I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 20 Proverbs
chapter 20 The last time we looked at this
precious book, Proverbs, the latter part of the sixth verse
that we considered last time asked this question, a faithful
man who can find? Now the answer to that question
is only God the Father. He is the one who alone found
the faithful man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the ransom of his people. The only faithful man on his
own merit, he who has ever been faithful. Now, proclaiming the
faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ is a task that I can tell
you right now, I would fail. To be able to declare the faithfulness
of Him who alone is faithful, it'd be like a moth trying to
fly into the sun to prove its brilliance or its heat. Expounding his faithfulness is
that which the Spirit of God alone can teach a man something
about. But I know this based upon him
who is faithful. I know that he never forgets,
he never falters, He never forfeits His Word. He has said concerning
His people, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. The Scripture
says in 1 Kings 8, 56, Blessed be the Lord that hath given rest
to His people Israel, according to all that he hath promised,
there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which
he promised by the hand of Moses his prophet." The Scripture declares him to
be faithful, the one who has been found by God the Father.
Now, I want us to look this morning at verse 7, concerning the just
man. The just man walketh in his integrity,
and his children are blessed after him. the just man. He who is none other than the
faithful man that we considered last week. The just man, that
is lawful in conduct, righteous in character. The just man walketh,
that is behaves continually in His own integrity. Now this word, walketh, doesn't
have anything to do with the feet, though I know we all walk
about this word, but it has to do with the living of a righteous,
holy life. Now, surely it can only be said
of the Lord Jesus Christ that He is the just man that absolutely
has ever lived, walketh before the Father in absolute perfect
obedience. Now, it was of the Lord Jesus
Christ alone that the Father said, this is my beloved Son
in whom I'm well pleased. The Lord Jesus Christ said of
Himself, and He that sent me is with me. The Father has not
left me alone, for I do always those things that please Him. So I know that when the Lord
Jesus Christ walked on this earth, He absolutely walked before God
and men in perfect obedience, perfect holiness. In His own
innocence, in His own perfection, His own integrity, He did that
which is right. And we would not for a second
doubt that while He was on this earth, that He walked before
God justly. But let me ask you this, concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, came into this world, made flesh, and walked
before God. What about before he was made
flesh? Now, here's what the Scripture
says, the just man walketh or ever lives in his own integrity
perfectly. Listen to the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, I'm going to be talking about something
before he was made flesh. Jesus said unto them, that group
of Jews that he was talking to, verily, verily, I say unto you,
before Abraham was, I am. Now, considering him as to his
eternality, now I do know this, in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, And the Word was God. And verse 14 of John 1 says,
And the Word was made flesh. But before He was made flesh, He was. Before He took to Himself
humanity, He's always been. Now, considering Him concerning
His eternality. He has everlastingly been the
head of His church. He has eternally been the husband
of His bride and the surety of His beloved. He has always been
the eternal Mediator. Before He ever openly tabernacled
in the substance of our flesh, He has always been faithful. Listen to Proverbs. I read this
Proverbs 8. I read this concerning the Lord.
And this is the Lord now. Here is the Mediator Himself. This is the surety himself. This
is the husband of the bride himself before he was made flesh. Proverbs chapter 8, I'll just
read a few verses. Proverbs 8, look at verse 1.
Doth not wisdom cry, and understanding put forth her voice? Look at
verse 6. Here, for I will speak of excellent
things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things. Look at verse 17. I love them
that love me. Those that seek me early shall
find me. Who's speaking here? This is
the Lord. This is the Lord. Now, look at
verses 22 to 36. The Lord, capital L, capital
O, capital R, capital... Jehovah possessed me. In the beginning of His way,
before His works of old, I was set up from everlasting. From
the beginning, or ever the earth was, when there were no depths,
I was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. While as yet He had not made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the world, when He prepared the heavens, I was there. when
He set a compass upon the face of the depth, when He established
the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when
He gave to the sea His decree that the waters should not pass
His commandment, when He appointed the foundation of the earth,
then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him. And I was daily
His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in the
habitable part of the earth. And my delights or with the sons
of man. Now therefore hearken unto Me,
O ye children, for blessed are they that keep My ways, hear
instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth
Me, watching daily at My gates, watching at the post of My doors.
For whoso findeth Me findeth life, and shall obtain favor
of the Lord, favor of Jehovah. But he that sinneth against Me
wrongeth his own soul. All those that hate Me Love death. Let me ask you this. Has the
faithful one who walked upon this earth always been? Absolutely. Faithful. Faithful. Now back in Proverbs
chapter 20 verse 7. The just man walketh in his integrity. So I know this. Before he was
made flesh, he was the faithful man. He walked this earth, made
flesh. The faithful man. Now let me
ask you this. How about right now? Listen,
Revelation 1, 4, and 5. John, to the seven churches which
are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him which is and
which was and which is to come and from the seven spirits which
are before his throne and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful
This is after the Lord. This is in Revelation chapter
1. The Lord has already ascended. He is the faithful witness who
right now reveals to his people. Now let me just clarify something. Right now, as we hear the glorious
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, do you know who's teaching? He
is. By His blessed Holy Spirit, He
teaches His people faithfully. Preaching the Gospel, we hear
and understand, as we're taught by the Spirit of God, the mind
and will of the Father. It is Christ Himself, the faithful
witness, who teaches the truth and the faithfulness of God's
promises and love and grace and mercy to His chosen people. He is faithful. He is the faithful
man, the just man that walketh in His integrity. And the glorious
blessing of this just man is this, Here's the glorious blessing
of Him who is just. The latter part of verse 7. His
children are blessed after Him. His children are happy. That's what that word blessed
means, happy. His children being taught as
he faithfully teaches through the preaching of the gospel,
here's what he has taught us. We are his children by God's
choice. In electing grace, God the Father
gave unto the Son a people. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
teaching us faithfully of His justice, love, protection. We have been redeemed by His
blood. And by a new heart given us in
regenerating grace, we realize now we are the objects of His
mercy and blessed in Him. But now listen, I want to just
read. Turn over to, hold your place there, but turn over to
Ephesians chapter 1. It talks about the just man and
his children are blessed in him. Now listen to these glorious
blessings. Ephesians chapter 1. Verse 4,
I'm just going to kind of go down these verses right here. Verse 3 is the one that says,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, Now here's the spiritual blessings. Now this is a blessing. It's wonderful that we receive
carnal blessings in this world. I'm thankful. I'm thankful for
the sunshine. I'm thankful for the rain. I'm
thankful for health. But spiritual blessings. Listen
to this. Verse 1, I just mentioned this
one. According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. Consider the blessing of God
that God Almighty would choose to show mercy, not because of
what He saw in us, not because of what He saw we would do, All
of God's elect were fallen creatures, fallen in Adam, just like everybody
else, and would never have chosen Him. Not being dead in trespasses
and sin. But listen to this, verse 5. Having predestinated us, unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to
the good pleasure of His will." When a child is adopted, who
makes the decision? The parents, the adopting ones,
or the child adopted? You know the answer to that. Predetermined for us to be His
children, The Father predetermined the destination of His elect
in Christ, predestinated the sheep. They've always been sheep. A sheep has always been a sheep. A goat is always a goat. They
don't change. Let me just bring out a point
here. Malachi says this, the Lord concerning Himself. He said,
I change not. I change not, therefore you sons
of Jacob are not consumed." If someone were to say that a person
was a goat, and Almighty God looked upon them as a goat, and
later in life, let's say they exercise their free will, which
they don't, but let's say, for the sake of saying, they exercise
their free will, which means that now salvation is by the
works of men, which is not going to be. But let's say that according
to the world's religion, that they become a sheep. And now
God looks upon them not as a goat anymore, but He looks upon them
as a sheep now, because of what they did. God's changed. God
has changed His attitude. God has changed what He beholds.
And He said, I don't change. I don't change. When Almighty
God set forth eternally those that He would set His affection
upon, their names were written in the Book of Life from before
the foundation of the world. They've always been sheep. They've
always been His people. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. Predestinated us unto the adoption
of children wherein He hath made us Accepted. Not made us acceptable. He has made
us accepted in the beloved. How long has God's sheep been
accepted in the beloved? Always. They've always been accepted. Have they always been regenerated?
No. They're regenerated in time,
but I'll tell you this, they've always been accepted in the Beloved. God the Father has accepted His
people in Christ, holy, righteous, redeemed. Therefore, He's pleased
with them as He is pleased with His Son. And in time, it's going
to be brought to pass. Almighty God has everlastingly
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace." God's sheep were
born in the bondage of sin. Now, you know that. They were,
being born in Adam, the possessors of a debt. that they owed to
God's broken law. Christ redeemed them, being made
what they are. Christ redeemed us to God by
His blood and satisfied every demand that we owed before God
by His death at Calvary. And now, the debt being paid,
we have forgiveness of sin. The scripture says, wherein he
hath abounded toward us. That is, abounded in blessings. Wherein he hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence. You know, I read that just a
few minutes ago before everybody started getting here. before
He has abounded us toward us in all wisdom and prudence. And
I wanted to look that up again to find out exactly what was
being said. I know what wisdom and prudence
mean. What has God Almighty done abounding toward us in wisdom
and prudence? Here it is, wisdom. Great wisdom
to honor His law and show mercy to us. Now here's great wisdom.
Almighty God can be just in dealing with sin and justify a sinner. He has abounded toward us in
all wisdom and prudence. That is, to display His wisdom
in bringing about His pleasure to show mercy. So I summed it
up like this, wherein He has abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, that is to say, He knows what to do and how to
do it. He has abounded, taught us of
what He did, what He was pleased to do, and how He was pleased
to do it. Abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of His will
according to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather
together in one all things in Christ which are in heaven and
which are on earth, in earth, even in Him. Now the Lord has
given us a revelation, an enlightenment concerning God's purpose. He has taught us through the
preaching of the gospel as the Spirit of God blesses it to our
heart concerning His good pleasure to save His people. Now this
revelation is hidden. from the natural man, even the
mystery, the scripture says, which hath been hid from the
ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints. In Christ alone, we behold by
faith the wisdom and the power of God, for God to be just. God to be just. How can God be
just? and save a sinner. That's wisdom
only in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that in His
time and in His good pleasure, all things in Christ are going
to be brought about, and we're going to learn them. The scripture
says, concerning him who is just, the just man that walks in his
integrity, or walketh in his integrity, and his children are
blessed after him, here's a blessing. In one of these days we're going
to know it. In whom? Also we have obtained an inheritance. being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will, that we should be to the praise of His own glory
who first trusted in Christ. All spiritual blessings which
are ours in Christ Jesus the Lord, elected in Christ, predestinated
to the adoption of children, in Christ, accepted in the Beloved,
redemption and forgiveness of sins, being taught the Gospel,
given an inheritance in Him, all according to the purpose
of God Almighty who works all things after His own will, to
the praise of Him, praise of the Father who first trusted
in Christ. The just man, the just man walketh
after his integrity. He's always walked after his
integrity. Before he was ever made flesh,
while he was on this earth made flesh, and right now he who ever
liveth to make intercession for us. And his children, who have
always been his children, are blessed in Him. May the Lord
bless these words to our heart for Christ's sake. Amen.