Alright, in Proverbs 15, verse
7, the scripture sets forth, The lips of the wise disperse
knowledge, but the heart of the foolish does not so. Now in this proverb, there's
actually two groups of people being referred to, spoken of
it, the wise and the foolish. Now, the distinction between
these two peoples, these two groups of people, is pretty plain. The scripture says that the wise
disperse, cast out knowledge, and the foolish Don't. Now the wise, and here again
it's so important to understand what the word means, what the
words mean in these verses. Wise here, it means to become
wise. To be taught wisdom or to show
oneself Wise. So we know that something good,
something profitable has been done for the first group because
they're contrasted with the foolish. And I looked up that word foolish.
It means the simpleton. The arrogant one. The stupid. That's the foolish. Now from
this passage, we know that the Lord has been pleased to make
some wise unto God, wise unto salvation. 2 Timothy 3, verses
13-15 says, But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and
worse, deceiving and being deceived. But continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing
of whom thou hast learned them." That learned of the Lord, taught
by God's Spirit. And that from a child, thou hast
known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Now, there's
three things that I'd like for us to consider about the wise
from this passage of Scripture. The wise. Disperse knowledge. The lips of the wise. Here's
three things. Number one, if they be wise, if a man or
a woman is wise, wise unto salvation, Not wise as far as this world's
wisdom is concerned. There's a lot of things that
a lot of people know. Smart people, they know a lot
of stuff. But as far as being wise according
to the Scriptures, wise unto God, if they are wise, here's
the first thing, I know that they've heard from God by grace. The only people that hear from
Almighty God in mercy. The only ones that hear. And
when they hear, they hear in the heart. Hear in the understanding.
Let me say it like that. When I say my sheep hear my voice,
I'm going to look at this just a second. They hear not with
this ear. Everybody can hear with this
ear, but I'm talking about hearing with understanding, with agreement. They hear. They perceive. They know. John 10, 14, 16, I
am the good shepherd and know my sheep, and I'm known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And of the sheep I have, which
are not of this foal, them also I must bring. And they shall
hear my voice, and there shall be one foal and one shepherd."
Now, if anyone has heard from the Lord, Anyone has understood
that salvation is all of grace. If anyone has heard, then they've
heard from Almighty God. And the only ones that hear,
the only ones that understand are the sheep. That's the only
ones. My sheep hear my voice. Now, His people, they hear. They hear by power, and when
they hear, here's how you know if a person has heard from God.
They believe Him. If they've heard, they've heard
by faith. The Scripture refers to their
hearing as a hearing ear, a seeing eye. The Lord has made both of
them. They recognize His voice. That's
what he says, they hear my voice. Now when the Lord speaks, the
believer does hear. They hear with delight, they
hear with understanding, they hear in their heart. That's the
only way that I can explain it. But a believer knows what I'm
talking about. I understand what you mean. I hear you. His voice, spoken
by the Holy Spirit, is always in consistency, consistency,
consistency with the Scriptures, the Word of God. This is the
way that God speaks. And outside of these Scriptures,
God does not speak. This is His final Word. This
is the Word of Almighty God. And His Word, when it comes in
power, when they hear it, They hear it in their spirit, in their
heart, in their understanding. It arrests them. It stops them. They're aware of it. The Song
of Solomon 5.2. Now here's the believer. Here's
the speech of a believer. The believer says, I sleep, but
my heart waketh. It's the voice of my Beloved
that knocketh. saying open to me, my sister,
my love, my dove, my undefiled, I sleep, but my heart waketh. A believer understands that paradox. He knows that the presence of
sin is the reason that he is often lacked. Dull. Sleepy in spiritual things,
spiritual joys, spiritual understanding. And he finds himself grievingly
sleepy toward Christ. How often, and I'm talking about
all of us now, how often have we found ourselves, whether we're
reading, whether we're praying, whether we're listening to the
preaching of the gospel. How many places has our minds
been already this morning? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. How many things have we thought
about? Things yesterday. Things this afternoon. Things
tomorrow, next week. Things we've got to do. Things
at work. Kind of mull them over a little
bit. This is what a believer says. But my heart awakes. I know this for a believer. They
agree with Almighty God and say, my attitude so often is one of
sleepiness. But life is not extinct. A believer is aroused by the
visits of God's Holy Spirit. And he's awakened by the voice
of the Lord. Gently, but powerfully, effectually,
wake up. Wake up. The voice of the Lord, Psalm
29, verse 4, is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full
of majesty when the Lord calls little Samuel. Samuel. Now listen, let me tell you something.
According to that scripture, Samuel heard him. He heard the voice of the Lord. Little Samuel got up, went to
Eli, said, did you call me? And he said, I didn't call you.
He laid back down. The Lord called him again. Samuel
got up again. Eli, did you call me? Eli knew. He knew it was the Lord. And
Eli told him. He said, go lie down. And it shall be, if he
call thee that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant
heareth." Those made wise unto salvation, they hear the voice
of the Lord. So here's the first thing I know.
Those that do hear, hear in heart, believing, by faith, they've
heard from God. They've heard by grace. Secondly,
those that are wise, that speak wise, they've been made wise
to believe it. Not believe in Him. Remember
this, the demons believe in Him. Satan believes in Him. All men
know that there's a God, there's a conscience in every man that
knows right from wrong. But there's a difference in believing
in Him and believing Him. The regenerated sinner saved
by the grace of God knows by a new heart what God says is
so. And he believes it. And he trusts
it. Romans 4.3 says, Abraham believed
God And it was counted. It was imputed to him. It was
given unto him to believe. It was imputed to him, counted
unto him for righteousness. Those made wise unto salvation,
the lips of the wise, those that are wise, they believe what God
says about men. They believe this. They believe
that there's none righteous. No, not one. They believe what God has to
say about salvation. They believe that man truly was
ruined in the fall. They believe that. They believe
that when Adam sinned against God, as I said last Wednesday
night, what sin? One sin plunged mankind. All men died spiritually. They possessed a soul that was
ungenerated, not generated by God's Spirit. They were unregenerate. They were dead. Dead spiritually. They believe that man is totally
incapable of doing anything to establish a righteousness before
God. What can you, what can I do in
order to produce life before God? Nothing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There's none
righteous. There's none good. No, not one. They believe that Christ Jesus
the Lord redeemed His people. They have no doubt whatsoever.
As I said before, there is no doubt in a believer's mind that
God Almighty has chosen a people unto salvation. They would have
to take out scriptures 1 Corinthians 1-4, He has chosen us in Him
before the foundation of the world. 2 Thessalonians 2-13,
we're bound to give thanks because God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. God Almighty has a people. He's
elected a people. And He's going to save them.
He's going to save them. They're not going to perish.
All that the Father giveth thee shall come to me. Him that cometh
to me, I'll in no wise cast out. There's no doubt about that.
We believe, believe God, that when the Lord Jesus Christ said,
I lay down my life for the sheep, I believe He paid my debt. He put it away. And I believe
that I shall, if I'm one of His, be regenerated by the Spirit
of God. God's people believe God. They are made wise unto
salvation. They believe that unless Almighty
God, in electing grace, purposed to show mercy, no one would have
been saved. And whenever somebody says, I
tell you what, that old doctrine of election, that doctrine of
election, Romans 11 verse 5 says, Even
so, then, at this present time also there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. And Romans 9 verse 29 says this,
Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as
Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrah. Unless Almighty God
chose to show mercy, everybody would have perished. God loved
the order of man. That's why men are not going
to all perish. That's why they're not. So whenever
we say that doctrine of election, predestination, thank God that
Almighty God chose to show mercy. I've had people tell me, they
say, well, I just don't think that that's fair. Everybody deserves
a chance. They lost it in the garden. They
lost it. There they go. In Adam, all die. Brady, that ended it. But for
the grace of God, that ended it right there. And thirdly,
those made wise unto salvation are convinced of God's means
of calling out His sheep. They're convinced of it. God has a people. He's going to save
them. How? What is the means of God
calling them out? Now, here it is right here. It
is the preaching of the gospel. Romans 1, 16, 17. Paul says,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. The gospel of God. For it is the power of God unto
salvation. Therein, there's where the righteousness
of God is revealed. There's where it's set forth
that God is just and justifies a sinner. The lips of the wise disperse
knowledge. They spread it. They scatter
it. They diffuse it. Because they're
convinced that the Lord blesses His Word, the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace. They disperse it publicly, just
like I just mentioned, through the preaching of the gospel.
The reason that we're doing what we're doing this morning, the
reason that I'm preaching what I'm preaching is because I'm
absolutely convinced there is no other message. There's no
other message. This is it. This is the Word
of God. Every passage of Scripture has
one message in it. It is the message of Christ.
His honor, His glory. That which is due unto Him. Praise. Adoration. Lord, You're God. The lips of the wise. The language
of the wise. The speech of the wise. Verses. Truth. Knowledge. The knowledge of God. We do it publicly, but listen
to this also. I love this passage of Scripture.
Malachi, I'll read this to you, 3-6. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. I know God doesn't change. Okay? Publicly, we preach the Gospel. That's his ordained means. But listen to this also where
he doesn't change. Then they that feared the Lord
respected God, believed God, trusted Him, spake often one
to another. And the Lord hearkened and heard
it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them
that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name. The lips of the wise disperse. Cast out. Set forth. Knowledge. Knowledge of God. They speak of Him. They love
Him. They respect Him. They set forth
His honor. But the heart of the foolish
doth not sow. They set forth that which is
unsteady, which is false, which is weak. And that's what? Anything that is not the gospel
of God's sovereign grace is weak. It's impotent. It depends on
a man, a woman. As I've said before, think about
this. When someone says, I believe that you can be saved
by doing this act. Giving your heart to Jesus, walking
down the aisle, going before someone and confessing your sins,
being baptized, taking the Lord's Supper, Listen. Listen to what
is demanded for righteousness. You, if you're trusting in what
you're doing, you must have never sinned. You must have been born
perfect. You must have from the time of
your conception. There could be no sin there. And everything that you ever
did in word, in thought, in deed had to be perfect. Perfect! You had to be a perfect example. A perfect sacrifice. A perfect! There could be nothing about
what you've done since that time. There could be absolutely no
deviation. from anything that God Almighty
demands for righteousness. If you trust in your free will,
in your words, in your decision, remember this, it must be perfect
before God. Absolutely. With nothing that
God Almighty can look at and say, you deviated right there. God Almighty must be able to
look at your work and say, accept it wholly, as wholly as I am. Now let me ask you this, do you
trust in your will? Do you trust in your work? Do
you trust in your decision? What? I'm telling you anything. That it's not the gospel of God's
sovereign, saving, electing, predestinating, particular, redeeming
grace, irresistible grace. It's impotent. Impotent. It's nothing. Nothing. The heart of the foolish doth
not so. The lips of the wise disperse
knowledge, God's knowledge. God has taught them. They believe
it. And they preach what God says
is so. The foolish disperse that which
glorifies man and makes God Almighty to be a beggar. But the knowledge,
it is dispersed by the lips of the wise. That message that reveals
God to be God, just and justifier. That's the truth. That's power. That's the power of God. Paul
said in Romans 1.15, So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach
the gospel to you that are at Rome also, and for myself. 1 Corinthians 9.16, For though
I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is
laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. The lips, the language of the
wise, disperse knowledge. Luke 6.45 says, A good man out
of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is
good. And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart
bringeth forth that which is evil. For of the abundance of
the heart his mouth speaks. May the Lord bless these words.
to our heart for Christ's sake.