All right. Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 21, Proverbs 21. And I'd like for us to look at
three verses, verses 6 through 8. Proverbs 21, verses 6 to 8. The scriptures declare the getting
of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro
of them that seek death. The robbery of the wicked shall
destroy them because they refuse to do judgment. The way of man
is froward and strange But as for the pure, his work is right. Now, the desire of every believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ is to know and to hear the truth as
it is in Christ Jesus. He knows that lies permeate this
world and but for the grace of God, he'd be believing those
lies. We're born believing lies, lies
on God. And a believer longs to be kept.
He knows that the Lord has saved him by grace, he believes that,
he trusts Christ, and he wants the Lord to keep him, keep him
by power through faith. And he knows that faith by which
he's kept. He knows that faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Now, I want us to, you
can go ahead and just mark your Bible right there, but then turn
back to the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter eight. And what
I'd like to do is I'd like to just read a few verses of scripture
out of Nehemiah chapter 8. I'm going to begin in verse 1
and go through the first few verses of Nehemiah. And what
I'd like for us to do before I look at Proverbs 21, I want
us to just read some out of Nehemiah and see in that passage the way
in which A passage is supposed to be preached. You men that stand and preach
and have preached, this is some instruction on how are we to
handle the Word of God. Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 1 and
2 says, And all the people gathered themselves together as one man
into the street that was before the water gate and they spake
unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses
which the Lord had commanded to Israel and Ezra the priest
brought the law before the congregation both of men and women and all
that could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh
month. Now Ezra was obviously he was
a priest And from what I could find concerning Ezra's presence
in Jerusalem, he had actually come to Jerusalem 13 years before
Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a leader of the
Jews. He was a governor. He wasn't
a priest. Nehemiah was a leader. And Ezra
had come 13 years before Nehemiah got there. And Ezra either stayed
there in Jerusalem for 13 years or he may have gone back to Babylon
by order of the king and then has come back. It's unsure about
how long he was there, but he was there before Nehemiah got
there. And with his return back to Jerusalem,
The Scriptures just declared that the people gathered themselves
together and wanted long for to have the book of God, the
law, read to them by a scribe, by a priest, which Ezra was. And so, it was a solemn occasion. They desired, they wanted to
hear the reading of the Word of God. These men, when you stand
This is a solemn, solemn thing, to read God's Word. So the Scripture says in verse
3 of Nehemiah 8, And he read therein before the street that
was before the water gate, from the morning until midday, before
the men and the women and those that could understand, and the
ears of all the people were attentive. unto the book of the law. At
the beginning of the day, at the breaking of day is what it
actually means. The breaking of the morning until
noon. Ezra took the book of God. He took the law of the Lord and
he read for six hours. He read and the people were attentive. They were attentive to the reading
of the scriptures. of the blessing that they were
receiving from hearing the Word of God being read. And they gave
attention to it. That's what it said. They were
attentive to it. And the scripture says in Ezra
the scribe, verse 4 and 5, stood upon a pulpit of wood, which
they'd made for the purpose. Beside him stood Matt, Mattetiah,
and Shema, and Aniah, and Uriah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseah on his
right hand. On his left hand was Paddaiah,
and Meshel, and Malchiah, and Hashem, and Hazbodana, Zechariah,
and Meshulam. And Ezra opened the book in the
sight of all the people, for he was above all the people.
And when he opened it, all the people stood up. Now Ezra stood,
he had 13 men standing on each side of him. He was standing,
he was in front of a pulpit that he could be more easily seen
and heard. And he opened the book and the
people stood in reverence for what they were about to hear.
And verse 6 says, And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and
all the people answered, Amen, Amen. with lifting up their hands,
they bowed their heads, they worshiped the Lord with their
faces to the ground. Ezra blessed the Lord. Now when
I look that word up, it actually means to kneel. He knelt before
the Lord and asked the Lord's blessing upon the reading and
the hearing of the law and he blessed him. blessed Him, praised
Him as the great God, great in every sense, great giving honor
and praise to His perfections and praying for the Lord's blessing
upon what was about to be read. He asked the Lord. That's what
we do. We ask the Lord's blessing. Lord,
bless these words to our heart. I don't want to just show up.
I don't want to just, you know, it's not just, well, it's Sunday,
you know. Well, you know, we just go to
church. No, we're here to hear the Word of the Lord. And when
Ezra prayed and blessed the Lord, the people paid attention and
they responded to what he was saying. They said, Amen, Amen,
surely, truly, let it be so. And they lifted up their hands
outwardly expressing all their expectations. was from the Lord. And they bowed their heads in
a token of reverence and subjection to the Lord. And they worshipped
the Lord with their faces to the ground. Again, looking the
words up. We read these words and we look
them up. Don't want to take anything for
granted, like we always know what the word means. But we don't.
We look these words up and it says they worshipped The Lord,
with their faces to the ground, that word, worshipping the Lord,
faces to the ground, they prostrated themselves before God for a while. Not for the whole six hours,
because listen to what 7 to 9 says. And Jeshua, and Benaiah, and
Sherebiah, and Jaman, and Achub, Shabitha, Hodiah, Mahasiah, Goliath,
Azariah, Job, Zebad, Hanun, Peliah, and the Levites caused the people
to understand the law and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the
law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to
understand the reading. Now, here's what they did. It
wasn't a normal occasion, obviously. This was a long service and the
very length of the service was marvelous. That was a magnificent
thing that the people possessed a state of attention. I try to
be careful how long I preach. If the first service goes a little
long, you know this. If the first service goes, the
second one is probably going to be shorter. I try to be sensitive
to our ability to be able to hear and to understand and to
keep have attention, and I've heard men for years say that,
you know, don't preach any longer. Mr. Spurgeon said to his students,
he said, I don't care what you preach on out of the Bible, as
long as you don't preach over 45 minutes. Because of the frailty
of our flesh, but for six hours, Ezra read, he read the law of
God and the people, they were Tentive, and they worshipped,
and it was a marvelous, marvelous thing. So here we are for a few
minutes to hear, and may we be made to remember that there's
still, like here, some places left in this world, this world
of total disregard for the reverence of God's Word, respect of God's
Word, that there's still some places where the Lord's raised
up. Cottageville, Danes, Lexington,
places all over. When God's raised up, and the
scriptures are held in high esteem, and where the reading of the
word is blessed by the Spirit of God, and it's experientially
made to be sharper than any two-edged sword, and where it pierces asunder
to the dividing soul and spirit and joints and marrow, it's a
discerner to the hearer. the thoughts and intents of the
heart. And now, having known that, how they read the word
and what did they do when they were preaching. This is what
these men, when they stand to preach, here's what they do.
In verse 8, here's how preaching is to be done. They read in the
book of the law of God distinctly. They read specifying Word by
word is what it means. Distinctly. And they gave the
sense. Here's what they did. Tell us
what that word means. Tell me what it's saying. And
caused them to understand and to consider and to pay attention
and wisely deal with the reading. So that's what I want to do.
That's what I want to do. Go ahead and turn now back to
Proverbs 21. This is what I want to do. I want to take the scriptures
that we'll look at Proverbs 21 verses 6 to 8 and just distinctly
read what God has to say and give the sense This is what a
preacher is called to do. Not give his opinion. My opinion
doesn't matter a whit. The only thing that matters is
what God has to say. That's it. So here's where we
are. I want to know what does God
have to say. Well, here's what the Lord has
to say. Proverbs 21 verse 6. It says, The getting of treasures
by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that
seek death. Now, the getting of treasures. Now, the first thing I know is
that there is a treasure. There is a treasure to be gotten
concerning the elect of God, concerning God's people. There
is a treasure, and it's a treasure that this world doesn't know
anything about. Listen to Isaiah 33, verse 6. It says, and wisdom and knowledge
shall be the stability of the times and strength of salvation. The fear of the Lord is his treasure. The fear of the Lord. The Lord
was speaking to Isaiah who was speaking to the people and speaking
to us through a prophet concerning the believer's treasure. Now
listen to me. The treasure of God's people. You know, we speculate what is
the treasure of God's people. First thing you're going to think
of is the Lord Jesus Christ. You're right. That's right. That's
exactly right. He is our treasure. Whenever the Lord was speaking,
to Abraham in Genesis 15, this is what Jehovah said to Abraham,
it says, After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram
in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy
exceeding great reward. So I know this, I know that the
treasure of God's people is the Lord Himself. But what does the
scriptures say in setting forth that treasure. How does the scriptures
say that we possess? Here's what the scripture says.
It says, the Lord being our treasure declares wisdom and knowledge
shall be the stability of thy times. Oh, there's going to be
stability. There's going to be knowledge
in the times of God's people and strength of salvation. What
are you saying? There's going to be an abundance
of salvation. And there's going to be a stability
of hearing the Word of God. And the foundation of that stability
is going to be that God's people hear and they understand, they
know there's going to be found in the midst of all of this religion,
false religion that's going around, this chaos. There's going to
be some stability here. Now where is that stability going
to be found? Wherever the Lord raises up that
stability and gives a good foundation of the hearing of the gospel.
But now concerning the treasure, what is the treasure? The treasure,
it says the fear of the Lord is His treasure. Now believer,
here's your treasure. Here's my treasure. If we know
Him, the respect of God. The fear of the Lord. is the
beginning of wisdom. Where does it start? God gives
this treasure. It's to know Him, to fear Him,
to reverence Him, to respect Him. This is the God of the Bible. This is God Almighty. I hate
it, I hate it when I hear disrespect The man upstairs, that's a, oh,
that's so disrespectful. Cuss me to my face, but don't
say that. Don't make jokes about him. Don't
make jokes. Well, St. Peter was up, just
hush, hush, hush. Tell me the filthiest joke you
know, but don't tell me that. Don't disrespect him. The fear
of the Lord, that's the treasure. The fear of the Lord is His treasure,
so I know that there's a treasure to be had. That treasure that's
bestowed upon God's people through the preaching of the gospel,
the preaching of the message of God's sovereign grace, God
Almighty that loved a people everlastingly, chose a people
in Him, in Christ, gave them unto Him, and He stood for them
as their sureties, always loved them. He came into this world
having known them everlastingly. He came into this world. He lived
for them. He died for them. That's what he said, John 10,
15. I lay down my life for the sheep, told those Pharisees,
because they told him. He said, won't you be honest
and be straight up about it? He said, won't you tell us the
truth? He said, I told you. I told you. But you believe not
because you're not my sheep. Like John 10. John 10, 24, 25. You're not my
sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them. They follow me. I tell you this,
I know that there's a treasure to be had. But the scripture
says, the getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity
tossed to and fro of them that seek death. The getting. The
word getting right there means work. Work by which someone expects
to be rewarded for their work. That's what that word getting
is. Look it up. That's what it means. Work whereby you expect
something because of what you did. The getting of treasures
or what you think is a treasure. Thought that you have something
laid up in heaven by the works of your hands. The getting of
treasures by a lying tongue. The getting of treasures by hearing
something preached, that's a lie. So I'm going to tell you something.
Well, all you've got to do to be saved is A, B, C, D. All you've got to do is to do
this. The getting of treasures are supposed treasures. It's
a treasure to an unbeliever because they think they've done something
for God. They think that they've done
something to merit salvation. The getting of a supposed, by
a lying tongue, by hearing something that is untrue, not according
to these scriptures. What is that? Well, it's vanity. It's vanity. It's nothing. It's a vanishing breath of smoke
tossed to and fro. to those that seek death. What do you mean seek death?
The scripture says those that are searching out, striving for,
and begging for destruction. You mean to tell me that people
that are sitting and believing a false gospel, that they're
begging to be thrown in hell? That's what God says. So if that's
what the Lord said, then that means it's true. That's what
the scripture says. Well, I don't think they're begging.
Well, God said they are. So therefore, that's the sense. That's the sense of that word.
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to
and fro of them that seek death. That's what I want. That's what
I want. And then the scripture says in
verse 7, the robbery of the wicked shall destroy them because they
refuse to do judgment. The robbery, the violence, the
oppression of the wicked, of the wrong, the condemned, the
guilty shall destroy them, shall sweep them away. When that overflowing
scourge comes, when the judgment of God comes in that day, What's
going to happen? The refuge of lies is going to
be swept away. Before they know it, they didn't
have any idea. Well, I thought, they're going
to be like mailmen standing before the prophet. I thought that you'd
come out and I thought. Well, here's the seriousness. What does God have to say? What does the Lord have to say
about it? It doesn't matter what we all say. What saith the scriptures,
the robbery, the violence, the oppression of the wicked is going
to destroy them. The oppression. Now if that verse
right there, and there's two ways it could be looked at, and
they're both right. If that verse speaks of the hatred and the
oppression of the world against God's people, and I know the
Lord in his high priestly prayer in John 17, said of his people,
he said they're in this world, they're not of it, they're in
it, they're hated, they're hated of the world. Why does the world hate the message
of grace, all of grace, not of works? Why does the world hate
the message that gives all the glory and honor to the Lord.
Why do they? Because it doesn't give any to me. It doesn't give any to me. By
nature, I just want to be complimented. I want you to tell me that I
do a good job, and you know, Marvin, you're wonderful. Marvin, you're wonderful. Now
I won't come out and just say it to your face, you know, but
that's really what I'm thinking. Why? We all think like that.
We're all proud. Why do they hate the hearing? Because it gives the glory unto
the Lord. It gives Him all the praise.
So if that verse is speaking, the robbery of the oppression,
the violence of the wicked toward God's people, if that's what
it's talking about, It's going to destroy them. They hate God's
people. That's what the Lord told Saul, Tarsus. Saul, why
are you persecuting me? Well, who is he persecuting?
The Lord's people. You're persecuting me. Listen
to Psalm 12 for the oppression of the poor, for the sighing
of the needy. Now will I arise, saith the Lord,
and will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. That's what Saul was doing. That's what he was doing. And
Saul, yet breathing out threatenings, slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord, went to the high priest, desired of him letters
to Damascus that if he found any of this way, whether they
be men or women, that he might bring them bound. Why? He hated
God's people. Why? Because he hated God. He
didn't know the Lord. That's when the Lord revealed
Himself. That's what Saul said. Who are
you? Who are you? But if this verse is speaking
of the oppression and the violence, the robbery, the attempted robbery
of the glory of God toward the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, if
that's what it's talking about, the hatred and resentment of
the wicked against Him, And I know, I know that he was resented. I know that there was oppression.
Isaiah 53 7, he was oppressed. What? He was pressed hard and
he was afflicted, he was browbeat, yet he opened not his mouth.
Why? Why was he oppressed? Because
of the hatred, the resentment, the desire of the robbery, tempted
robbery in the heart of the wicked to rob him of his glory. That's
what man by nature wants to do. I want to get the glory for this. I want to say in my heart by
nature, this is what man says, I did it. I did it. I did it. My way, I did it. I gave my heart to the Lord.
I was faithful. Salvation is by the grace of
God. And the very robbery of the wicked
against Him, they did exactly what they wanted to do. They
did just exactly what they desired with wicked hands. That's what
Peter said. You've taken and crucified the
Lord of glory. He was taken, but even in that
act of resentment and rebellion and attempted robbery of His
glory, Was the Lord's will done? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Absolutely. All this was done according to
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Why? Because God had
a people. He was going to save them. He was going to save them.
And they did just exactly what they wanted to do and God dealt
with them accordingly. The wrath of man, what's it going
to do? It's going to praise Him. That's
what the scripture says. And the remainder of wrath, the
Lord's going to restrain. In the last verse for this morning,
verse 8, the way of man is froward and strange, but as for the pure,
his work is right. Man's way. This is what the scripture
says. This is what Ezra was reading. He was reading the scriptures
and they were given the sense of it. What was God saying? Man's way is froward. What does that mean? It means
it's crooked. It's perverted, guided by his own carnal nature. What nature is that? Well, it's
a nature that's enmity against God. That's what the Lord said.
We're all born like that. It's fraud and it's strange. What does that mean? It's criminal.
That's what that word means. It means criminal. It's a crime. It's a crime against God. that
God's going to deal with. That's man's way, but ask for
the pure. Oh, I'm telling you, I always
love it when we come to the end and we come to the good news.
The good news. Tell me what I am as being born
in Adam. Tell me. Just be honest with
me. Be honest. Don't tell me I'm
a good person. That I'm basically good. I know
better than that. Oh, if you only knew what I think.
If you only saw the attitude of my heart, if you only knew,
I'd be so embarrassed to be standing here. You got a good idea, but
I'm telling you, it's a whole lot worse than you think. But
for the pure, the clean, those who have been washed in the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteous, those who have
been robed in the perfect righteousness of Christ, not by their own work,
but by the grace of God, made to be pure, made to be holy and
without blame before Him in love. Those who in regenerating grace
have been born from above, created in righteousness and true holiness. That's what the scripture says.
That new man that's in there, that sinneth not, that I'll be
honest with you, I just don't see. And I know it's so. I know
I believe Him, but I think even in my belief, it's just so clouded
with unbelief, and I say, but I don't see as God sees. I'm
so thankful for that. But to the pure, to a believer,
the one washed in blood, Christ's blood, robed in His righteousness,
His work is right. Right. Verse 6, we just looked at the
getting, that meant work, His work. The getting of treasures,
His work. In verse 8, the word concerning
the work of the pure, His work, His getting is right. Now there's
two different gettings there. One of them gets it according
to what He thinks of His own ability. The other one gets it
by grace. Gets it by gift. That getting, it's right, it's
correct, it's pleasing to God, and it's fitting. Why? Because the Lord gave it to him. I'm going to tell you what it
is in just a minute. It's the work of the Lord, and it's right. That work that I'm talking about,
that is right. You tell me one more time. I
know I've heard it before, but tell me one more time. What work
is right? When I hear of man and his work
and it's all tainted and it's wrong, tell me what God has to
say about the work of the pure. Tell me again one time. The Lord
was speaking in John 6, 27, 29. I'll read this for you. As I
close, labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for the
meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall
give unto you. For him hath God the Father sealed,
or that means has set his approval on the Lord Jesus. The Father's
set his approval on the Lord. Then they said unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said unto them, now listen, here's the work of the pure.
Here's the work of the pure that's right. He said, this is the work
of God that you believe on Him whom He has sent. That is the
work of the pure. That is right. That you believe,
that you give yourselves unto, that you trust, you cast yourself
upon the mercy of God. This is the work of God. The work that's pure. Paul the
Apostle in writing to the church at Thessalonica says, we give
thanks to God always for you, making mention of you in our
prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith. Not that you were saved because
you believed by faith. God gave you faith because He
saved you. and gave you faith to believe
what he had done for you. Faith is the evidence of life. It's not the source of. A baby
breathes because he's alive. Not in order to become alive.
If he's dead, he can't breathe. But if that baby breathes, it's
because he's already alive. Why is there faith? to evidence that there's life.
The work of the pure. Work that has been given them.
It's given unto you to believe. We can't even glory in our faith. It was given unto us. The getting
of treasure to the wicked, it's vanity. tossed bald but to the
pure. His work is right. His work is
born, given, and sustained by God Himself. May the Lord bless
these words to our heart for His sake, our good. Amen. Alright, let's take a break.