Turn with me to the book of Proverbs,
chapter 2. Proverbs, chapter 2. I pray the Lord might be pleased
to bless again this morning in this passage of Scripture. I
want to look at one verse. Verse 9. A couple of weeks ago, it said in verse 5, this is what
we looked at the last verse that we looked at two weeks ago. Then
shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord. Men will understand. Respect. They understand something
about respect. Last time we saw where the Lord
giveth wisdom. God must be just in salvation. And the only way that He can
give, set forth justice in salvation
for a sinner to be saved, He must give Christ the wisdom of
God. The Lord giveth wisdom. Almighty God is going to teach
His people. They are going to understand.
That is what I want to speak on for a few moments. That which
a believer understands. The Lord said in verse 5, Shalt
thou understand the fear of the Lord, the respect of God? Well, in verse 9, and I'll tell
you this before we read verse 9, whenever a believer is taught
to understand, when it speaks of understanding something, You
write this down. He understands life eternal.
He understands things of the justice of Almighty God, the
mercy of Almighty God. He understands. He sees something. He knows Christ. John 17.3 says, This is life
eternal, that they might know Thee, the
only true God, in Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. The word
know, right there, means this, to pursue in knowing Him. To pursue in
knowing. That's what it means. A believer
pursues in knowing. Now listen, most everybody here
was here last week. Most of you were here the week
before. By the grace of God, Barbara,
they will be here next week too. Why? Why are you here? Why do you come? Come and come
and come. Don't you believe that if God's
called His people out of darkness and you've heard, and I mean,
don't you believe that just, yeah, I believe that. I believe,
yeah, once they've heard, they've heard and they've got to keep
them. But let me tell you something, you're ever hungering and thirsting
after righteousness. I ate breakfast this morning.
And I expect to eat lunch in a few minutes, too. I'm going
to get hungry again. I want to satisfy a physical
hunger that I have, but you that believe. This is life eternal
that you might pursue in knowing Him. I want to know Him. Oh, that I might know Him. And I'll tell you, we know something
of ourselves. Little by little, the Lord is
causing us to become more acquainted with the depth of that fallen
nature that we have to live with. Little by little. You don't know
as much now about your old nature as you're going to if the Lord
tarries. If He were to show us the depth
of our nature right now, Mark, I'm struggling right now with
it. If I knew the depth, but by the
mercy of God, He's little by little showing me. The thing
that I noticed about an aged and taught believer They know. It seems like I listen to what
they say. I listen to how they talk. And
they talk more and more concerning Christ, God's mercy to sinners. They speak of the mercy and the
grace, indescribable compassion of Almighty God, because the
Lord little by little has shown them something of themselves.
And they see it more and more. And the closer they get to leaving
this world, the more they see that they're just sojourners,
travelers and pilgrims. This ain't my home. This place
ain't got nothing for me. This place is pitiful, miserable. I mean, what does a believer
have to look forward to in this life? What does this life have
to offer save for that which Christ has taught them by Spirit
concerning Himself and His grace and His mercy to keep them day
by day? They truly do long to be inhabited
in Him and to have Him inhabit them. To be in that city without
the presence of sin. That city that Abraham looked
for. A city that has foundations. Whose builder and maker is God.
God's people. They understand. They're made
wise unto salvation. They understand something of
life eternal. What do they understand? Well,
here's what they do. Just one verse, verse 9. Then shalt thou understand. The Scripture said in verse 6,
he gives wisdom, he gives Christ. Out of his knowledge, out of
his mouth, I'm sorry, cometh knowledge and understanding.
My sheep hear my voice. Out of his mouth comes that which it is to know God. This is life eternal, that they
may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou
sent." In Christ, verse 7, is laid up, kept, sound wisdom for
the righteous. He's the shield, the buckler,
them that walk uprightly. He keeps the paths of judgment. He preserves the way of His saints. That is, when Almighty God has
done for you what you could not ever do for yourself, then shalt
thou understand. A believer understands, first
of all, the Scripture says, righteousness. When Almighty God has called
a man out of darkness, a woman out of darkness, and given them
a new heart, a heart that knows God, that longs for God, It's
respectful toward God. Not a foolish, childish play. I'm talking to you that are serious
about Him. I want to be of comfort to you
that are serious about Him. You know what you understand?
You understand righteousness. You understand, first of all,
that in Adam you don't possess one except a self-righteousness. which will never answer, which
will never stand. Romans 3.10 says, As it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one. God looked, the Scripture
says, in the days of Noah, and He looked upon all men. And every thought of the imagination
of man was evil. And I'm telling you, the heart
of that word evil right there is to see self-righteousness. The heart is evil, deceitful
above all things. You see that man in Adam does
not possess a righteousness that will stand before God, a righteousness
that God Almighty, that God's law will look upon and say, Justified. No guilt. No iniquity. The Lord Jesus Christ, this is
what you that believe understand. He is your righteousness. He is your righteousness. Jesus
Christ the Lord is the righteousness of His people. Jeremiah 23, 6,
"...in His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell
safely. And this is His name whereby
He shall be called the Lord our righteousness." Think of that Scripture right
there. This is your name. Think of all
these names. A white stone. That white stone
that's written, that no man knows but He that possesses that stone. Carl, I can't see in your heart
and feel in your heart what you feel concerning Christ being
your righteousness. Only you can feel that. Only
I can feel for me. I know that everyone that believes
knows that name. But here's the name. Here's the
name that no man knows but he that possesses. That stone, that
name. Here's your name. The Lord, our
righteousness. What's your name? The Lord is
my righteousness. Where do you live? What's the
name of the city you live in? The Lord is there. You see the
honor. You see what a believer understands.
He is the way. No man comes to the Father but
by Him. That righteousness which is Christ,
the Scripture says, is imputed to the believer. Never earned
by the believer. Never earned. I've never done
anything. Romans 4, 6 and 7, even as David
also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness, reckons it to His account. If God doesn't reckon
to my account the righteousness of Christ, if He doesn't reckon
to my account Christ, that's it. When I'm robed in His righteousness,
I can't separate His righteousness from Him. I'm robed in Him. Clothed in Him. Enveloped in
Him. Christ is. Our right, Christ
is the robe. He's our life. Even as David
also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. A man, a woman that understands
that. They can lie down at night and
rest. They can say in that day, when He calls me out of this
world, I know in that day He'll give me the grace to settle down. But to leave this world with
this thought, with this understanding, I understand righteousness, that
I don't have any of myself and He is my righteousness, that
I will stand before God Almighty before God's law in Christ. Second thing, this scripture,
verse 9, says that we understand judgment. We understand that God Almighty
is just. If the Lord Jesus Christ has
by His blood put away the guilt of my sin. And it is my sin. Don't get me
wrong. We are sinners. If you say you
have no sin, you make God a liar. We're sinners. That's what we
are. We're sinners. Being a sinner whose sin who
is the guilt of that sin. Christ was made and paid the debt of that sin. Almighty God made Him Father,
Son and Spirit, made Him Christ The fullness of the Godhead bodily. I know it's, this is, I mean,
this is a great mystery. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. I know we're talking marvelous
things here. God Almighty, the fullness of
God made flesh. And paid being made sin. The debt. The Son of God Himself,
the Word, made sin and paid my debt. I'm going to tell you something. You've heard this before. I'm
going to tell you again because I want to hear it. Almighty God,
having made Him, that you just read about, for our iniquities. All of the
iniquities of the elect of God laid upon Christ. He laid down
His life for the sheep. He laid down His life for the
elect. He laid down His life for all that God chose in Him
before the foundation. He didn't die for everybody in
this world. He didn't put away everybody's guilt. He paid the
guilt of God's elect and all for whom He died. God Almighty is faithful and
just to forgive you of that sin. He forgives justly. The forgiveness, the pardon of
sin is an act of justice. Mercy, grace, justice. I'm telling you. This thing was
absolutely done in absolute justice. God's people understand judgment
for or against. That's what it means. Favorable
or unfavorable. Those made wise unto salvation
understand that God's judgment to show mercy is God's prerogative. God's judgment to make one vessel
under honor and another vessel under dishonor out of the same
lump. If I want to take a tube of paint and I want to paint
a tree, I can paint a tree if I want to. If I want to paint
a rock out of that same tube of paint, I can do whatever I
want to. I can do what I want to do as
far as that painting is concerned. I'll tell you this, Almighty
God out of the same lump made one vessel under honor worth
the cost and one vessel under dishonor. And He can do whatsoever
He's pleased to do. Those made wise under salvation,
they understand judgment. And lastly, they understand equity. He's impartial. He's impartial. He's no respecter of persons.
He's fair. He's honest. He's just impartial. Why would Almighty God pass by Nebuchadnezzar and show mercy A blind beggar named Bartimaeus. Why would he show mercy and grace
to Lazarus? I mean, just sickly and sores
and dogs licked his sores. And he sat on the side of the
road there begging. And there was a rich man. Made all kinds of money. Big
businessman. smart. Had a, I mean a whiz. And he just made all kinds of
money in this world and he had to fare it sumptuously every
day. And surely a guy like that ought
to... I'm going to tell you something. There's all this big show and
worldly and big Big time, big, you know. I'm appalled at the news media. Some of those left this world. King of pop. What if a man gained the whole
world and lost his soul? What does a man have now? Listen
to me. A man that Almighty God calls
out of darkness, he understands. He understands righteousness.
He understands judgment. He understands equity, impartiality,
fairness. He understands. He knows. Judgment
will I lay to the line. I'm telling you, one day, This
will all be important. Judgment will I lay to the lion.
That lion is Christ. And righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep away
the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
Everything is going to be laid to the plummet of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Straight truth. And God Almighty is going to
be impartial. For thank you, Christ. And the
Scripture ends, it says, and they understand every good path. They understand righteousness.
They understand judgment. They understand equity, yea,
every good path. They understand that God Almighty
orders the steps. Of His people, they understand
that Almighty God orders all things. Every good path. What does that mean? Well, there's
none good but God. I know that. And I'm going to
tell you something. They understand that everything
in this life is working together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. They understand that Almighty
God orders everything in government. Everything. Everything. Everything.
Everything. Everything they understand. Every
good path. You say, well, not everything's
good. This world is in shambles. This economy's in shambles. And
besides that, my investments ain't worth what they were three
years ago. Good. Good. I'm glad. Why? For me, not to be glad, not to
be thankful, is to be disobedient in all things give thanks. This
is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. He works
all these things for good. Now, I don't see how you think
I'm going to make it. Know this, you've never seen
the righteous beg bread. He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. And though I don't see where
this path is going to end, as far as this life is concerned,
humanly speaking, I know where it's going to end in him. They
understand every good path. Hold up my goings, David said
in Psalm 17, 5. Hold up my goings in thy paths. Everything that is happening
in this world is God's path. He works all things after the
Council. He works everything for His glory
and our good. Hold up my goings in thy paths
at my footsteps Slip not. All these paths are graciously
directed. That we might behold the frailty
of our flesh. I'll tell you what it does for
me when I see things in my mind that I think they're not going
the way I thought that they would go. It just shows you. That I absolutely can never look
to my arm The arm of flesh for my deliverance. What am I going
to do? The path is good. He's going to uphold his people
in their goings. God Almighty, by His grace, will
hold His people in the path. They see every good path. Jude 124 says, Now unto him that
is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only
wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power
both now and ever. Amen.