Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 18. Proverbs 18. Proverbs chapter 18, I'd like
to read verse 15. Proverbs 18, 15. The scripture declares that the
heart of the prudent getteth knowledge and the ear of the
wise seeketh knowledge. Now there's something about that passage
of scripture that is absolutely the opposite of what man by nature
thinks. Scripture says, the heart of
the prudent getteth knowledge, the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge. Now, naturally speaking, this
is how man would have said this, the ear of the wise man seeketh
knowledge and the heart of the prudent or the discreet geteth
knowledge. That's what man would have said.
This is how man would say it. If I seek after something I'll
get it. That's not what scripture says. The scripture says The heart
of the prudent getteth knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeketh
knowledge. This is the first thing I know.
God's ways are not our ways. Our ways are not His ways. The
way we think and the way God Almighty declares that it is,
is two different ways. And I'll tell you this. Let God
be true and let every man be a liar. The heart of the prudent getteth
knowledge. Now, who are the prudent? Heart of the prudent. We read
these words and so often, I know I do. If I'm not careful, I'll
just be reading along and I just read something. And if someone
would ask me, now what did that mean? What does that word mean?
And I'd say, well, hmm. Well, I think I know what it
means, but best to look it up. The prudent. Here's what it is. This is a prudent man. A man
of discernment. A man of understanding. A man
that has some understanding concerning who God is. and who He is, what
the scripture says about who God is, that report that O'Neill
just read about, that report, who hath believed our gospel,
who's believed the report that God has given concerning Himself,
concerning His Son, and concerning men, who's believed that? The prudent. The prudent man
is a man of discernment, understanding. Now, let me ask you this. Where
did he get that understanding? Where did he get that discernment? Well, we've read this many times,
but I'll read it again. Ezekiel 36, 26 says this. This is where the prudent gets
The understanding. This is where he gets that discernment. The Lord said, a new heart also
will I give you. And a new spirit will I put within
you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh
and will give you a heart of flesh. I'm going to put a new
man in you. A new spirit, a new will, a new
love. And I'm going to break that old
heart. Now, I've said this many times,
it bears saying again because I need to hear it. That old man
is still there. But he does not have dominion
over God's regenerated saint. Doesn't have dominion. The Lord
dethrones, He beheads that old stony heart that will not receive. That will not receive. That old
man, that old heart will not receive the things of God. He
will not. He cannot. He cannot. Not only will He not, He cannot. Why? Because He's dead. He's
dead. When men tell others that, you
know, the Lord wants to, if you will just exercise a free will,
then the Lord will. I said, no, wait a minute. That's not what the Word of God
says. The Spirit of God has revealed John 1.14, 13, 14, go back and
read it, which were born, not of blood. I want God to save
my kids and my grandkids. But I'm going to tell you something.
If the Lord has shown me mercy, that does not mean that mercy
and grace and salvation flows through blood. Not of blood. I want the Lord to. Not of the
will of the flesh. Not of the will of the flesh.
Man doesn't have a free will. It's not of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man. As I said, I might desire, I
pray, I try to pray and ask God to have mercy on my family, on
you, on your kids. But I'm telling you, my desires
and my asking, here's the way I have to ask, Lord if you will,
you can. That's what that leper, Lord
if you will, you make me clean. I would desire, not of blood,
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of
God. God. Where does a man get that new
heart? That heart of prudence that makes
him understand and discern. God gives it to him. Almighty
God gives it to him. And He said, I'm going to take
that stony heart and break it, behead it, and I'm going to give
you a heart of flesh. That heart that is pliable by
the grace of God toward the Lord, toward God. That new heart that
is tender. and grieves before God because
of the awareness of the old man of sin that still dwells within. That's a new heart. A new heart
grieves after what he sees. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? That's a new heart. That new
heart that absolutely, I don't want to disobey God. And I see myself doing it. That
old man, he will not, he cannot but rebel against God. And that
new man sees it. And when that new man says, oh
wretched man that I am, that new man sees the me, that old
man. And he declares what he is by
nature. This is what I am. There's a
struggle that goes on. That prudent man sees something
and knows something of himself. And Almighty God gives a new
heart. A new heart and a will and a
passion and the scripture says that prudent man geteth knowledge. He geteth it, you know. He's
opposite. That prudent man is the opposite
of the fool. The fool said in his heart, there
is no God. They're corrupt. They've done
abominable works. There's none that doeth good.
What abominable works. There's a lot of people in this
world that does good things. They want to improve mankind
and they are. I know a lot of people that I
have no fellowship with them because it's obvious that they
The Lord's not given them light concerning the glory of God and
the sovereignty of God in salvation. But they're kind people. These abominable works. What
are you talking about? Those works where men, the Lord
said, will stand before Him and not all that say unto Me, Lord,
Lord, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Many in that day, He
said, will say, Lord, we cast out devils in Your name.
We prophesied your name. We've done many wonderful works
in your name. Abominable works. That's what
the Lord said. You workers of iniquity, I never
knew you. Abominable works are works that
man by nature does thinking that he has reconciled himself back
to God. That's abominable works. Whatever
you think it is, as I've said before, there's so many different
denominations and all of the different denominations, and
you've heard me and we've looked at this enough in Revelation,
you know where these false religions come from. The scripture sets forth they're
a flood out of the mouth of Satan. And the reason that there's a
flood of false religion out of the mouth of the devil, the dragon,
is because he's going after the bride. He's going after the woman. And the earth helped her by the
grace and power of God and she drinks in. You say, why do men
believe all these things. Well, number one, they want to.
That's what they want to do. And I'll tell you this, but for
the grace of God, they'll die in unbelief. Now that's just,
that's just, you know, somebody will say, well, Marvin, you're
just, you're just too hard. No, I'm being truthful with you. Because you know, this is what
the scripture sets forth. One of these days, we're going
to stand before God. We're going to stand before God
and do you know, as I said last Sunday, do you know by what we're
going to be judged? Right here. If you want to know
what the standard is going to be, the Lord says the words that
I have spoken, they'll judge you. People will say, don't judge,
don't judge. Number one, they don't even understand
what they're talking about because they're misconstrued. What they're
trying to say is, you don't have the right to tell me that I'm
wrong. The scriptures have already done that. I'm telling you, this
is the truth. A man void of understanding,
the scripture declares him to be a fool. So this prudent man, A spiritually
prudent man. He's a believer. That's a prudent
man. A believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's one that trusts the Lord
totally for his own salvation. He trusts the Lord. He trusts
the Lord. When I was real little, I remember
one day, I had gotten up, my dad had put me, something had
gone up, I probably threw it up there, but something was up
on the roof of the house. And he picked me up and he set
me right up on the roof. Well I mean I can walk up right
now if it's an eight foot pile. I can reach up there and I can
grab hold of the gutter now. But then It must have been 50
feet tall to me then. And I got up there and got it. And I could not have been this
far because he had his hands right here. And I mean, my dad
was about the same height as me. And he said, OK, come on,
I got you. And I'm telling you, the distance
couldn't have been that far. But oh, my. And I thought, this
is it. This is it. If he doesn't catch
me, I'm not going to make it. I was going to have to trust
him because if I jumped and he doesn't catch me, there's only
one alternative. There's only one result. I'm
going to hit the ground. Trust. A believer trusts the
Lord Jesus Christ. Why? I have no other hope. As
Brother Scott would say, he's all I got, but he's all I need. A believer comes to Him and seeks
Him by a new heart. I'll give you a new heart. And
loves Him. That heart given from above loves
the Lord. And in regenerating grace, that
believer, that prudent man, the heart of the prudent getteth
knowledge. He getteth it. But here's an
amazing thing about that word getteth. I know that it's given
by the Lord. Because he said, I'll give you
a new heart. I know that. But do you know that that word
right there interpreted is procures by purchase. Procures by purchase. That prudent man has gotten the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior. He has gotten the knowledge of
the truth. He geteth it. He geteth it. But
the scripture says he's purchased it. purchased it. Well, how did he purchase it? Here's a man dead in trespasses
and sins and he gets, he purchases this knowledge, this understanding. How did he purchase it? Well,
I know this, he didn't purchase it with silver and gold. The
scripture bears that out. Oh, Simon the sorcerer, he thought
by taking some money, he was going to buy the power to lay
hands on men that they might receive the Holy Ghost. And Peter
told him, he said, Thy money perish with thee because thou
hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. This understanding is purchased.
It's given by God. That's what the Scripture says.
And that scripture also declares that that knowledge is purchased. How is it purchased? You know
the answer to this. Isaiah 55, verse 1. Oh, everyone that thirsteth. When God Almighty gives a man
a new heart, that man thirsts after righteousness. Before he
thirsted after self-exaltation, he wanted to exalt himself. Oh,
everyone that thirsts, come ye to the waters. Come ye, buy and
eat. Come, buy wine and milk without
money, without price. I'm telling you, the heart of
the prudent getteth knowledge and he purchases it by faith. that was given to him because
he did not have it by nature. It's given unto you to believe. A fruit of the Spirit is faith. Faith. The scripture declares
that all men have not faith. It's given. It's given. It's got to be given. The heart
of the prudent getteth by grace and power and is given faith
to purchase it and ask for it. And it's by grace that you're
saved through faith, through the means of faith from above. None of yourself, unless you
start boasting, thinking that I've done something. No, no,
it's by the grace of God that God Almighty has given us the
faith by which He says, buy with it. Buy. And all the honor and
glory and praise goes to Him. Oh, I'm telling you, that prudent
man, one made so by the will and power of God. is one that
has obtained knowledge by power, by grace, by a new heart. When did that happen? In the
day of God's power. When it pleased God. No man born
in Adam has was ever seeking God till God Almighty sought
him out, called him out by power, mercy. And when the Lord gives
that man, that woman, a new heart, they are convinced. They're convinced
of sin, number one, that that is what they are by nature, and
it has separated them from God. They're convinced of righteousness,
that is, that they themselves don't have any, and that the
only righteousness that God accepts is the imputed righteousness,
obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, what He earned as the God-man,
as our representative before God. His obedience before God,
His obedience before God is imputed, is charred robes the believer. And they're convinced of judgment.
That is, that judgment number one for them was satisfied by
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ when God Almighty charged Him,
made Him sin for us. He who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. That heart of the
prudent getteth understanding. The Lord's given that man, that
woman, new eyes and new ears to see Christ by faith and to
hear his voice. And not only does that, the heart
of the prudent getteth knowledge, if you notice it started with
God. God said, I'll give you a new
heart. I'll give you faith. Buy with it, purchase with it,
but it's not of yourself. It was a gift of God that you
boast. And that last part of that verse
says this, and the ear of the wise. The prudent man, the wise
man, sane man. He's a believer. The prudent
man, wise man. And the ear of the wise seeketh
knowledge. Now remember I told you naturally
speaking we'd say now if you seek first, you know, you seek
first then you'll get. That's not what God says. God
says you get first. He gets it. The ear of the wise
seeketh knowledge. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing. The ear, the hearing of the wise
seeketh knowledge. What are we doing this morning?
I need to hear. I need to hear. I need to hear
the gospel. I need for God Almighty to speak
past this to the ear of this. I need for the Lord By that new
ear, the hearing ear, the seeing eye, they're both given by the
Lord. I need for God Almighty to teach
me this morning through the preaching of the gospel. I need for Him to remind me afresh
by His Spirit that which He's given me. I want to seek it again. I want to hear. I need to be
refreshed. I need to hear one more time
how the Lord has shown mercy to me. Because I know what I
am by nature. Those that have been given knowledge
of God desire a greater knowledge of God. That is growing in grace. That which I know I want to know
afresh. It's what the Apostle Paul said,
Philippians 3.10, that I may know Him and the power of His
resurrection. I think about what Paul is saying
in closing here, that I may know Him. This is life eternal. That they may know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou sent. That the Lord
may give me some knowledge of what God says about Himself.
I need to hear again, tell me one more time, how God elected
a people. Tell me about, you know, unless
the Lord had left us a seed, a remnant, according to grace,
according to election, unless God had left, we'd all been like
Solomon and Gomorrah. Tell me about election one more
time. Tell me how God, before the foundation
of the world, Elected a people in Christ and put them in Christ
and they've always been in Christ and that he came into this world
Tell me tell me again how the Lord laid down his life for the
sheep Tell me how God was satisfied and how we know that the father
was satisfied because three days later He raised him from the
dead. That's what you just said God
was satisfied tell me that how he was raised for or because
of and our justification eternally. Tell me one more time how the
Spirit of God effectually calls out God's elect. God does not
leave His people to themselves. Tell me one more time how we're
kept by the power of God through faith, ready to be revealed in
the last days. Tell me that one more time. And
Holy Spirit, would you teach me that again? That I may know
Him and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings
being made conformable unto His death. Those that have gotten
the wise heart of the prudent man get it, knowledge. Those
that have forgotten it, seek it. Those that have received
the knowledge of the glory of God in Christ, seek it. They seek it in the hearing of
the Gospel. They seek it in the reading of
His Scriptures. And they seek it in getting into
their closet. They want to get along with God.
And while they're along with the Lord, they seek the Lord
and all the while, While they're seeking the Lord, I've told you
this, they're vitally aware of their weakness. I've told you this before. The
Lord said, and when you pray, when you pray, oh, how little
I know about that. How little I know and how frail
I am when I try to pray and catch myself. wandering in my mind. In that verse I've told you before,
Lord, if you marked iniquity, who could stand? The heart of the prudent getteth
knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge. Lord, bless these words to our
heart for Christ's sake.