Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 22. Proverbs 22. Let's
look at verse 11. Proverbs 22 11. He that loveth
pureness of heart For the grace of his lips, the
king shall be his friend. Now according to this scripture,
there's three things that we know. Number one, there is a king. And number two, he has some friends. Number three, his friends are
known by some very specific characteristics. All right. Number one, there
is a king. And the king of whom this scripture
speaks is none other, according to 1 Timothy 615, the King of Kings and the Lord
of Lords. He is the King who is worthy
of all honor, glory, and praise. He is the Most High God. According to Daniel 4, 34 and
35, who liveth forever and ever,
whose dominion and kingdom is from generation to generation,
and all the inhabitants of the earth, now listen to this, are
reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest
thou? You know temporal kings in this
earth, they rule in their little particular
domain for just a little while. But the king, and I'm talking
about God, you know that. He rules over all. And let me say this concerning
the king. Contrary to popular opinion,
it's not what will I do with him. But here's the question. What is he going to do with me? Whenever the Lord stopped Saul
of Tarsus, Saul was an arrogant Pharisee. And he had it in his mind that
he was going to Damascus. And he was going to take those
who he considered to be the enemies of God. And God stopped him. And asked him, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And
Saul asked him, who are you? And he said, I'm Jesus of Nazareth,
the one you're persecuting. And Saul of Tarsus, obviously
after the Lord had immediately taught him something, said, Lord,
what would you have me to do? No more arrogance, no more haughtiness. Let me ask you this. How long
has he been the king? Well, the scripture declares
1st Timothy 117, now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible,
the only wise God be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. So be it. He is the eternal
King, the eternal King of creation, providence and salvation and
of his government. The scripture declares there
is no end. The immortal king, he who was
made flesh, came into this world to save his people from their
sins. And according to God's everlasting
covenant of grace, He was made sin. He was made sin. And laid down His life for the
sheep. And God raised Him from the dead.
And right now, He ever liveth. That's what He told John on the
Isle of Patmos. I am He which was dead. And behold,
I live. evermore, and I have the keys of hell and death. He is the
invisible King, 1 Timothy 6, 16, who only hath immortality
dwelling in the light which no man can approach and to whom
no man has seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. He is in heaven, in glory,
but he's also said to be in the hearts of his people, invisible
now, though present. What he said, two or three are
gathered together in my name, I am in the midst of you. Oh, but there's coming a time,
there's coming a day, that second coming of the Lord, though he's
invisible right now. The scripture says, Revelation
1-7, Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him.
Everybody's gonna see him, some glad and some not. And they also
which pierced him, all the kindred of the earth shall wail because
of him. It's coming a day when men and
women, they don't know Him. They don't want to know Him.
The Scripture says they're going to cry for the rocks, cry unto
the mountain, crying for the rocks to fall on them and hide
them from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne. But their
Son, their Son, that long for that day. That scripture says,
Behold, he cometh with clouds every eye shall see him, they
which pierced him, and all kindred of the earth shall wail because
of him. And then the scripture says in
Revelation 1, 7, Even so, even so, amen. Revelation, I'll read
this to you. Revelation 22, verse 20. sets forth what the Spirit of
God meant when He said in Revelation 1-7, Even so, Amen. Revelation 22-20 says, He which
testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly, Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Oh, how thankful God's people
are that there's coming a day that He's coming. They'll see
Him and be glad. This King, He's the only wise
God. Wisdom Himself. Whoever stood
as the surety of God's sheep. He who was with Jehovah. This is an amazing thing. Jehovah. Father, Son, Spirit. Whenever wisdom himself says,
I was with Him. That's who he's talking about.
He's talking about Jehovah. I was with Him. And He, the Lord Jesus, is the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. I can't perceive the depth, I
believe it, but I cannot perceive the depth of Him who is the only
wise God, the Messiah. And for an everlastingly loved
people, a peculiar people, this King possesses a glorious throne. Now listen to this King. This king before whom we're all
gonna stand, we're all gonna stand before him. We're all gonna
give an account. All the books are gonna be opened.
And the book, oh, thank the Lord for the book. Listen to his throne,
Isaiah 33, 22. For the Lord, that is capital
L, capital O, capital D, Jehovah. He who is the fullness of Jehovah. For the Lord is our judge. He who has all judgment committed
to Him by the Father. He's going to judge. And it's
all going to be decided according to His Word. And there won't
be any questions, will there, Neil? No questions. No questions. He's the judge. He who has pronounced
his people justified in him. What does that mean? Justified. No charge. No charge. No record. No record. No record. That record, I can think back. I think back on me. I think back on me. I remember,
I remember. But in Christ, God doesn't. He's
the judge. The Lord is our lawgiver. He
is the law keeper for those committed to his care. He's the king upon
whose shoulder This government, all of this earth rests, and
he's ordering all things after the counsel of his own will.
For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord
is our king, and listen to this, and he will save us. I need him to save me, because
I can't save myself. I don't have any ability, you
don't either. There is a king. Secondly, this king has some
friends. That's what Proverbs 22, 11. He that loveth pureness of heart
for the grace of his lips, the king shall be his friend. There are some out of every nation
and kindred and tribe and tongue, out of every generation that
are revealed to be friends of the king. And they've always been His friends. They've always been His, according
to the covenant of God's grace. Now let's consider just a second
what happened to His friends. They fell in Adam's rebellion,
just like all men. And it came forth because of
their rebellion, because of a dead heart, The Lord told Adam, when
you eat of that fruit, in the day you eat of it, God knew he
was going to eat it. You're going to die. When he
died, Adam immediately resented God. He resented Him. Accused Him, this woman you gave. In that day, he came forth with
hatred and resentment toward the Lord because of sin. He has a carnal mind now. And
the carnal mind is enmity. It hates God. And man by nature says, I don't
hate God. And God said, yes, you do. And
according to the everlasting covenant of grace, Almighty God,
who saw His people, saw His friends, His friends, in the fall, He
always looked on them as friends. They were always His church.
They were always His bride. They were always His beloved. And while they hated Him and
resented Him, lambasted on Him, resentful toward
Him, and he loved them. Listen to what the Lord said
concerning his friends. John 15, 13, 15. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You mean even for us that despised
him? Yeah. For a true friend, a true
friend, there's a spirit of self-sacrifice and self-denial. We hated him without a cause.
And we were his chosen friends. And that attitude that we had
toward him was the attitude that all men have But for those that
were his friends, he died. He is the friend, publicans
and sinners, and was made the very thing that was their worst
enemy, sin, bore in his own body the sin of his people, all of
which were born into this world, hating him, And He made what
they are, sin, to be His very own. He said, mine iniquities. That's Psalm 40. Mine iniquities. Again, I cannot, I believe it,
but I cannot grasp hold of Christ bearing, taking to be His, my
guilt. and he suffered under the judgment
of God alone. That's what he did for his friends,
bruised for their griefs, carried their sorrows, stricken, smitten
of God, receiving the very justice and judgment that we deserve. Proverbs 18.24 says this, A man that hath friends must
show himself friendly. Now you know that, don't you?
You're going to have friends, be friendly to them. There's a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. My brother's sitting here, my
two sisters. And I honestly believe this.
I think my brother would do, and my sisters too, they'd do
anything they could for me. I believe they would. He's proven
that over and over again. But I need a friend that sticks
closer. I need a friend that'll take
care of my sin. My physical brother can't do
that. I need a friend. I need one that'll bear my guilt
and put away my guiltiness. The Lord said, John 15, you are
my friends. If you do whatsoever, I command
you. Moses and Abraham, they were
said to be the friends of God. What is it that the Lord commands
us to do? You are my friends if you do
whatsoever, I command you. Here it is. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Does that mean to believe
that there is a Jesus? You know better than that. Demons
believe that there's a Jesus. But He entrusts my very soul
to Him. Say, Lord, save me or I'm going
to perish. I'm going to die. And God's going
to put me in hell. I can tell you that according
to these words right here. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son hath not life. and the judgment, the wrath of
God abides on him. The Lord said, henceforth I call
you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth,
but I have called you friends for all things that I've heard
of my father I've made known unto you. So I know this, there
is a king. And he got some friends, but
I want to know this. How do I know if I'm one of them? I want to know, that would be
a very important question to me. If there was an announcement,
and there is in this book, that there's a king, and this king
is the judge, and all men are going to stand
before this king, and he got some friends that he's everlastingly
loved, and he bore their guilt, he died for them, and he put
away their guilt, And all that He's everlastingly loved, He's
going to call them out of darkness. And He's going to robe them in
His righteousness. And they're going to stand before
God. No condemnation. Now I know that's so. I know
that's so. What I want to know is, am I one of them? Is there any characteristics
about these friends? How do you know them? Verse 11, he that loveth pureness
of heart, for the grace of his lips, or the margin says, and
hath grace in his lips. He that loves pureness of heart
and has grace in his lips, he's the friend of the king. Before the king's friends, are
called out of darkness. Ephesians 2, 3 says they are
children of wrath even as others. That's what I just said. They
have nothing good to say about the king. They walk in the course
of this world according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
They're like all men. They're totally depraved from
the sole of the foot Under the head, there's no soundness, there's
no health. That's what that means, no soundness.
There's nothing healthy about them, spiritually healthy. They
possess a heart that is naturally impure. Out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, theft, false witness,
blasphemies. The Lord said in Matthew 15,
these are the things that defile a man, but God. who eternally purposed to save
a remnant, an elect. God has an elect. He's got an elect people. Ephesians
1 verse 4 says they were chosen in him from before the foundation
of the world that they should be holy and without blame before
him in love. Do I have any part in that? I
mean this ought to just arrest every person I wish it would
arrest me as I know it should. There is a remnant according
to the election of grace. And there is a promise to them
that God is going to do something for them that they can't do for
themselves. He is going to do it. He is going
to reveal it to them under the preaching of the gospel. Under
the preaching of the truth, the gospel that declares men to be
who they are. Proclaims God to be who He is.
Here's what the Lord said. Ezekiel 36, 24. Here's what He
said He's going to do. I will take you from among the
heathen. I'll gather you out of all countries. I'll bring
you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water.
The blood of Christ. Upon you, you shall be clean
from all your filthiness, from all your idols. I'll cleanse
you. A new heart will I give you. That's a new will. Now we're
all born with a will. Somebody says exercise your free
will. Let me tell you something. Every man, every woman's will
born in Adam is dead. It's dead. Exercise your free
will. You're not going to do that.
It's dead. A new heart also will I give
you and a new spirit will I put within you. I'm going to put
spiritual life back into you. When he told Adam in the day
you eat you're going to die, this is what Adam lost. He lost
spiritual life. I'm going to give you spiritual
life. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. I'm
going to behead, I'm going to cut the head off. That heart
of rebellion, it's not going to rule over you anymore. It'll
have no more dominion over you. The presence of sin is there. We all see that. Every believer
sees that. I'm gonna give you a heart of
flesh, a pliable heart. One that will hear and receive
my voice. I'm gonna make you to be good
ground. That's what he's saying. I'm
gonna make you good ground. Remember the parable of the sower?
Some fell by the wayside, stony ground, thorny ground. Oh, but
there was some good ground. How did it become good ground?
God made it good. God made it good. And I'll put
my spirit within you, and I'll cause you to walk in my statutes
according to my word, decrees. And you shall keep my judgments
and do them. Before God's people are called
out of darkness, They love darkness rather than light. You take an
unbeliever, left to himself, he'll choose darkness every time. Because that's what he loves.
He loves it. He loves rebellion. He loves
evil. But when the Spirit of God gives him a new heart, gives
him a new nature, a new will, a new spirit, now they love what
they didn't love. They love what they didn't love
before. Now they love pureness of heart. Because they know that
only the Lord can give that. I'm going to give you a new heart.
I'm going to give you a heart. Here's another thing I just cannot
grasp hold of. That which is born of God, that
which is born from above, sinneth not. It doesn't sin. As I've
told you before, I know it's true for every believer. Every
believer that knows Him, loves Him, casts themselves upon Him.
But I tell you, I cannot see, I cannot behold that new heart. Ask a believer. Do you see yourself
loving Him as you ought? Loving the brethren as you ought?
Walking after hunger and thirsting after righteousness as you ought?
Every believer will tell you this. I never see it. But God does. God does. He said, when I see the blood,
you see the blood? Do you? No, you don't. But He does. The Spirit of God
gives them a new heart, pure heart. And they love that which
only God could give. And that's what they'll say.
I didn't save myself, He saved me. A heart born from above. A heart that loves God, loves
his gospel, loves his people. And out of that new heart, there's
a new speech. Now listen to what he said. He
that loveth pureness of heart. Blessed are the pure in heart.
They're going to see God. And a believer. He said, I love
that which only God can create. He that loveth pureness of heart.
and hath grace in his lips, for the grace of his lips. And he
has grace in his lips. He speaks of God's grace. He
don't speak of works anymore. You'll never find a believer
talking about doing something to save himself. No, they're
going to say this. He saved me. He chose me. He died for me. He called me. He kept me. They exhibit a spirit
of graciousness toward men, especially toward the household of faith.
They know that they are what they are only by the grace of
God. And they walk the rest of their
life being kept, and admit this, by the power of God through faith
ready to be revealed in the last time. He that loveth pureness of heart
For the grace of his lips, the king shall be his friend. I pray that God teach us something
through this. The spirit of God would open
our eyes and cause us to behold the wonder of the king who has
some friends and gives them a new heart. And they have that characteristic. The kings touch my heart, touch
my mind, my lips. I pray God bless this to our
understanding. Amen. All right, let's take.