Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 14. Proverbs chapter
14. As Jeff was reading, I love as
we read these scriptures and it sets forth the absolute certainty
of God's accomplishment. Almighty God. saves his people,
saves them by power, saves them on purpose. Proverbs 14, as we continue going
through this precious book, verse by verse, looking each time when we consider
the Scriptures, we are looking for Christ. We are looking for
his message, his gospel. Verses 33 to 35, Wisdom resteth
in the heart of him that hath understanding. But that which
is in the midst of fools is made known. Righteousness exalteth
a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. The king's favor
is toward a wise servant, but his wrath is against him that
causeth shame. Father, again we ask your blessing
upon your word. Lord, feed us with the bread
of life himself. May we feast upon him. as we
eat of his flesh and drink of his blood. For Christ's sake. Amen. I know, and I know this according
to the Word of God, that there are things that are hidden from
man's understanding. In fact, our Lord even thanked
the Father for hiding things that are revealed to some, and
to some left in darkness. The Lord thanked him for that.
I thank Thee, O Father, that Thou hast hidden these things. This morning I'd like for us
to consider three glorious truths found from this passage of Scripture
right here. We take God's Word. as we come
to it and we deal with it just exactly the way the Spirit of
God has written it. And there's three things out
of this passage that I see must be revealed. God must show a
man, show a woman these things. And here's the three things,
here's the three points that I'm going to deal with this morning. to his people. Number two, God's
mercy to his people. And number three, God's justice
to his people. Number one, God's gift to his
people. Wisdom, verse 33, resteth in
the heart of him that hath understanding. But that which is in the midst
of fools is made known." Now, before I consider this first
point, God's gift to His people, I'd like to consider where that
gift is actually going to be found. Here it is. This is where God's gift is found
within His people. in the heart of him that hath
understanding." Now, everybody has got a spiritual
heart. It's either a stony heart or
it's a new heart. It's either a dead heart or it's
a live heart. One of the two. But the man that
has understanding, Now that man that has understanding, well,
first of all, of himself, he has understanding of his frailty,
he has understanding of his need, but this man that has understanding
of himself also has understanding of God's sovereignty, of God's will, God's glory, God's
purpose. I love... as we consider God
Almighty and that we are. We're the recipients of His grace,
His mercy, and His choosing. We are what we are by the grace
of God. We know that. If God has called
a man, called a woman out of darkness, they know what they
are in themselves. Because they know who He is somewhat.
That man, a man that hath understanding, he has a heart that receives
the gift of God. Ezekiel 36.26, the Lord said,
A new heart also will I give you, a new spirit will I put
within you. Now man, regenerated by the grace
of God, has got two natures. That old dead nature with which
I was born, I still got it. I got it. And it never changes. That old heart of rebellion that
I was born with, that dead heart, that never heard anything before
I was under the sound of the gospel, Freddie. I got that heart. What's happened is a new heart
by the grace of God has been imparted, put in. A new spirit. A new will. A new love. A love
for God. A love for God's Word. A love
for God's people. There's a new heart there. And
it's a heart of understanding. This new nature is put there
by the power of God. Same power that healed the blind
man we looked at a few minutes ago. Same power. God's power. God's might. Man that God has given a new
heart has a new desire for God's honor. God's glory. And when
he hears men lie on God, it just cringes. When he hears men say,
God's done all He could do, I say, well, maybe your God has. Maybe your God's done all He
could do. The God of your imagination, that little G-God. But I'm telling
you, this is not the God of this Bible. The God of this Bible
rules and reigns. And I'm telling you, you're in
His hands. And He's going to do with you whatever He's pleased
to do with you. And if He's pleased to call you
out of darkness by His grace and power, I'm telling you, He's
going to keep you. And whenever you stray, He's
going to chase in you. You're mine. I chose you. I bought you. I gave you a new
heart. You belong to Me. My kids, as I've told you before,
they knew where the lines were. Because I established them. This
is what you can do, this is what you can't do. And if you do what
I tell you not to do, you'll have to deal with me. That's
the way it is. Now the kids down the street,
my kids used to ask me, just like your kids did, well so and
so does this, I don't care. So and so don't belong to me.
You do. Well, they can go wherever. That's
fine. That's fine, but you can't. This is the way it is. A man
that has understanding knows something of God's will, God's
power, God's glory. He was born with a wicked heart,
and God gave him a new heart. And now both of them are contrary
one to another. They fight. That old heart doesn't
rule anymore. God said, I'll remove the stony
heart, that cold heart that rebels against God. It doesn't rule
anymore. Sin shall not have the dominion
over you. But sin is still there. Galatians 5.17. This is what
Scripture says. The flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary,
the one to the other. Now listen to this. So that ye
cannot do the things that you would. There's two natures in a believer.
Two hearts. One of them has been dethroned.
And the other one has been placed there, and in it is found the
gift of God. I'll talk about it in just one
second. But because there's two natures there, striving against
each other, you cannot do the things that you would. Because
the presence of sin is in our flesh, We cannot do good as we
would, as we would desire to by that new heart. Because sin
is there, we can't do the things that we would. But because the
divine nature is there, that old nature that would do nothing
but rebel and be evil and completely rule and reign in this person
right here, it's restrained. So he can't do what he wants
to either. So we have two natures striving against each other.
Look at Romans 7, 19-23. Romans 7. Romans 7, 19-23. Here
is the Apostle Paul. who by the grace of God knew
something about himself. And therefore, the Spirit of
God through Paul teaches us this is the way we are. Listen to
what the Spirit of God has to say. For the good that I would,
I do not. Let me ask you this, you that
know Him. Would you not desire to walk, to know God, to be mindful
of Him? To obey Him perfectly. And to be aware of it. In Christ alone, we do. Because we live by the faith
of the Son of Man who loved us and gave Himself for us. You
know how a believer walks. He walks by faith, believing
Him in whose faith, when Christ walked this earth, did He know
and hear and obey perfectly? You know He did. His faith. His faith. We live by the faith
of the Son of God, the Son of Man, who loved us and gave Himself
for us. That's our righteousness. That's
our honor. His righteousness that clothes
us. But Paul the Apostle saw something. The good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not,
that I do. If I do that I would not, it's
no more I, that new man. that do it but sin, that dwelleth
in me, the same eye, that's me, that's me, I find in a law that when I would
do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law
of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death." This
is a believer. Struggling. Striving against
sin. Sin, striving against the new
man. Struggling. That new man, desiring
honor before God Almighty. The presence of sin. He can't
do what he would. One day he will. One day. When Almighty God puts off this
body of flesh and gives us a new body, a changed body, we'll see
Him. And we'll know Him then as we're
known. How does He know us? He said
in that day, we'll know Him. We'll know as we're known. But
right now, we're struggling creatures. But struggling creatures that
know something of the God of all grace. Understanding. And in that new heart, back in
Proverbs 14, There's something that rests
in the heart of him that has understanding. What is it? Scripture
says, and here's a secret, here's a great secret, it's wisdom. Wisdom. Wisdom. That is God's gift to God's people. It's Christ Himself. The gift
of God. The gift of God. Wisdom Himself. The wisdom of God and the wisdom
from God. And here's what's happening.
There, wisdom Himself rests. He dwells as the King victorious. And giving comfort and strength
to His people. And they rest in Him. He dwells
in them. Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3. Verse 14. Ephesians 3. 14. For this cause
I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would
grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened
with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God." God's gift. Wisdom Himself. Wisdom resteth, continually resteth,
in the heart of His regenerated people. And those in whom Christ
dwells, they rest too. They rest, the Scripture says,
from their labors. They've ceased from trying to
establish a righteousness before God. Christ is their rest. They boast in Him alone and seek
no honor to themselves because they know, He is my righteousness. I'm not trying to establish a
righteousness before God. Christ is my righteousness. What right do I have? To enter into His presence in
myself, I have none. I'm a rebel against God. But
in Him, by His grace, by His purpose, by His will, by His
privilege, by His mercy, by His compassion, He has given me wisdom
as my surety. and given me a new heart in which
wisdom rests. We have no comfort but Him. But, back in Proverbs 14.33,
but that which is in the midst of fools is made known. That which is in the midst of
fools, what's in their heart? Pride, arrogance, self, my boasting,
my will, my ability. The unregenerate reveals his
heart. He'll reveal it in his actions.
He'll reveal it with his mouth. Scripture sets forth out of the
abundance of a heart, the mouth speaks. Listen to an unregenerate
talk. You'll hear it. My will. My choice. Their heart and the
emptiness of it is manifested. They do the very opposite of
one in whom Christ dwells. Romans 10, I'll just read this
to you. Verse 3, the Scripture says,
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. It takes a new heart to bow to
Christ by faith and say, Lord, everything that I can do is done.
You're my life. God's gift to His people. Secondly,
God's mercy to His people. Verse 34, righteousness exalteth
a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. When it comes to a nation being
exalted in the sight of men, there might be a lot of things
that temporarily might be said to exalt that nation. Power,
military might, natural beauty. graciousness to the rest of the
world. I think of the United States. This is a wonderful country. I love this country. I love patriotism. I love the American flag. I love
people that speak with honor and the love of their country.
I love that. I appreciate soldiers. I love that. But when it comes
to a nation being exalted in God's sight, there's one thing,
according to this Scripture right here, that's needful. One thing. Righteousness. Righteousness
exalteth a nation. And knowing that nations are
made up of people and there's none good, no, not one, The latter
part of that 34 says, but sin is a reproach to any people or
to nations. To any people. That's interpreted.
Nations. Galatians 6.16, as many as walk
according to this rule, peace on them and mercy from the Israel
of God. The nation. There's a nation.
It's the Israel of God. There's one nation in which righteousness
is found. the Israel of God. That nation that is robed in
the righteousness of Christ, those that renounce all trust
in and dependence upon their works of self-righteousness,
The nation of Israel. The nation of God's choosing.
I'm not talking about that place where a lot of fighting is going
on. I'm talking about the true Israel. The people, the elect
of God. God's bride. The Israel of God. The Prince with God. That nation,
one nation, is found with righteousness.
God's elect. Now look at it. Righteousness
exalteth a nation. This nation, Revelation 15 verse
3 says, they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and
the song of the Lamb. They are saying, great and marvelous
are thy works, Lord God Almighty, thou King of the saints. Righteousness. Christ's righteousness
exalted a nation, one nation. There's only one nation in which
righteousness is found. It's found in the nation, God's
Israel, that is robed in the righteousness of Him alone that
pleases God. But, sin is a reproach to any people
or the nations. Here is the third gift. God's justice to his people. Verse 35 says, The king's favor
is toward a wise servant, but his wrath is against him that
causeth shame. There is but one wise servant.
There is only one. The king's favor is toward a
wise servant. It is he who is wisdom himself,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we are his servants. Romans
1.1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated under the gospel of God. James 1.1, James, a servant
of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are his servants. We follow Him. We are unprofitable
servants when we've done all that we do. We've done that which
was our duty. We are but unprofitable servants. You know what that means? That
means we haven't added one bit to His glory. We have not produced
anything of ourselves. We're His servants. We follow
after Him. But there is one wise servant,
the servant who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 52, 13, Behold,
my servant shall deal prudently. I looked that up. Intelligently,
wisely, with understanding. Servant shall deal prudently.
He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. He is God's
wise servant. And all that's chosen in Him
are the recipients of His wisdom, the recipients of His work, the
recipients of His grace, and God Almighty accepts us in Him,
accepted in the Beloved. And we know it. We know it. Thankful for it. He is the one
that God Almighty is pleased with. How gracious is Almighty
God to give us a heart of understanding. at heart in which Christ Himself,
wisdom, rests. And we in Him. How thankful we
are that righteousness, His righteousness, exalts the nation. We are exalted
in Him. Accepted in Him. The King's favor is toward a
wise servant, but His wrath is against Him that causeth shame. His wrath is against the man
who is under shame because of himself. He causeth shame. Men can say, well, I'm not converted
because God didn't choose me. I'm unconverted because God didn't
call me out of darkness. No, you're unconverted because
you will not come to Christ. That's the reason. You will not
believe. You're not going to lay that
at God's feet. I'm telling you, if God left
every man and woman to themselves, every one of us would do the
same thing. We'd all perish. We'd all be like Sodom and Gomorrah.
If God had not left a remnant according to grace, We'd all
be just like Sodom and Gomorrah. What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah?
They were all under the wrath of God. They're in hell. If God had not left a remnant,
we would be under God's judgment. Whenever somebody raises their
finger toward God and says, it's your fault, my friend, no. God looked and saw that there
were none righteous. It's by the grace of God that
God has given any man, any woman, a new heart. That God Almighty
would give him Christ and give him to Christ. It's by the grace
of God that Almighty God has exalted His people and His blessed
Son and His righteousness. It is by the grace of God. That
we are what we are. Look not to your works or your
will. You look unto Him who is the
Lamb, God's Lamb, slain. Lord, bless these words to our
heart for Christ's sake.