You know, foolishness of men
would say, well, how can fire and hail and snow and vapor, stormy winds, how can a fog,
praise God, how can beasts and cattle and birds, how? He says it does. God's people
say, Lord, He does. Turn with me to the book of Proverbs. Oh, how wonderful is His Word. That's all we've got. That's
all we need. He that hath my Word. Proverbs chapter 8. I'm so glad
He's let us come this morning and just hear His Word. I'm so glad He's not allowed
us to fall prey to things that are failing. Desire those things. I'm glad to be here. Proverbs
chapter 8. I'm going to look at verses 15
to 21, Lord willing, this morning. Last time we looked at the Scriptures
here, we were dealing with the prudence of wisdom. Prudence. That attribute of Almighty
God that knows that which is best. Prudence. Man deals prudently. He knows that that's the best
way to do it. How to do it. When to do it. And what a comfort it is for
God's people to know that He does all things well. You know,
if the Lord settles your heart, All things are well. If He settles
your heart, come what may, chastisements
will come. But I tell you, chastisement
for a believer. Do you know what that actually,
I truly believe, this is what it comes down to. Because everybody,
believers and unbelievers, they suffer turnover. I don't want to take
too much time, but turn to Psalm 73. I was reading something the
other day. Psalm 73, verse 21-22. I believe that truly, because
believers and unbelievers get sick, you know, they have financial
trouble and they have family problems. And believers and unbelievers,
where's the line between chastisement of God's people and God's wrath
on the unjust. What is it? I believe it just
right here. These two verses, I think it's
got the real heart of chastisement. If you be without chastisement,
you're none of His. Listen to what David said, Thus
my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. Reins there
means kidneys. I hurt in my heart. So foolish was I and ignorant. I was as a beast before thee."
Do you know what it is to be chastened of the Lord? It's for
the Lord God to bring you to a point to where you know something
of yourself. Something of who He is. Chastisement. I've been disrespectful to my
Lord. I've seen waywardness in myself. Paul, all the Scriptures deal
with that. Look at David. Look at Abraham.
Look at Paul. Look at Peter. Disrespectful
to the Lord, and the Lord told him what was going to happen.
He's disrespectful. And he went out and he wept bitterly.
I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. That's chastisement. I don't want to, you know, my
mama. I don't want to disrespect my
mother. If I thought I offended her or something, that just hurt
me in my heart. That's chastisement. Here's wisdom
dealing prudently. with God's people. I, wisdom,
dwell with prudence. Teach. Teach God's people. Teach them
who He is. Well, today I'd like to deal
with a couple of issues concerning wisdom Himself, the Lord Himself,
concerning that which He says He is. Dealing with that which
He declares Himself to be. And see, it's two things. I want
to deal with His power, and I want to deal with His treasure. Proverbs
8, starting in verse 15, By me kings
reign, and princes decree justice. By me, princes rule and nobles,
even all the judges of the earth." Now let me tell you what he just
said. I deal with this world in power. By me, kings reign, princes decree
justice. By me, princes rule and nobles,
even all the judges of the earth. The Scripture sets forth in Romans
13, verse 1, Every soul be subject unto the high powers, for there
is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained,
they're ordered by God. You may have a thought that runs
through your mind that you just shake your head and you say,
well, Buddy, I'll tell you what, this government that we've got
right now, in my wildest dreams, well, you know the only thing
I'm going to say about this? Two things. Number one, let every
soul be subject unto the high powers. There's no powers except
that which is of God. And secondly, we deserve exactly
what we've got. We deserve exactly what we have. What we ought to do is be praying,
God have mercy on this country. God have mercy on this state.
God have mercy on this city. But Almighty God rules and reigns
in this world. That which is ordained of God
shall stand by me, king's reign." Now, here's the comfort to know
this, that Almighty God has established all that is established. Instead of me complaining about
it, fall on your face before God
and ask God for mercy. Lord, have mercy on this country.
Lord, have mercy on me. Nothing comforts the sheep more
than knowing that our God reigns by me, by me, by me. I establish, I send, I raise
up nations and I put down nations and I do all that I do according
to my counsel. Lord, that which You have sent
our way, You have sent our way for our eternal good. Lord, You said that this is the
way it is. And Lord, as You have said, grant
us a heart to bow to that and accept that as the way it is. By me, King's reign, listen to
this, Psalm 26, yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of
Zion." There is the King that God has established. And knowing
that the King, the King of Kings, the capital K King of little
k Kings, all of the authority that is
established in this world is His authority. And they are His puppets. He does as He will. The lot is cast into the lap,
the whole disposing thereof of the Lord, over and above His essential
right of all authority and supremacy as being God Almighty, the Son,
the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Man has been
set up and given the position of the King. I set my King upon
my holy hill of Zion. He raises up whomsoever He will. And whomsoever He will, He set
our base." Now see, this is the God we serve. Now this is God. Not some puny Nobody that men
say they worship. This is the God of these Scriptures,
the One that disposes. So number one, concerning wisdom
Himself who dwells with prudence, He said, by Me, all authority
is established. and God's people by faith. And I know how we struggle. Lord, I believe, help mine unbelief.
Lord, how can these things be? How can it be, Lord, that as
You have set all these things up, all this wickedness and all
this Back door dealings and closed door this and that. How can that
be fair? I thought this was a republic.
I thought this was a, you know. But Lord, as you say, it is.
It is. And here's the second thing I know about wisdom. He has a treasure. 17 to 21. I love them that love me. And those that seek me early
shall find me. Riches in honor are with me,
yea, durable riches in righteousness. My fruit is better than gold,
yea, than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in
the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment,
that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance, and
I will fill their treasures. I know that wisdom himself, Christ
himself, he that deals with prudence, I know that he is all-powerful.
That is what I know. He is omnipotent. He raises kings
up. By him princes rule. All authority
is his. But I will tell you this, he
is our great reward. He is our treasure. Consider
that first foundation treasure that he mentioned in verse 17
right there. Now listen. Listen to this treasure. Here it is. I love them that
love me. I love them. Now you stop for a moment and
consider the treasure that His elect, that His people
possess. Now here's a treasure. I love
you. I love you. Not that our love for Him was
the cause of His love toward us. No. 1 John 4, 19 says we
love Him because He first loved us. Now you talk about a treasure
that you can go back according to the Scriptures, and using
the Word of Scriptures, it says everlasting. Now there is a Word
that has no beginning. Everlasting. I have loved you
with an everlasting love. And when you realize that that
is the foundation treasure, I love you. I have everlastingly loved you
because I loved you I chose you. You remove the love of God from
anybody, and I am telling you, your hope goes to nothing. That foundation treasure, because He loved His people eternally,
He chose them, and all I can say is this, we think in order. You know, this must have been
for this, and this was because of this, and this went to this.
Nothing ever began with God. So therefore, our election is
as eternal as His love. Our substitute is as eternal
as His everlasting love. His people have always been betrothed
to Him. They've always been His wife.
He's always been their husband. There never was a time that God
didn't look upon His elect as being holy and without blame
before Him in Christ. He never started that. Nothing ever started with God.
Nothing ever ends with God. He's eternal. I am. He's always looked upon His people
in affection, in the person of His Son. He's always looked at
Christ as being their substitute. He's always looked at Christ
as their substitute. He's always dealt with them in
Him, based on Him. Isn't that comforting? The everlasting love of God.
I love you. I love them that seek Me and
those that seek Me early. Oh, here's another treasure.
You shall find Me. Those that seek Me early. It's
good for me. It's good for me. I enjoy I like
to get up early. And just have time just be quiet. But. This doesn't necessarily
mean early in the morning, it doesn't that that that may be
that may be good. Whenever. God's people, by the
Spirit of God constraining them, they want to be alone with the
Lord. The Scripture says in when you
pray. I'm not saying if you do, you do. I know you do. I mean, it's not one of those
questions of do you? I know you do. God's people do.
And when you pray, go to your closet. Does that mean that you
open up a door and crawl in with all the stuff that you got? No,
there's an aloneness. You're alone. You're just alone
in here. Maybe somebody's sitting there. But usually you're going to find
that there's a time that is best for you. They that seek me early. The meaning of this is those
that seek Me first. When it says early, first. First. First light. First dawn. First. They that seek Me early. Matthew
6.33, But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things may be added unto you. Those that seek Him His kingdom
over anything that would take precedent over Him. I don't,
you know, there's times that I, that you struggle. I, you,
you know, you struggle with things that you do and you, I mean,
you struggle. You struggle in this world over
whether or not I, you know, I don't want to be disrespectful
to Him. Seek you first. Seek Him. Look at verse 18. Riches in honor are with me,
yea, durable riches in righteousness. For those that love Him, because
He first loved them, for them, they find Him. Moses, seek me,
first find me. He's not hidden. He doesn't hide
Himself. He reveals Himself. He speaks. They hear His Word. They find
Him spiritually. And you know Him. You know Him. You know Him by faith and you
anticipate Him. You look forward in your mind,
your thinking. There is a time I'm going to
see Him face to face. But right now, By faith, we find
Him. We know Him. We talk to Him. And He, through His Word, by
His Spirit, there is a realization that He hears and He knows and
He is able. And you talk to Him as your Lord,
as your Master, as your King, as your Husband. You talk to
Him and your heart is refreshed. He says, riches in honor with
me. Durable riches. You know, that's
saying something about those that are not durable. For those that love Him, the
riches of His eternal presence. Now there's a treasure. There's
a durable richness. His atoning blood. Just think
of the riches of His blood that covers your sin. The Lord said, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. Oh, Lord. Oh, that blood. That blood. Not blood, but that blood. His blood. When I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. Oh, that that blood might be
my atonement, my covering. How about this? How about this
durable rich right here? Imputed righteousness. Boy, that's something that I
honestly, I know, so little about. Don't you feel that way? You
know it's so. Lord, You said, based on Your
Word, You said that You love me. And Lord, I love You. And Lord, You said that those
that seek You first that you're first. And God's people do. They want to seek Him first. And I'm telling you, you deal
struggling with yourself all day, every day. Lord, I want
to seek You first. And I just get so sick and tired
of myself. I am so sorry. But Lord, You've
seen. that with you there's durable
riches. Oh, that blood and that righteousness. What a comforting thought that
is, the righteousness of God. Lord, You've given me a heart
to believe. And You said that those that believe You, that's
an evidence. Not that His righteousness is
imputed to only those that by their free will believe. It means
that their belief is an evidence that God has robed them. You
believe God. The riches. You don't trust in your self-righteous
works of your ability. No, you look to Him that has given them a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. incorruptible
inheritance, undefiled, what a treasure. My fruit, verse 19,
is better than gold, yea, than fine gold, and my revenue than
choice silver. What fruit can be compared to
the fruit of His Spirit? Love and joy and peace and longsuffering
and gentleness and meekness and kindness. That God would give me a heart
that would settle me down just to believe Him, rest in Him. What revenue can be compared
to the eternal income or the gain of those that possess His presence, His love? How about this treasure? the
treasure of His guidance. Verse 20, I lead in the way of
righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment. I lead
in the way of righteousness. I lead by my Spirit. Those that are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. I lead in the way. I lead by the Spirit of God in
the way of Christ. That's what he's saying. I lead
in the way of righteousness. What is that? You walk, believe
in God. That's what you do. You walk,
believe in Him. Struggling every day with the
presence of sin. But I'm telling you, God's people
walk after Christ. You do. You walk after Him. You
hunger after Him. You thirst after Him. He is the
good shepherd. I lead my sheep. How? How does He lead His sheep? Right here, by His Word. This
is how we walk. What does God have to say about
it? I like what Brother Scott said a long time ago. I heard
it. Who is running this show anyway? Who's running this show? How
does he lead? I lead in the way of righteousness. In the paths, or in the midst,
I'm sorry, in the midst of the paths of judgment. What does
that mean? Right now, Almighty God who is
ruling and reigning in this earth right now. In the world there
is, in this world right now, there's a people that God's left
to themselves. Now, you know that. God's going
to destroy all that we're looking at right now. It's going to all
pass away. It's going to fold it up, the
Scripture says, as a vesture. Just fold it all up. And here
we are as His sheep, and we're being led in this wilderness
right now in the very midst. What the Scripture sets forth
is the path of judgment. God's people as His elect, as
His bride, as His beloved, right in the midst, they're being guided
right in the midst of everything that God Almighty is going to
judge, destroy. And here we are in the very midst
of that which God is going to put away in the wrath of His
Word and His mouth and His righteousness, and God keeps us. Now where everything else is
just absolutely going in the way that it wants to, In the
midst of judgment, why is it that God Almighty keeps His people? Why is it? He said, because I
love you. And I will that where I am, this
is what the Lord Jesus Christ says, Father, I will that where
I am, there they may be also. I've given them Your Word and
they've kept it. They're in this world, but they're
not of it. What a treasure that Almighty
God would lead in the way of righteousness in the very midst
of the paths of judgment. Lord, my foot's not going to
slip because You're going to keep me. That's what You said.
And I'm telling you, while you walk and while you hear, you
continually, those that know Him and love Him, they pray,
Lord, keep me. Lord, don't let me slip. Don't
let me. And in closing, the reason that
the Lord leads in the way of righteousness, here it is, verse
21, that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance,
and I will fill their treasures. That which has being to it, that
which is in contrast to that which is fleeting and failing. Here is substance right here. This is the reason that I am
leading you in the paths of righteousness right in the very midst of judgment. The judgment of God that is upon
this earth and upon those that rebel against Him. Why? That
I may cause those that love Me to inherit substance. substance. Lord, what substance
is that? Here it is. Your sin's been pardoned. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute iniquity. Now, you talk about substance.
Not that I in myself am guiltless because I'm not. If we say we
have no sin, we make God a liar. But you want to talk about some
substance? He by the blood of Christ has cast my sin as far
as the east is from the west. Lord, thank you for that. Oh, that righteousness that robes
me. How about this? How about this substance? You've been born from above.
I'll give them a new heart. I'll give them a new spirit.
And I'm going to write my law on their heart. I'm going to write a new law
The law of God is holy. It's concerning Himself. It's concerning His will. His counsel. That's His law.
But you know the law that we walk by? We walk by the law of
faith. The law of faith. We believe
God. We believe that the Lord Jesus
Christ, who walked as our substitute in this earth, He walked before
God Almighty before His law and He obeyed perfectly. And we in
Him walked before God and obeyed God. Boy, now that's got some
substance to it. That's got some stability to
it. And this last substance right
here, I will fill their treasures Romans 8, 17 says, And if children,
then heirs. Heirs of God. That's what the Lord told Abraham. He said, Abraham, I am your portion. Can you imagine? If He's given
Himself to you, what do you lack? If the Lord be for us, who can
be against us, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. All
that the Son, of which the Father has said, This is My beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. You hear Him. Here is the Man,
the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Mediator, the Daysman, the
Umpire. The One that put His hands on
God Almighty, for He is God Almighty, and man for He is man. Here is
the Mediator. Here is the peace right here.
Here is the reconciliation right here. And all that the Father
has given Him, we are joint heirs with Him. I will fill their treasures. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not
heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man that which God
has prepared for those that love him." Oh, the power and the treasure
of the Lord Jesus Christ. May God Almighty be pleased by
His Holy Spirit to bless these words to our heart for Christ's
sake and for our good and comfort. Amen. Gary, would you lay this
to close?