law the other day, Houses on 3rd Avenue in Franklin,
average price is a million. One million dollars. One million
bucks. If I knew 37 years ago what I
know today, I'd have bought every house that I could possibly have
scraped up the money for. If I knew, if I knew what was
going to happen that in 2020, those houses are going to be
worth a million dollars apiece. I knew it. Do you know when I
sunk 20,000 bucks in one of those houses in 83? And when I doubled
my money and saved, I don't know, 5, 10 years, whatever it was,
they were now worth $40,000. Somebody said, man, you ought
to cash in right now. You've doubled your money. I
said, no. No, I know. I know something. In 2020, these houses are going
to be worth a million dollars apiece. You think I'd sell them?
It ain't going to happen. It's not going to happen. The
scripture says, in verse 23, you buy the truth and sell it
not. The only reason you want to sell
an investment is because you believe it's peaked out. Next year may not be worth this.
Well, as far as we know, anything in this life could be like that.
But, what I know right now, according
to this scripture, right now, concerning the day of judgment,
and a man and a woman, every man and every woman is going
to stand before God, and the books are going to be opened,
and the book is going to be opened. What I know concerning the judge
before whom every man is going to stand, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,
you buy Him. You buy the truth. You buy the
truth and don't you sell it. Don't walk away. Many have. They
went out from among us. Why? Because they weren't of
us? If they'd have been of us, they wouldn't have sold him out,
Mark. I can tell you that. They wouldn't have walked away. Don't part with the truth. And only by the grace of God
does a sinner not do that. What is a man going to give in
exchange for his soul? That's what the Lord said, Mark
8, verse 37. But those who by the grace of God has bought by
faith the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, right now truth Himself
speaks. He speaks in the language that's
understood by a regenerate. He speaks as God to the objects
of His affection, mercy and compassion. Those that have been predestinated
under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. He says in verse 26, my son,
my son. Oh, what a title. What a title. I think about when that woman
had the issue of blood. She said in her heart, if I can
touch the hem of his garment, I'm going to be whole. If I can
get to him, I'm going to be clean. When she touched his garment,
he stopped, turned around, and he said to her, daughter, daughter. He called me daughter. Can you imagine? He called me
daughter. My son, that title, that position
that thrills the heart of a sinner, made to realize something of
the love of God to him. The sons of God. Those that God's
chosen to be sons. Those that He's given power and
faith and privilege to become the sons of God in regeneration. Those who are led by the Spirit
of God. Those that cry unto Him, Abba, Father. Those who are sons
now. Sons and daughters right now,
but they've not been given eyes to see and ears to hear and a
heart to completely behold what they shall see. Oh, but they
know when they do see Him, they're going to see Him as He is. They're
going to be like Him. What does He say? Verse 26, My son, give
Me thine heart. Here is the word to one to whom
the Lord has given a new heart. The one that the Lord has given
His heart. for those that have been loved,
everlastingly loved, those that He stood for as a surety, and
finally He was made flesh to come into this world and save
them from their sins. Now, I know that this world's
terminology, I grew up listening to this, you know, you need to
give your heart to Jesus. Let me tell you what they're
actually saying. What they're saying is, You need
to give your heart to the Lord in order to be saved. That's
what they're saying. If you're going to be saved,
you've got to give the Lord your heart first. Well now, the only
heart, if it's a heart that you've got to give to the Lord in order
to be saved, then the only one you've got is that carnal heart
of unbelief. That's the only one you've got.
That's the one we're born with. I don't mean to be crude, but
Lord, that's not the heart the Lord's talking about right here.
That's the heart that Satan rules. Those who are of their father,
the devil, that old heart of unbelief and rebellion, that
heart of enmity against God. Why does he want that? That's
the one bear that he removes. and gives a new one. That heart
of stone, that unmoved, unloving, uncaring heart. Oh, but the heart
that God speaks to is that heart that He's given Himself to the
people of His affection. That heart that now is broken,
contrite, A heart that's not despised by the Lord. That heart
that's purified by faith in His blood. That new heart. That heart that God's written
His law on. The law of the love of Christ
that knows Him, fears Him, reverence Him, comes to Him, hears His
voice. That heart that longs for fellowship
with Him in prayer and desires fellowship with God's people
as they hear the Gospel. meeting in public assembly, he
said, you know, my son, give me thine heart and let thine
eyes observe my ways. Not man's ways, but His ways. You know, God's people, regenerated
by the grace of God, they do, they do, they do give Him their
heart. You take a man who loves his
wife, vice versa. They give their heart to their
spouse. They love them. They trust them. They want to
be with them. You've got my heart. You look
at brethren. My heart is with you. And I know
yours is with me. Here's the Lord saying, my son,
give me your heart. And the believer says, Lord,
you've got it. Oh, I wish I knew how to give it as I ought. But
Lord, like Peter. Peter, you love me. Peter, you
love me. He said, Lord, you know all things.
You know I love you. Not as I should. Not as I want
to. Not as I shall. But Lord, I do
love you. My son, give me your heart and
observe my ways. observer, just not merely a glancing
blow. No, but you consider His ways,
you consider the ways of the Lord, that way that is ingrained
in everlasting covenant of grace. You consider the ways of the
Lord that God in infinite wisdom has chosen Lord, show me your
glory. I will, I'm going to cause all
my goodness to pass before you. I'm going to be merciful and
compassionate to whomsoever I will. Consider the ways of the Lord.
These people, they must have their sin debt taken care of.
They've got to be holy and without blame before Him in love. How
can that be? How can that be? God Himself,
here's the way of the Lord, God Himself will undertake. The Lord
will handle this. Thanks being to God, He never
left it to us to do it. The Lord God of heaven came and
made flesh, walked before God in absolute obedience and submission. made of a woman, made under the
law, made Himself answerable for everyone as the representative
of all His people, and established by His obedience the righteousness
of God, a man, a man, the man, Christ Jesus the Lord, the man,
God-man. There was a man that obeyed God. A man obeyed God. And God said
concerning that man, that's my beloved son. And I am well pleased
with him. Can you imagine? A man obeyed
God every thought. He never thought. I can't even
pray without being so disrespectful. I can't even say something to
any of you without having some kind of a thought in my mind
taints everything that I think. He never deviated. Earned righteousness
and then took every sin, the guilt, the sin, bore every sin
of all of His elect that would ever be born, all of them, and
made all of it His. Made sin And before God Almighty and His
justice, He bore the wrath of God in the stead of His people. And He died under the absolute
justice. It was fair. Did He deserve to
die in Himself? No. He knew no sin, but He wasn't
dying for Himself. He said, I laid down my life
for the sheep. I'm dying for the sheep. He was
made what the sheep are. And there, under the judgment
of God, He put their guilt away. Somebody said, well, I understand
that. No, you don't. No, you don't. We believe it,
but we don't understand it. I can't understand God being
made sin. in a man, as a man. That's what
the scripture says. Oh, and they observe that right
now Christ, this is the ways of God, observe, consider my
ways. He said, you consider my ways. There's a high priest right now,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and he ever liveth to make intercession
for his people. And God right now sees the blood.
He said, I see the blood. I'll pass over you. Give me thine
heart. This is his way. He gives me
a heart to love him. Then he says, you give that to
me. God's people do. Why? Why is it? Why is it that
we're admonished to hear the truth? Give him the heart. Give
him our heart. Because there's some danger.
There's some danger out there. Look at verse 27. For a whore
is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pit. Now, the Lord has instructed
His people, give me thine heart. Now He's telling us the alternative
to not doing that. Heart that is given over to the
wording of Scripture. a whore, an adulteress, unfaithful,
a woman that does nothing but longs to steal love and affection in an evil way. But there's no
need to labor the natural understanding. We know the natural understanding
of the woman of the night, but the spiritual significance here
is what I'm talking about. We're being warned against the
allurement of false religion. I won't read it for sake of time,
but Revelation 17 talks about this mystery Babylon, the great,
the mother of harlots, the abominations of the earth. That false religion,
all false religion, I don't care how loving it seems to be, how
affectionate it appears to be, how much they tell you they love
people, how much I'm telling you, there is nothing more than
deception. The one whose aim is to capture
and deceive promise complete fulfillment to those who are
without discernment and those void of understanding concerning
themselves and their need of being rescued from the bondage
and penalty of death. Here's what the scripture says.
And this whore right here is false religion. She's a deep
ditch. An exceeding deep chasm of impurity
that has no bottom. bottomless pit. Those that are swallowed up,
but for the grace of God, ever sinking, deeper, deeper. Hold
your place. Read Proverbs. Well, here it
is, right here on it. Proverbs 22, 14. The mouth of
a strange woman is a deep pit. He that is abhorred of the Lord
shall fall therein. This spiritual whore of false
religion is a narrow pit. The only way I can explain it
here. It's a place where you get in
and you're stuck. You're stuck. And you can't pull
yourself backwards, you can't go forward, you can't turn. You're stuck. Now you're in a
a pit, a narrow pit, a place that no one of their own will
and power and ability can untangle themselves. You're there. That's
false religion. You're stuck in it. And you don't
realize, you can't get out of it. You don't know how to get
out of it. You don't even know you're there. That's how evil
it is. You don't realize you're stuck. And you can't back up and go
forward, you can't, you know, I'll release myself. Not according
to these scriptures you won't. It's a narrow pit. Look what
it said, verse 28. She also lieth in wait as for
a prey, and increases the transgressors among men. Here is her tactic. for capturing the unexpected
victims. She lays a trap, that's what
he says. You know, she lieth in wait as
for a prey. Margin says as a robber. A robber. You think a robber is going to
tell you his tactics, put them in the paper? Next Friday evening,
you know, 1.30 in the morning, I plan to be at so and so's It's a trap. You know, she lays
a trap of lies. She is the absolute, complete
opposite of the way of truth, of buying the truth, selling
it not. When Almighty God is pleased
to call out His own, it is through the preaching of the truth. Everything's open. Everything
is according to the Scriptures. We've got a basis for it. All
lies have no basis whatsoever. There is a distortion. That's
what they'll do, Neil. They'll take and distort the
truth. They rest it, twist it, and say this is true. It's not
true. When Almighty God is going to call out one of His own, God's
truthful about man. and his depravity. You know what
scripture says. There's none righteous, not one. Somebody say, boy, I'll tell
you what. Usually they're talking about, I don't know, it seems
like to me they're usually talking about grandmothers. I don't know
what it is about you let a woman get older and older and older,
and the older she gets, evidently the more righteous she gets.
I don't know, they think, you know. Boy, if there was ever
a woman in heaven, It was my grandmother. I was, you know.
No? Here's the bottom line. From
the crown of the head to the sole of the foot. Putrefying
sores. No soundness whatsoever. God
is truthful about man. He's truthful about salvation.
Salvation is by grace. through faith. That's how you
know it. That's how it's believed. Not
of yourself. It's the gift of God. God is
truthful. He's truthful concerning God
having an elect people. God is truthful. I know men oppose
it. I know men resist it. I know
men deny it. They don't believe it. But it's
the truth. God's got a people and He's going
to save them. Christ died for him. God's truthful
about justice and righteousness being fulfilled for His people
through the broken body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And He's truthful about God's people coming to Him. He says,
Oh that the Father giveth me. Now doesn't that say that God's
got a people? that there's been a people given
the Lord? All that the Father giveth Me shall. Is there any part of that that's
kind of debatable? They shall. What? Come to Me. How do they come? By faith. By faith. How do they come? There's no
other way but by faith. Many of them walked up to Him
physically and didn't believe Him. All that the Father giveth
Me shall come to Me, and Him that cometh to Me, who? All that
the Father gave Him. They're coming. What's He going
to do? He said, I will in no wise cast
out. Now that's the truth. That's
the truth. That's absolutely truthful. And
they're coming by irresistible grace. He said the Spirit of
God is going to remove a heart of stone. Did anybody feel it
when He took them out? Well, how do you know He did
it? I believe God. I believe it. He said I'm going to remove a
heart of stone and I'm going to give you a heart of flesh. And I'm going
to write my law on your heart and I'm going to be your God
and you're going to be my people. That's the way it is. And God's people
say, I believe that. I don't have a heart to rebel
against Him. I know I see myself doing it.
But I'm telling you, I don't want to. I want to follow after
Him. I want to hear His Word. I want
God to have mercy on me. Because if He doesn't save me,
I'm not going to be saved. I can tell you that. Unless the
Lord does something for me. Well, I've done all these things. Well, I can tell you this, everything
that I've ever done, is nothing but filthy rags, and I believe
that. God is truthful concerning those who are kept by the power
of God through faith, ready to be revealed in the last time. I know this, if the Lord fails
to keep me, I'm gone. I'm leaving. I am leaving. I wouldn't be here next Sunday,
you bet that. If God doesn't keep me, don't
look for me. But if he does, by the grace
of God, I'll be here. God saves his people truthfully, powerfully. Oh, but this strange woman, this
whore, this deep ditch, she also lieth and waiteth as for a prey,
and increaseth the transgressors among men. All that whore that
is that woman back in Proverbs 7, or tactics. Proverbs 7 is
out, I'll close. Proverbs chapter 7, what a wonderful
passage of Scripture with the Lord so truthful with us. Proverbs
7, look at verse 9. All that God does is done in
truth, light, openness, openness. Look here, I'll read verse 6
to 9. At the window of my house, I
looked through my casement, I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned
among the youths, a young man void of understanding, passing
through the street near her corner. He went the way to her house,
and in the twilight," now this ought to tell us something. In
the twilight, in the evening, in the black, dark night. Why
is she operating there? Because men love darkness rather
than light. They love to conceal. It's hiding. Verse 10, she's subtle of heart.
What does that mean? Her motives are hidden and concealed. Look at verse 11. She's loud
and stubborn. What is it? Full of talk. Full
of talk. It never ceases to amaze me False
religionists will stand up and basically what they are is motivational
speakers. And they have these cute little
sayings. I mean, it's just cute little...
I can't even think of one right now, but they're always cute,
you know? It always has something to do with, you know, God doing
something. They're just full of talk. But what sayeth the scriptures? You that believe. That's all
you want to know. You tell me what God has to say. Loud and
stubborn, her feet abide not in her house, she's given to
idleness, pleasure. Oh, but back in closing in Proverbs
23, verse 28, she lieth in wait as for a prey and increaseth
the transgressors among men. The cause, she's the cause. of ever-continuing and increasing
treacherousness that whacks worse more and more. You know, among
men they take every opportunity assuring men have no hope. There's nothing that is more
harmful, more dangerous, more hopeless, more soul-damning than
this great whore of lies. Oh, needful sinner, just like
me. What does the Scripture say? My son, you give me thine heart. If a sinner hears those words
and has a heart for the Lord, he's so thankful, he's so appreciative
God's done something, cast yourself upon him for mercy. That's what
a sinner does that's been regenerated By the grace of God. Do you have
a heart to do so? You want to do that. I want to
cast myself. I want to bow to Him. I want
to ask Him, Lord, save me. I thought the Lord already saved
you. But by the grace of God, He has. Lord, save me. I thought He bore your sins and
put them all in a cast as far as the east is from the west.
I thought you don't know many more as far as the guilt. Lord,
forgive me. Oh, God have mercy on me a sinner.
That's the speech of one that has given his heart to the Lord. That's the truth of having bowed
to Him in regenerating, saving grace. It's because he's already
given you a new one. And you'll go to your death giving
him your heart, coming to him again, asking him for forgiveness,
asking him to save you. God's people, they never get
over their need for the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, give me your
heart. I pray God bless this to our
hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.