Let's take our Bibles once again
and turn to Proverbs 8. Proverbs 8. I was sitting thinking while
Brother Scott was reading that passage of the fearful place standing in this pulpit. I truly, I don't, I would never,
never desire for sure, but I pray that God keep me from inconsistencies
in scriptures. We're going to die. We're all
going to die. And when we die, you know what's
going to remain? The Word of God. Heaven and earth
are going to pass away, but not His Word. I pray God teach us. We desperately
need to hear. I know, I know all of us here. I think about myself. Someone
said one time, just a few more, By the grace of God, just a few
more setting suns may not even be one more for
me. But I pray that what's said today might be consistent with
Scriptures and honoring to Him. And I pray the Lord call His
people out of darkness. Save His own. Proverbs chapter
8. Let's look at a few verses of
Scripture here. The passage that I want to look
at this morning is talking about God speaking. There's two things that we know
or so about God speaking. And it's one that He speaks to
some in power and mercy and compassion, and to some He's silent. You
know that's so. He said, My sheep hear My voice,
and they follow Me. Now, He said that they hear. Now, when we preach the Gospel,
when the Spirit of God blesses that Word in power to our hearts,
we hear with ears that this earth doesn't know, and this world
doesn't know a thing about. We hear. We hear. We hear Him. And we know Him. And we love
Him. He's real. He's real. He's not a figment of our imagination. He's not something that just,
you know, on Sunday mornings. He's alive. I know the Lord spoke to young
Samuel. It talks about in the book of Samuel. Eli the prophet
was talking to Samuel. Samuel got up one night and came
to Eli and said, Did you call me? Eli said, I didn't call you. He lied back down. Samuel got up again and said,
Did you speak to me? You called me? Eli recognized that the Lord
was speaking to that young boy. Samuel was told in 1 Samuel 3,
9, Go lie down, and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou
shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." I pray that
God give me an ear to hear today. I'm serious with you. I'm serious
as I can be. I want to hear. I want to hear
from God. David knew that the Lord was
silent to some, He said in Psalm 28, 1, unto thee will I cry,
O Lord, my rock, be not silent to me, lest if thou be silent
to me I become like them that go down to the pit. I'd like
to look, let's just look a few minutes at some of these on God
speaking. Here's the first thing I know
about God speaking. It's that God declares that He
does speak. That's the first thing. The Lord
says He does. Verse 1 of chapter 8 of Proverbs,
Doth not wisdom cry? And understanding put forth her
voice. Wisdom and understanding. Now,
you know that wisdom here refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. The
wisdom of God. Who in this chapter that we in
latter part, middle part, latter part, you know, Look, look at
verse 22, the Lord possessed me. It started off in this first
verse by saying, does not wisdom cry? Look at verse 22. The Lord
possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of
old. I was set up from everlasting. Here is wisdom personified. Wisdom is a person. Wisdom is
Christ himself. Wisdom speaks, does not wisdom
cry? You think Saul of Tarsus heard
wisdom? Saul! Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Saul heard him. Who art thou,
Lord? And wisdom said, I'm Jesus that
you're persecuting. Wisdom and understanding. Discretion. That's what understanding means.
Skillfulness, intelligence, Understanding putteth forth her voice." Understanding. To speak and to know how to speak.
To call and know how to call. Wisdom and understanding. The omniscient God. He who is known of the Father
and knows completely the Father and the Father's will, He applies
His voice. with understanding. You can't
separate wisdom and understanding from Christ. It's His character. I understand that. But it's Him.
It's higher things. He speaks in power. So that's
the first thing we know is that God speaks. He does speak. Here's the second thing we know.
That He who speaks is the exalted, omnipresent Lord of all authority. Verse 2, speaking of wisdom and
understanding, putting forth her voice. Here is verse 2. She
standeth in the top of high places by the way in the places of the
paths. Basically, this is what it is
saying. Number one, we knew that God speaks. Now, He who speaks,
who is He? He is the exalted Lord. He is
God, God Almighty. She standeth in the top of high
places. Christ ever stationed, ever established
in the top. It says, She standeth in the
top. It means the head of everything. High places. Lofty places. This is basically what verse
2 is saying. God Almighty who speaks in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ speaks from heaven. That's what
He's saying. She standeth in the top of high
places. Listen to this out of Hebrews
12, 25. See ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escape
not who refused him that spake on earth. That is, that's Moses
and the law. Much more shall not we escape
if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. Wisdom
and understanding speaks, I mean, stands in the top of high places. established there. And He being the Lord of all
power, He who is established, He who speaks from heaven, it
says also, standing in the top of high places, by the way in
the places of the paths. God Almighty is in heaven, but
He who is omnipresent is everywhere. Standing by the way in the place
of the paths. He's established. Stands in the
course of this life that's traveled by all men. Speaking from heaven. Ruling in heaven. And He's everywhere. I'm not present. ever there to
call out the objects of His mercy, any time, any place, and call
them out at one time. He may call out someone today.
Out of this very building right here, He may prick someone's
heart. All of a sudden, for the first
time, they said, you know what? Now that's God. That's God. But He may call someone out in
England today at this very moment too. See, He who cries, He stands
in the top of all high places, by the way, in the places of
the past, everywhere. Here's the third thing we know
about Him who speaks. He who is established, He speaks in mercy when it pleases
Him to speak. Verse 3 says, She crieth at the
gates, at the entrance of the city, at the coming in of the
doors. The Lord's people, God's elect,
they're like all men in this world. They're born just like
all men are. And they're in all places, every
nation and kindred and tribe and tongue. And before they're
regenerated by God's grace, they're just like everybody else. They're
just doing what they do. And when it pleases God, He calls
them out. You see, verse 1 says that He
speaks. Verse 2 says this is where He
is standing. He is in heaven. And He is in
all of the paths. He is just everywhere. And verse
3 says He actually speaks when He is ready to speak. How long did He see me? How long
did He see you? For He called you out of darkness. He always saw you. Oh, you mean when I was in rebellion
against Him and fighting against Him and running against Him?
Yeah, when I was running down just as fast as I could in the
direction in my own heart in rebellion against God to the
pit, that's where I was wanting to go. Deliver them. Going down to the pit, I found
a ransom. And when it pleased God, I was standing in a pulpit preaching a false gospel, proclaiming
a false God, a God that wanted to, trying to, hoping to. And in the good providence of
God, He who cries, He who stands in the top of high places. He
who is in the way by the places of the paths, when it pleased
Him, He caused my path to cross with the preacher of the gospel."
And I heard the gospel of God's grace. And somewhere in that
period of time, people say, well, it was June the 11th, 1218 in the afternoon. My mama told me that I was born
on October the 5th. I got a birth certificate that
says that. How do I know? How do I know that I was born
on October the 5th? I don't know that. But I do know
one thing. I'm standing here. So obviously,
I was born. When it pleased God, He called
me out of darkness and it revealed His Son in me. Somewhere in that area, it was
my time of love. And He called me and He gave
me a new heart and I believed Him and I struggled and I listened
Struggle and still struggling this morning. Struggling right
now. Here's the fourth thing I know. Here's the question. To whom
does wisdom and understanding speak in mercy? Number one, I
know He speaks. I know that He who speaks is
the exalted Lord of all glory because He's speaking from heaven.
And I know He's everywhere. And I know that when He's pleased,
He speaks. But who does He speak to? I think
that's a good question. Who does He speak? Verse 4 says,
Under you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. Now obviously, He doesn't call
all men. I won't for the sake of time.
go into that, but you know that. He does not call all men. Those that He calls, they come. My sheep hear my voice. They follow. Thy people. Ever notice how explicit
Scripture is? Thy sheep, my sheep, thy people. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power." When it pleases God, when He calls, I'm
telling you, the objects of His mercy are coming. Who does He
speak to? Well, He speaks, the Scripture
says, to men. He calls mankind. He calls out
of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, His people, His church. Hebrews 2.16 says, For verily
He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took on Him
the seed of Abraham. We looked at that passage just
a week or so ago. It didn't say He took on Him
the seed of Adam. The seed of Abraham. Promise. Promise. Elect in grace. God saves men on purpose. He's been pleased to pass by
the redemption of angels. He took not on him the nature
of angels. Those who really, as far as being
created subjects of God, demands to those angels to worship God. I know a third of them failed. But they are in the same family as we are, in higher order
right now, but not forever. We'll deal with that in Hebrews.
Paul said in Ephesians 3, 14, 15, For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
Heaven and earth is named. Who does he speak to? He's redeemed
men. David said, I'm marvelously,
wonderfully made. I was reading something the other
day that is just very, very thought provoking to me. And it was right.
I knew it was right. Here's mankind. For God so loved
the world. That means the arrangement or
the order of man. Order. Here's an amazing thing. A created
being fallen in Adam that Almighty
God loved out of that whole order. He loved the people. And here is a man or a woman
that has an animal nature about him. We walk around. We breathe.
We talk. We hear. We work. We touch. We feel. We understand. We perceive. But also in that nature, God
has been pleased to impart to some of them a new nature. A nature that is born of God
that sins not. A nature that knows Him and loves
Him, that bows to Him. Two natures. God has been pleased to speak
unto men. I call in my voice. is to the
sons of men. And fifthly and lastly, why? Wisdom and understanding
speaks to men. The answer, because number one,
there were some that He loved. Why did He speak to them? That
He speaks. He speaks from heaven. That He
is in the paths everywhere. That He speaks when He is ready
to. That He speaks to the sons of men. But why does He speak? Here is the answer. Because they are ignorant of
Him. You know you want to teach those
that you love. that you care about, you want
to tell them something, teach them something. I don't want to be ignorant of
God, and I'll tell you this, I don't want you to be either.
I really don't. There's so much that I don't
know. I stand up here sometimes and I think to myself, I can't
even fathom the depth of what I'm talking about. imputed righteousness. Can you
explain that to me? Some of you say, well, I can't. No, you can't. I'm thankful for
it, but I'll tell you this, I'm thankful that he knows. I'm thankful
that he sees. The triune God, the Trinity, and the gorgeous, glorious, marvelous,
union of the Godhead in mankind. Great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in flesh. Why does wisdom speak? Because we are ignorant. This is life eternal that they
may know thee. I've come that they might have
life. Look at verse 5, O ye simple,
understand wisdom, and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. The gospel of God, the wisdom
of Christ, it's a mystery. O ye simple, God's select are just like all
men. Ignorant, foolish, stiff-necked. There's not an ounce of difference.
Remember, we were all dug out of the same pit. Half the potter
knocked the right out of the same lump. Same lump. What's the difference in you
or me and anyone else? No difference save for the grace
of God. But to understand wisdom, to
be of an understanding heart, that takes the mercy and grace
and power of Almighty God. God must give a man a heart. Why does He speak? Because He wants him to hear.
Look at verse 6. For I will speak of excellent
things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things." Hear. Hear the truth concerning
who I am. Hear the truth of the gospel.
Let me ask you this. Has the Lord given you a heart
that loves to hear this message We just we take another passage
every week. But let me ask you this. Have
I really said anything today that's any different from what
I said last week? I could have preached
this message the first day I was here. And we'd have been sitting
right here right now, take a different passage. All of the scriptures
has one to which it looks. Search the Scriptures, the Lord
said. These are they which testify of Me. There's not another message. Accused Brother Scott said, all
he preaches is Christ. Thanks be to God for that. You that know him, don't you
love this Gospel? It is a glorious Gospel. Do you
ever tire of hearing of redemption? I tell you this, if you're aware,
if you're thought worthy, lying on a bed, sick, thinking that
you're getting ready to leave this world, I tell you this,
you'll never tire of thinking of it again and again. Oh, that I might know Him. That
I might be found in Him. Why does He speak? because his
people are ignorant. Verse 5, because he wants them
to hear. And why does he speak? Because he
is the only one that speaks that which is right. Verse 7, for
my mouth shall speak truth. I am the way, the truth, and
the light, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. He who is truth will only speak
the truth. Now, I will admit this. To my old carnal heart and to
every man and woman born in Adam, to their heart too. Now, let's don't sit here and
point fingers. I tell you all y'all out there.
No, I got a heart that's just like this. But for the grace
of God, This is a hard saying. But for the grace of God, I will
not bow to this. I'll say that's just not fair.
That don't sound right to me. Everybody ought to deserve a
chance. Let me tell you something. Whenever
you hear somebody say everybody deserves a chance, they say,
I don't like sovereign grace stuff. I don't, you know. I just,
I don't believe that. Everybody deserves a chance.
Okay, then come. Come. The Spirit and the Bride
say come. Whosoever will. This is the way
it is. God saves who He will. And if you don't come, it's because
you didn't want to. If you don't come, it's because
you didn't want to. I will not have that man to rule over me. That's your decision. But nobody's going to stand before
God and say, I didn't come because you wouldn't let me. My mouth shall speak the truth,
and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. Lying. Lying on God is detestable
to wisdom. 1 Peter 2, 21-22 says, For even
here unto where you call, because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example that you should follow His steps who did
no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. Here's what I just said. The
Lord speaks. Number two, He who speaks is
the exalted, omnipresent God. Number three, He speaks when
it pleases Him. Number four, He speaks to whomsoever
He will. He speaks in mercy among the
sons of men. And He speaks because men are
ignorant. ignorant of who God is. He will
not leave His own in darkness. He's not going to be silent to
His elect. He's God Almighty. May the Lord
be pleased to bless this word to our heart. He's the Lord. He's God. And to Him, by His
grace, we bow. Let's stand together and I'll
just close this in a word of prayer and then we'll leave. Our Father, how thankful we are
that we've had another day to be able to come and to consider
Your Word and to behold Your Christ, our Lord, our Savior. Lord, based upon Your Word, You
speak. Cause us to hear. Give us a heart
and an ear to hear and to listen. Guide us, for Christ's sake,
we pray, Amen.