Turn with me to Proverbs 9. This
is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is His body. We are His body. You know, that's
personal. That's personal. A body that He has everlastingly loved. Boy,
that's good news. Never started loving her. He
said, I've always loved you. But it's a body that this passage
of Scripture this morning, Proverbs 9, I'd like to look at two verses,
one and two. But it's a body referred to as His church, His
bride, His family, His brethren. All loving, personal terms established
in absolute righteousness. Everything about the relationship
between the Lord Jesus Christ and His bride, His church, His
body, is before Almighty God established in righteousness. the wonder of the Scriptures,
the holy Word of God that teaches us this. God Almighty is speaking
this morning. Here is the voice of the Savior
heard by the bride, blessed by the Spirit of God. That's the
only way you hear. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." And we're
going to look this morning at a couple of verses of Scripture
concerning what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for those that the Father gave
Him. Verses 1 and 2, Proverbs 9, Wisdom
hath builded her house. She hath hewn out her seven pillars. She hath killed her beasts. She
hath mingled her wine. She hath also furnished her table. Now, this is This is wisdom's
house. And the word house there means
actually family. This is the family. This is concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ and His family. The family that He is eternally
going to dwell with. I think about this. I was listening
I was listening to a message that Brother Henry preached.
I mentioned this to you a while back, but he was saying this. He said, here is the will. When
the Lord prayed in the garden, he said, Father, not my will,
but thine be done, thy will. The will of God is going to stand. You know that. And here was a
verse that Brother Henry brought up concerning sometimes we'll
have those in our midst, and they may be sick. I think he
was preaching a message, and it was called, He Whom Thou Lovest
is Sick. And he said, now this is sometimes,
he said, we'll find ourselves praying, Lord, I pray that you'll
heal Brother so-and-so, heal Brother so-and-so, Sister so-and-so.
And he said, that's right, to pray that. We pray that. He said,
we pray, Lord, thy will be done. Lord, if it please you, would
you heal? Lord, would you have mercy? But he said, I'm going
to tell you. He said, there's one prayer. There's one will. He said that it's always going
to come to pass. And it was, John, let me just
read this to you. John 17, 24. I will that they also, whom Thou
hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My
glory which Thou hast given Me, for Thou lovest Me before the
foundation of the world. Father, this is what I will,
that of all that You have given Me, that they be with Me where
I am." Isn't that a good thought? Isn't that pleasant? You know,
you just think, I could take a deep breath and just muse on that for just a
few minutes. Lord, give me just a glimpse
of that. His house. Wisdom. hath builded her house." Those that He has been given
in electing grace, He hath built, caused to continue. That's what it means, built. He hath built her house. He has established her to be
His house. He's eternally viewed her and
loved her. She is His house, His family. It's all about like the house
of David, the house of Brother Scott. It's His family. That's
what it means. the vinyl siding and stuff. His house, his household, his
family. Wisdom hath builded her house. He betrothed himself to her everlastingly. That's my bride, the one that
Surely fell in the garden, but all the glorious honor that was
given unto Him in her redemption. Look at the power. Look how we behold the wonder
of the glorious mercy of God. Mercy, mercy, mercy. shedding His own blood. Consider the honor of God, the
justice of God, longsuffering of God. Oh, what we have been
taught in the redemption, in the continuance, the building
of wisdom's house. Wisdom hath built in her house.
She hath hewn out Her seven pillars. Pillars. You know what a pillar is. It's
that which holds up the house. Go down and you see one of these
big old down in big antebellum looking homes.
You know you've seen them. These big old massive pillars. And he said, man, what strength,
what stability. She had hewn out all that holds
wisdom's house secure. Seven pillars, what he said. I know one thing about the word
seven there. I know it's the number that we
look at is the number of perfection. Whatever seven means, it describes
those pillars. Seven pillars. Pillars of, I
mean, here's a pillar that holds up wisdom's house. How about
God's promise? How about God's counsel? God's
power? God's will. Where would you stop speaking
of that which is stable concerning the sustaining grace of God established
on the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ? There are the seven
pillars that hold up. He is faithful. Here, this is
my beloved Son whom I am well pleased. Oh, the holding up of
that man. Somebody would say, well, where
do you base all of your belief on? Where do you put all of your
faith in? I'll tell you what I put. I'll
tell you who I put all my faith in. In my faithful Lord. faithful, faithful, faithful. And he who is faithful to his
Father has been faithful to me in the imputing of his righteousness.
Clothe me with his honor and holiness, his robe. Wrap me in his indestructible,
immovable, holiness, I stand before Him robed in the righteousness
of Christ. All of my hope. Turn to Ephesians
chapter 2. Ephesians 2. Here's a talk about
these seven pillars. Ephesians 2 verse 19, Now therefore, You
are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and the prophets." What is that, Paul? The foundation. Here it is, Jesus Christ Himself
being the chief cornerstone in whom all the building fitly framed
together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye
also are built together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit." Man,
you want to talk about seven pillars? Man, I'll tell you what,
I can tell you what the seven pillars are. They are built on Christ. He
is the seven pillars. All that can be said of Him.
Paul said this, He is all in all. Built on the foundation of the
prophets. Hewn out. Listen to this. Wisdom hath builded her house.
She hath shewn out. Shewn out. I looked again. I looked it up. I know I say that a lot, but
when you just don't know. To cut, to carve, that's what
shewn out means. You know what the word means,
to cut, to carve, to square, and be engraved. That's what
it means. But here's the issue. Wisdom
has done this. Wisdom. No mention whatsoever. Anybody else but wisdom. Wisdom
hath builded her house. She hath shewn out her seven
pillars. Who made those seven pillars? Where is all the honor? Where
is all the praise? Where is all the glory for the
sustaining of the church? Where does it
lie? Wisdom. That's where it is. Wisdom. No works of man's self-righteousness. I think about that passage that
we spoke of when the Lord mentioned it last week. He said, when you
build this altar, you just lay the rocks just like they come
out of the ground. Don't square up anything. Don't
you say, you know, Well, you know, if I would have put my
hammer and my chisel on this right here, you know how I'd
want you to look at it? Let's kind of look at it from
the position where I'm standing. I cut that rock right there. I kind of square it. That looks
pretty square, don't it? Here, line it up with everything
else. Line it up. Man, doesn't that look good. You know, I kind of did that
myself. That's what I'd say. For by grace
have you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. Why? Because I would boast. I would boast. I'm saved by the grace of God,
but here's how I made the grace of God effectual. I. Don't put your hand. Don't you square up anything. God will not accept it. Not by works of righteousness
that we have done, but according to mercy Mercy hath He saved us. A man or a woman stand before
Almighty God and say, this is the reason that I am worthy to
enter into heaven, because I was They gave a few. We prophesied
Your name. We cast out demons in Your name.
We've done many wonderful works in Your name. And He will say
unto them, Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I never
knew you. Here's the wisdom. Hath builded her house, and she
hath hewn out Her seven pillars, she has. This is a house of life. Peter said in 1 Peter 2, 5, Ye
also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house. You didn't build it. You're built
up. A holy priesthood to offer up
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. But also, wisdom has not only
built her house, but she's provided for that house, for her family,
Verse 2, she hath killed her beast, she hath mingled her wine,
she hath also furnished her table. The feast of the church. You know this. The feast of the church is the
Lord Jesus Christ, except a man eat of My flesh and drink of
My blood." Now you know the Lord said that. Except you eat of
My flesh and drink of My blood, you have no part with Me. Now
you know that coming from Him, these words from His mouth, you
know that that's so. What does it mean? What does
it mean? I think that something is set
forth right here of which the Lord made reference. Except you
eat of the flesh and drink of the blood. Unless you partake
of the life and the death of Christ. That's what He's saying.
The bread and the blood. She hath killed her beast. Obviously, the word beast is
plural. She had killed her beasts. Let me share with you what I
believe is set forth here. She had killed her beast. There were five sacrifices in
the Levitical priesthood. five sacrifices. We studied those
years ago. There's one called the burnt
offering. The burnt offering, and I'll just tell you very quickly
what each one of them says for the sake of time, but the burnt
offering, it was called a sweet savor offering, and it was an
offering that was for the Lord. It was an offering in which the
Son of God, in picture and type, a sweet savor offering. It was
an offering that set forth that the Father was pleased with the
sacrifice of Christ. To just come right down to the
heart of it, you say, you know, we're talking about a burnt offering.
What is a burnt offering? A burnt offering was that offering
that set forth that the Father was pleased. with what the Son
did, burnt offering. The meat offering was actually
not pertaining to meat. It was pertaining to fine flour. It was called a meat offering,
but it didn't have meat in it. the fine flour of which bread
was made. And that offering, the meat offering,
set forth the holy character of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, I am the bread of heaven. The meat offering was actually
the fine flour. It was the perfection of Christ. The Father was pleased with the
sacrifice. That meat offering set forth
who was being sacrificed. The perfection. Thirdly, there
was one called the sin offering. That was a picture, type. Remember they would have two
goats and one was the scapegoat and the other one was one that
was sacrificed for the Lord. And then the other one was, hands
were laid upon the scapegoat and he was taken away. The sin
offering. The sin offering was the offering
of the Lord Jesus Christ giving Himself for what we are by nature. Sin, for the root of the problem. The root of the problem is sin. That's what we are. The sin offering. Then there was one called the
trespass offering. And what that was, it was an
offering that sent forth the merit by which God forgives us
for what we do right now. What we are, sin. He was made
sin. He hath made him sin for us who
knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. But you that believe the effects of that old nature,
we still feel it right now. And if you say you have no sin,
the Scripture says you make God a liar. We sin every day. And I need
pardon. He is my pardon. God justly forgives
me because He has put away the source of what I am in Christ.
He put away sin. The guilt of it. The debt of
it. But oh, the presence of it is still there. Trespass. And then lastly, there was one
called the peace offering. The offering that set forth reconciliation
before God. What's the merit? Here it is.
It's the blood of Christ. He is my peace offering. Five
offerings. Five offerings. Five sacrifices. And they were all fulfilled by
one sacrifice. All of these, burnt, meat, sin, trespass, peace. Hebrews 10, 14 says, for by one
offering, not five, one. By one offering he hath perfected
forever. them that are sanctified. He
hath by one offering, he hath perfected forever all that God
set apart. One offering. So wisdom hath
killed her beasts. Everything that Almighty God
demanded, one sacrifice. He hath killed
her beast. Wisdom says also that as we feast
upon him who has established us and sustains us, she hath mingled her wine. Wisdom
has mingled her wine. You know, wine, obviously there is something
that wisdom has mingled. It's said to be wine. And in wine, the Scripture sets
forth different things concerning the drinking of wine. I want
you to look at Revelation 14, verse 9. Revelation 14, 9 and 10, the
third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man
worship the beast in his image and receive his mark in their
forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine
of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into
the cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with
fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the
presence of the Lamb. So wine, when we speak of wine, That passage of Scripture speaks
of wine as being that which sets forth the wrath of God. You're
going to drink of the wine. It's a drink. The wrath of God. But wine also, it can speak of
joy. Ecclesiastes 9, 7 says, Go thy
way, eat the bread with joy, and drink the wine with a merry
heart, for God hath accepted thy works." So wine, you know,
it can be the wrath of God, the joy of the Lord, the joy of God's
Spirit, you know. But when it comes to wisdom,
wisdom has mingled her wine. What has wisdom done? What has
wisdom mangled with her wine. I think it's found in Psalm 42
verses 1 to 3. Psalm 42. Psalm 42. Psalm 42. Verse 1 to 3, As the heart panteth after the water brooks,
so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for
God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? My tears have been my meat day and night while they
continually say unto me, Where is thy God? Now look at Psalm 102, verse
9. Now remember, wine can speak
of wrath. Wine can speak of joy. And they do concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. Psalm 102, verse 9. He said,
For I have eaten ashes like bread, and I've mingled
my drink with weeping. Our Lord, for the joy that was set before
Him, endured the cross. for the drink of the wine of
the joy that was set before Him drank of the wrath of Almighty
God for me." My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me? Why was the Lord Jesus Christ
forsaken? He hath made him sin for us who
knew no sin. And he drank and mingled back
in Proverbs chapter 9. She hath mingled her wine with
what? Psalm 102 says, I have mingled
it with tears. He who endured The cross. He suffered. We take because of the frailty
of our flesh so lightly. Turn to Hebrews 5. Hebrews chapter
5. We're going through the book
of Hebrews on Wednesday, and Lord willing, we'll get here.
But let's read this. The wine of our Lord's joy in
the redemption of His people. was mingled with suffering and
tears as He carried our griefs daily. How long was He associated? How long was He associated? How
many times do we read in the Scriptures when He went off by
Himself and prayed all night, weeping
as He did in the garden, Listen to Hebrews 5 verses 1
to 8. For every high priest taken from
among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God,
that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins, who
can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the
way, for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
For by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for
himself to offer for sins, And no man taketh this honor unto
himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also
Christ glorified not himself to be made in high priest, but
he that said unto him, Thou art my son, today have I begotten
thee. As he saith also in another place,
Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, who
in the days of his flesh This is speaking now of the Lord Jesus.
"...when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong
crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death,
and was heard in that he feared. Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered." What does that
mean? He learned obedience. He experienced it. He actually
suffered. The Scripture sets forth, Who
in the days of His flesh, from His birth to the grave, His human nature, not yet glorified
in His flesh, He was compassed about with infirmities. He bore
in His flesh, and the scripture says, in the days of His flesh
when He had offered up prayers and supplication with strong
crying and tears unto Him. Proverbs says that wisdom has
builded her house. She's hewn out her seven pillars. She's killed her beast. She hath
mingled her wine. You see, we have not a high priest
that can't be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but he was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. This house is built by him who
knows what we suffer. As a man, God, man mediator,
He knows. He's mingled His wine. He suffered
the wrath of God in our stead. And I'll tell you this, He drank
of the joy that was set before Him. And He went through in the
days of His flesh. And He suffered, felt, knew what
it was to be compassed by. He knew what it felt like to
be tempted. Tempted of Satan. Tempted. Men
tempted. Never deviated. But he knew the
pressures. Got off by himself. Strong crying
and tears. Now there's something that you
and I, we're just going to have to just accept it by faith. But
the Scripture says he's mingled his wine. Psalm 102 says he mingled
his wine. He said, I've mingled my wine
with tears. He knows. The days of those flesh acquainted
with grief. And she hath in closing also
furnished her table. Oh my, where would we start from
here? I think about Mephibosheth. What
a beautiful picture. Laying on both his feet over
there in Lodibar. David said, Is there any of the
house of Saul that I might show mercy to for Jonathan's sake?
He made a covenant with Jonathan. Jonathan said, When you ascend
to the throne, would you be kind to me and remember my family?
Yes, I will. of the house of Saul for Jonathan's
sake. Now, there's one little old boy
over there. David said, you go fetch him and you bring him right
here. And he's going to sit at my table
and he's going to eat. This morning, we're sitting at
the table of God. We're feasting on the riches
of His mercy and grace. We're going to feast on Christ.
And we're going to eat of Him who is the bread of heaven. And
we're going to drink of Him whose blood was shed and who we remember
every time we eat at the Lord's table. And we do that in remembrance
of Him. Without a doubt, wisdom is provided. He kept us. He builded us. Caused us to continue. Hewn out
our seven pillars. Killed our beast. Mingled our
wine. And caused us to eat. This morning,
by the grace of God, eat of Him. Lord, cause me to
hunger. The Lord caused me to thirst.
In that last day, the Scripture says, that great day of the feast,
the Lord Jesus Christ stood and He cried with a loud voice, If
any man thirst, let him come unto Me. If anybody's hungry,
anybody hungry, anybody thirsty, there's a table. There's a table
prepared. And I'll tell you this, if God
Almighty gives a man a hunger, For Him, Almighty God will show
Him the table. And that man or that woman will
eat. For Christ's sake, Amen.