Proverbs 9 1 through 6 on the
subject of the house that wisdom built 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 She hath sent forth her maidens.
She crieth upon the highest places of the city and Whoso is simple,
let him turn in hither. As for him that wanteth understanding,
she saith to him, come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine
which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish and live
and go in the way of understanding. Let's ask the Lord to meet with
us. Father, don't leave us to ourselves as we look at this
wonderful passage of your word. Show us our Savior, show us the
peace and comfort and just confidence and stability and safety that's
ours in your house and being in Christ Jesus for your precious blood that
washed us clean and is powerful to present us to God faultless
without blemish and spot. Help us worship Lord and get
glory to your name. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now when you were born, your
parents brought you home. That's the first, that's the first thing really,
once you're born and everything's checked out and you're okay,
the goal is to get you home. And some of us have Experience that
as parents And we bring our baby to a house But it's a lot more than just
a house it's not just a structure and wisdom Wisdom is personified
in the Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Proverbs if you look
at the things that are attributed to wisdom those are the attributes
of our Savior and Wisdom has built a house, and
wisdom's children live there. The word house in this text is
family household, or a home. It's where the family of wisdom
lives. Wisdom builds a house because wisdom has a family.
If I build a house for my household, for my family, why do we do that? Well, we do that so our family
can live there, can be happy there, can prosper there, can
grow up in comfort. That's where our family is provided
for. We eat together, we fellowship
with one another and enjoy one another's company in that home.
We rest there. We're at peace there, we're safe
there, we feel like belong there and Wisdom's house as we'll see
in our text is built for all those very same reasons Wisdom of course as I said is
Christ that the female personification of wisdom in this Language of
Proverbs shouldn't confuse us at all it refers to the gospel
the counsel of the Lord, but Christ we know is a Gospel if
there's no Savior, there's no good news The counsel of the
Lord we see here that God gives it in that to have it is life
and truth prosperity To live And to prosper Everything that
wisdom is in the book of Proverbs, Christ is to us. He's our gospel. He's our truth. He said, I'm
the truth. He's our counselor. He's God's
unspeakable gift to his people. He is life. He's our treasure
here in the field, our pearl of great price, our comfort,
our peace, our provider, our protector. Paul said that to
them which are called, Christ is the wisdom of God. So whether you're referring to
wisdom as an attribute or as the person himself, it's Christ,
who by wisdom has built the house of God and is himself our home. And it's everything any true
household is only perfect. It's the Lord's house David said
in Psalm 27 for one thing I have desired of the Lord That I may
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life now I'm
sure day we know for a fact that David asked for other things
from the Lord he asked for victory and battles and things like that
he asked for things in other of his Psalms and But it kind
of boils down to this, doesn't it? One thing, there's one thing
that really includes all of it. He said, that's what I'm gonna
seek after. That's what I'm gonna come to him and ask for, that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life
to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. If wisdom built a house, one
thing we know about it, it's still standing. Where is wisdom's house tonight?
Where is it that God's blessed ones, taught ones, provided for
ones, comforted, and those at peace, those who commune with
him, where do they rest? Where do they find rest? Not
a particular location. But it is the church, and the
church is not a building, it's not an address, it's a people.
He feedeth among the lilies, he dwells among his people. But what is the church? People
talk about, I went to church, and that's fine, we understand
that, there's no use being weird about it, we understand what
people mean by that. But it's not a building, and
that's important to understand, it's not just a, Location it is people God's Church. His assembly is an assembly of
sinners of people Where do God's people live this
is a house it's a house So we tend to want to think of a structure
don't we we tend to want to think of well, I'm in God's house It's
not like that though where people's where God's people live and where
they eat and where they drink and where they rest and is a
person, and it's important to think of it that way. If you
trace back every blessing to its source, you arrive at the
person of Christ. Everything that we enjoy, everything
that defines the word home, Christ is that for us. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5-6,
therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at
home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. As our soul dwells
in this body, there is a sense in which flesh and blood can't
inherit God's kingdom. We can't be with him face to
face. For we walk by faith, not by
sight, We're confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent
from the body and to be present with the Lord. Now, I didn't
have you turn there, but we just used the word home in verse six. While we're at home in the body,
we're absent from the Lord in that sense. And when we're present,
to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
The word present is the same word as home. There's no reason
to choose two different words there. We are at home with the
Lord. That's where home is for God's
people. It's to be with Him, it's to
be in Him. And on this earth right now, right now, tonight,
we experience that as His people. We're home. in the sins. We're
in Christ. He said he'll never leave us
nor forsake us. But the way Paul is using it there to be at home
with the Lord is to be in his very presence and we long for
that too. So knowing a little bit of who
built this house and what this house is, let's find out what
we can about the house in the text. First of all, we said if
it's If wisdom built it, it's still standing. It wasn't temporary. It wasn't a tent. It's an eternal house. So it
stands tonight as we meet here. And it says that she hewed out
seven pillars. And that's what that has to do
with. The foundation, the structural pilings and supports for the
house, there's seven of them. And we know in the scriptures,
that's the number of fullness, completion. It always signifies perfection.
And this house's support structure, its foundation, the columns upon
which it's built and supported, and its stability, as the number
indicates, is perfect. It's perfect. It's an eternal
house. It's a house that never comes down. And isn't that the
most important thing about a house? It doesn't matter how beautiful,
palatial, luxurious a house is, if it's not gonna stand a storm,
it's not worth much. It's not worth very much. Our
Lord Jesus said in Matthew 16, 18, I say also unto thee that
thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The word,
the name Peter means a stone. It means a rock in a sense. But
the next word, rock, is not the same word. The Catholic religion
says that the Lord built his church on Simon Peter, on Saint
Peter. That's not what it says. It's
two different words. He said, you're a rock, because God made
him a rock, He said upon this Petra. Petros is a stone. Petra is like a, it's a rocky
cliff. It's stony ground. It's, as the
Lord said, build your house on a rock and when the storms come,
it'll continue to stand. So it's two different words.
And he builds his church himself. The same rock that we're, Exhorted
in scripture to build our house on on the in this earth And It's no coincidence that when
the Moses said to the Lord show me your glory The Lord said all
right, I'm gonna put you in a rock I'm gonna put you in the cleft
of the rock But you're not gonna see God's glory anywhere else
And he'll cause all of his goodness to pass before you in the person
of his son and his as your foundation, as your support structure, as
the place upon which you stand is the rock, the rock upon which
God builds his church. And isn't that what he does here?
He shows us his glory in the gospel. He reveals to us line
upon line and precept upon precept who he is, what he did for us,
the foundation of our soul. is taught and revealed and understood
more and more. We grow in grace and in what?
The knowledge of the Son of God, the Savior. David said in Psalm 94, 22, my
God is the rock of my refuge. The root word of the word rock
there in Psalm 94, 22, that God is the rock of my refuge. The
root word is pillars or columns. So you see the teaching of our
text. It's derived in our text from
the same word. It means to stand, to endure,
to remain. It's steadfast. It's dependable. Again, when David said one thing
about his desire to the Lord, here's what I want. I want to
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. all
the days of my life, permanently. And I pray that this church,
I pray this church will remain all the days of my life. But
whether it does or not, the house that God built will never fail. It transcends location, it doesn't
have an address, and it can't be brought down, not by the gates
of hell itself. People in studying this try to
identify the different pillars, what the seven pillars of the
church are. I think that's probably beyond
our qualifications, don't you, to identify all seven of them
and say this is what they are. It can't be anything more or
less. It's probably impossible to perfectly determine, but I
know some things that are eternal. that are bedrock in God's church
and immovable, Paul said, who shall separate us from the love
of Christ? The love of the Lord Jesus for
his people, that could be one of them, couldn't it? Is the
church founded upon that? God's love for his sheep and
the person of his son, the eternal electing grace of God, the mercy
of God, the power of God, the eternal blood of the Lamb, the
immutable will and purpose of God, you could say that these
pillars are those things, and certainly you wouldn't be wrong,
but we don't, we can't assign names to the pillars themselves
because God didn't, but we know what it is that his church is
built upon. It's him, ultimately, but his
attributes, the holiness of God. And we could come up with seven,
but we don't need to be that literal and speculative about
the immovability of this house, the permanence of this house.
We know who it is and all of his love and grace and power
and justice and everything that he built his house upon, his
kingdom upon. They certainly have to do with
his glorious attributes. I don't doubt that for a second. I know this, if God's saving
grace If his grace toward his people, if his purpose of grace
from the beginning, eternal purpose of grace is not powerful and
irresistible, then this house can't stand. If his love is not
infinite and eternal, then this house can't stand, the house
of wisdom we're talking about. The foundation is Christ himself
in all of his glorious divine character and works. He's the chief cornerstone. He's
the foundation other than which no man can lay, 1 Corinthians
3.11. Other foundation can no man lay
than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. That's the house that
wisdom built. And notice he built this house.
He built it. It's not just a cave, you know,
that's just, oh, that's a good place to live. He established
it. He caused it to continue. He
hewed out these pillars himself. Attributes are not what they
are unless they are exercised. You can't say that God is love
unless he loves somebody. You see what I'm saying? You
can't be part of your character if it's never bestowed. What's love without a deed? What's
power without an act? What is grace if it is never
bestowed? He labored, he expended energy,
he employed skill, and strove, and accomplished, and finished
a work. That's why we have a house to live in. And all that that
means. He loved indeed. He loved until
the end. He so loved. He gave. And now you and I, because he
did, have a place to live. A spiritual, eternal, Steadfast and immovable place,
a home. He said, as he went to the cross,
let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not
so, are dwelling places. In wisdom's house, there's a
lot of places. Without number, no man can number.
From every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under heaven, If it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you. He's gonna go make it happen.
He's gonna go do it for us. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there you may be also. The word mansions is dwelling
or abode. Very similar Greek word to the
Hebrew word for house in our text. It's a place, it's an inhabited
place. I'm going to the cross, our Lord
said, so that you have a place to live, so that you have a home
to go to. Where is it in that passage in John 14? Where's
this house, Lord? Where is it? I go to prepare a dwelling and
abode for you that where I am. That's home. That's home. What else do we need to know
about it? People talk about heaven and
all the Fleshly Descriptions they give
it of material things Where I am where I am That says she hath killed her
kill that's the language there she hath killed her beasts or
her kill She hath killed her kill And the question arises,
why is anything ever killed? In the Garden of Eden, did God
say go and kill animals and eat? No, no sin. There's death because there's
sin. And killing is the result of sin, it's because of sin.
The word beast, as I said, is the same word as killed. She
hath killed her kill. It's just the noun form of it.
And that's for sin, and the kill, the kill, is the one sacrifice
for sin that's acceptable to God. That's what happens in wisdom's
house. That's why there's provision
there. If I go and catch a delicious bass for my family, that feeds
my family, or I kill whatever I kill so that my family can
eat. Wisdom does that too. Wisdom does that too. In the
wisdom of God, in the wisdom of God, he ordained that his
son be slain in our stead. The one sacrifice for sin that
he accepts, there's only one slaughter. And that's the actual
word there really too. It can say she hath slaughtered
her slaughter. Just one slaughter in both instances,
but there's only one that's truly what is due our sin. He was led
as a sheep to the what? To the slaughter. That's the
word. Now, if we think about this, in the Garden of Eden,
there was no death in the beginning, but sin was committed, and with
sin came spiritual and physical death, and also the killing began,
first by God. God slew an animal and used the
skins to cover his people, Adam and Eve, to cover their nakedness,
and then, of course, we find Abel offering a lamb later. Something
was killed again. So we see the source of that,
we see the reason for that. The millions of lambs and bulls
and goats and so forth that were killed under the old covenant,
but all of these only pictured that one slaughter, that one,
she hath killed her kill. Wisdom, there's a lot of killing
that has to take place to support your family. You may not have
killed it yourself. There's a lot of killing. In
wisdom's house, there's just one. Just one slaughter. Because no other blood can take
away sin. No other blood can provide spiritually
for the household of God. We have slain throughout history
our beasts, but wisdom must make its kill if there's to be justification
for sin, if there's to be spiritual provision for the people, the
household of God. And with the killing, there's
wine. With the animal, with the sacrifice,
there's wine, and that's the precious blood that washes our
sins away. The love of Christ is compared
to wine in Song of Solomon 1, 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses
of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine. And what is
love? How do you define love in the
scripture? God so loved, he gave. Here in his love, not that we
loved God, but that he loved us, sent his son to be the propitiation,
the sin offering for our sins. There's a kill and there's wine
in wisdom's house. And this is what wisdom furnishes
the table with. It's pictured right here, the
body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was slain for
our iniquities. and His precious blood poured
forth to wash our sins away. There's only one meat and drink
indeed. Remember what our Lord said in John 6, 55. My flesh
is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. The table is
set. There's no other drink indeed. There's a lot of things that
we drink, but there's one drink indeed, and there's one meat
indeed. pictured by these elements that
he's taught us to partake of in remembrance of what he did
for us on Calvary. Meat and wine are for the satisfaction
of the body and the sustenance of the body. And Christ, by the
sacrifice of his body and the shedding of his precious blood,
has made satisfaction for the soul, provision for the soul.
He's not only satisfying to us who partake of him by faith,
but he made satisfaction to God. for us by bearing our sins in
his own body and by the offering once, one time, of his sanctifying
sin-cleansing blood under God's wrath for our sin. In wisdom's
house, you might say this, Christ is all. He built it. He's the sustenance that's provided
there. He's the foundation. He's the
cornerstone. Christ is all. The pillars, the soul satisfying
and perfectly sufficient provision. There's not one time in my life
that we've ever had to sit our children down and say, we're
not gonna have supper tonight, we just don't have anything,
don't have anything. God has provided us all of our
lives with something to eat. Well, in wisdom's house, we eat and drink of the Savior,
we'll never be hungry again. It's not that we won't continue
to eat, we're just not ever gonna lack. Not ever gonna lack. Wisdom hath furnished her table,
and Christ is all. I've told you many times, so
we won't turn there, in Acts 17, one through three, it says
that Paul, as his manner was, went into the temple, opening
and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered. The word
allege in that passage, Acts 17, one through three, means
to place beside or near or set before food. And this is still
the definition exactly from the Strong's Concordance of the Greek
word. Food, i.e., food placed on a table. In wisdom's house,
the table is set. What is the food? Christ must
needs have suffered. Wisdom had slaughtered her slaughter.
Come and dine, come and dine. That's what Paul set the table
with, Christ crucified. This Jesus whom I preach unto
you is Christ. He must needs have suffered and
risen again. And he's the Christ. And some of them believed, it
says, some of them believed. Some of them were hungry. when
the table was set and they ate. Wisdom has made provision for
her family. Poor and wretched and lame though
we are like Mephibosheth, we eat continually at the king's
table because of the king's mercy. And we'll praise him forever
for that. He's compelled us to come. He went and fetched us,
didn't he? You're gonna eat and you're gonna eat good and I'm
gonna see to it. whether you like it or not. Do you like it? The wine being mingled must have
some significance because it's mentioned twice. We know this
about wine at the time. A mingled wine was a mixture
of wine and water. I guess it was to whatever degree,
not necessarily to water it down, but in some process to flavor
it the way they wanted to. in various proportions, and that
has to do, I suspect, with the blood and water which came out
of the side of our Savior when the spear pierced his side in
John 19, 34. Under the old covenant, blood
was for the remission of sins, and water was for the washing
of purification. And so there is a mingling there.
but it all refers to Christ and what he does for us, what he
provides for us. Not provide in the sense that
he makes it available, but provides in the sense that he went and
fetched us and said, sit down, and gave us a hunger for him. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. In
the new covenant, Christ not only atoned for our sins, but
sanctified us with his precious blood. The washing of purification,
that was signified under the old covenant was fulfilled by
Christ. We're not only without sin, but we're positively holy
in Christ Jesus. Verse three of our text, she
hath sent forth her maidens. Who do you think these are? Look
at what they do. They cry upon the high places
of the city. We know who these maidens are
by what they say in verse five. They're represented in Luke 14,
in the parable there, as the servant of the master of the
house who went out and compelled people to come to the feast.
These are all of God's servants who know him and who say to all
that will listen, come and dine, come and eat, come, eat. Why do you give yourself for
that which is not bread? Come without money and without
price. Revelation 22, 16, I, Jesus, have sent my angel, my
messenger, to testify unto you these things in the churches.
What has he sent us to testify of? What do these maidens of
the house of wisdom say? I am. To testify these things
unto the churches. I am the root, the offspring
of David, and the bright and morning star, and the spirit
and the bride say come. You need light, come to the morning
star, the bright and morning star. Come and let him that heareth
say come, and let him that is thirsty come, and whosoever will,
let him take the water of life freely. There's a message that
goes out, and these maidens give that message. Come in, dine with
us, enjoy. She cries upon the highest places
of the city. This thing's not done in a corner.
She cries. She doesn't whisper. She doesn't
deceive. She doesn't compromise the message.
She just lets it out. Paul said, we provide things
honest in the sight of all men. We've not shunned to declare
unto you the whole counsel of God. Nothing to hide. We're not
gonna skip over parts we don't like because they offend people.
Here it is, the table's set. There's only one Savior. He's
the one that actually saves. There's only one Redeemer, and
He's the one that actually bought people with His precious blood.
If you're hungry... Verse 4 in our text, Whoso is
simple, let him turn in hither. If you weren't simple, you'd
already be in there. You'd already be in there. If you're living somewhere else, I don't wanna tell you what that
word simple means. It would offend you. That'd be too offensive.
I won't tell you what that means. Let him turn in hither. And for
him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him. She says something. She has something to say. Go
ye into all the world and say something. Preach the gospel. The gullible, the foolish, the
open-minded, that's part of the definition of these words, to
be open-minded. If you're open-minded about the
things of God, you're a fool. If you're tolerant of other religions
or other theologies, you're simple, you're simple. You may consider
yourself wise, you may have been Doctor, you know, you may be
doctor so-and-so from so-and-so academy or school or theological
seminary. And in the things of this world,
people are smart. When I stand up here and talk
about like this morning, you know, being an idiot, I'm not
saying people are stupid in the things of this world. We're subtle,
we're real sharp. We're real good at justifying
ourselves before God. I'm talking about it spiritually.
I'm talking about the things of God. God's got to spoon feed
us. He's got to teach us patiently
like little children. He said to Philip, have I been
with you all this time and you don't know who I am? That's the
way he teaches us, like we would little children, because we're
simple. We don't know anything. We still
don't know anything as we ought to know. God hath made foolish the wisdom.
Wisdom is crying out to fools. We can't cry out and say, well,
you know, your opinions are just as valid as mine are. No, you're
a fool. It's the only way you can preach
the gospel. Call us out for what we are. The ones who are wise in God's
Word are the ones that know that they're fools. Let no man deceive himself. If
any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him
become a fool that he may be wise. Forget everything you know. and learn of Christ. For the
wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written,
he taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord
knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they are vain. Therefore
let no man glory in men. A man who knows himself to be
a fool will listen to wisdom. And when she cries, and live. Isn't that beautiful? In the text, this is life and
death. This is not differences of opinion. Paul said they have
a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. And what needs
to happen to it, Paul? My prayer and heart desires that
God would save them. This is eternal life or death. Wisdom doesn't have anything
for the smart aleck. It has a word for the foolish,
for the ignorant, And just like our Lord came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance, the whole need not a physician
and the wise don't need instruction. Just ask them. They already know
everything. Are there any fools here? Are
there any fools left in this world? Wisdom is crying to you. Come to my house, eat and live,
live. Come, verse five, eat of my bread
and drink of the wine which I have mingled. This is our Lord saying,
my body is meat, he that eateth not the flesh of the Son of Man
hath not life, or drinketh the blood of God's Son. And it says, eat, don't talk
about it. Don't become an expert on it,
eat. There's a lot of people that know all about the food,
spiritually speaking, but they've never eaten. It's all fine and
well to know all about God's sovereignty, but then if you're
a rebel, if you're still your own man as far as practical living,
if you're not a doer of the word and not a hearer only, faith
is not just a function of the mind only. It's a need, like
hunger and thirst. That's what our text is saying.
It's a thirst of the soul as the heart panteth after the water
brooks, David wrote. So panteth my soul after thee,
O God. Partake of. Don't just, you know,
enjoy it. It's not optional. You've got
to eat. You're either eating poison or
you're eating bread. Blessed are they which hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. We
know what the meat and wine are. To eat is to need Him, to need
the meat and the wine, as the body needs food and drink. Job
said, your word is more than my necessary food. And because of that need that
God has given us, we partake. food and drink because I'm flesh.
All kinds of flesh. They gotta sustain themselves
with food and something to drink. I need Christ because I'm sin. I partake of Him as my representative. I own Him as my representative,
as my sin offering, as my sovereign, my Lord and my God, my life,
my light, all that I need. I need, I hunger after righteousness. And so I eat of Him who is the
Lord, our righteousness. I need forgiveness. And so I
eat, I need life. So I eat and I simply need him
because of who he is. Even before Adam sinned, he needed
Christ, didn't he? He simply is the one thing needful.
Verse six, forsake the foolish and live eternal life and death
and go in the way of understanding. Come out from among them and
be you separate. That doesn't mean don't hang out with people
that, don't hang out with sinners,
whatever you do. Come out, forsake the foolish,
save yourselves from this wicked and perverse generation Paul
preached. Forsake the foolish and live
and go in the way. the alternative to hearkening
to the voice of wisdom. What are you going to listen
to? Who are you going to follow? What are you going to do? Where
are you going to take your advice from? Your natural heart? Well, I'll just follow my heart.
That's the worst thing you can do. Lo, forsake the foolish. That means
yourself too. The heart is deceitful. above
all things, and no man even knows it. Hearken unto wisdom and live. This life and death, you take
a path, you're gonna take a path now. You're deliberately going
away. There are two gates, and you're
going in one of them. The broad and the narrow. It comes down to what Elijah
said to the people in 1 Kings 18.21. Elijah came unto all the
people and said how long halt ye between two opinions if the
Lord be God follow him Enough's enough how long if Baal
is God then follow him Just honest right straightforward
simple If the Lord be God forsake the foolish and live. Let's pray together.