Let us turn to God's word and
turning again to Proverbs we were considering words at the
beginning of Proverbs 30 a week ago this evening and I want us
to turn back to that same portion of God's words in Proverbs chapter
30 and we'll read the first six verses. The word of Egil the
son of J.K., even the prophecy, the man spake unto Ithiel, even
unto Ithiel and Euchel. Surely I am more brutish than
any man, and have not the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom,
nor have the knowledge of the whole, who hath ascended up into
heaven, or descended, who hath gathered the wind in his fists,
who hath bound the waters in a garment, who hath established
all the ends of the earth. What is his name? And what is
his son's name, if thou canst tell? Every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that
put their trust in him. Had thou not unto his words,
lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. As I say, we
were considering words here, A week ago, in particular, we
were considering what we have there in verses 2 and 3, I suppose. Surely I am more brutish than
any man, and have not the understanding of a man, I neither learned wisdom,
nor have the knowledge of the Holy. We sought to say something
then of that sinful ignorance and yet really a necessary precursor
if we will know anything truly of God. Saving knowledge of God springs
out of the realization of the sinful ignorance that is our
sad situation by nature because we are the children of Adam and
Eve. We sinned in Adam, the head of
the race. We were conceived in sin. We
were shaped in iniquity. We sinned from the womb and we
lived in a state of enmity and alienation from God. And it's
only when God begins to deal with us that we understand what
an awful condition that is. or brutish and any man says Solomon
the wisest of all the men that ever lived I have not the understanding
of a man I neither learned wisdom nor have the knowledge of the
holy and then those questions that follow in verse 4 well we
were considering something of these things last week and I
want us now to turn more particularly to the words that we have in
verses 5 and 6 concerning the Word, every word of God is pure,
or the margin says purified. He is a shield unto them that
put their trust in Him, have thou not unto His words lest
ye be reproved, and thou be found a liar. The speaker of course
as we've said is King Solomon. How does the book begin? The Proverbs of Solomon, the
son of David, king of Israel. And we remarked last time on
the names that Solomon applies to himself in the opening verse.
He speaks of Agor, the son of J.K. And we said that those Hebrew
names have a certain meaning. Agor literally means the gatherer.
J.K. we might say, is the hearer.
And here is a man surely, King Solomon, who was wont to hear,
and as he heard things, so he would gather things together.
If we turn over to Ecclesiastes, another of the wisdom literature,
the writings of King Solomon. And what do we find him saying
here in the opening chapter of Ecclesiastes, verse 13, I gave
my heart to seek, and search out by wisdom concerning all
things that are done on the heaven. This thought Travail hath God
given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. And then in the second chapter
he says, at verse 8, I gathered me also silver and gold and the
peculiar treasures of kings and of the provinces. He was a great
gatherer and above all things of course we read of him as one
who sought to gather together Proverbs there in chapter 12
of Ecclesiastes in verse 9. Yea, he gave good heed and sought
out and set in order many Proverbs. He was a gatherer, was this man
In fact, we read of some 3,000 proverbs in the books of Kings
that he had gathered together. And Solomon is the speaker then.
The man who was wont to gather all that he could to make himself
wise. And as he is the speaker here,
so we find him speaking as it were to Christ and speaking of
Christ. The words of Agor, the son of
Jacob, even the prophecy, the man spake unto Ithiel. Even unto Ithiel and Eucharist.
Remember what we said with regards to those names and the meaning
of those names. Ithiel means God with me. Here are words that the man spake
unto God with me. And who is God with me? Well
behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call
his name Immanuel God with us is he not the same person that
Agor as it were would speak to and speak of and as there is
a meaning to the name Idiel God with me so Ugal as we said last
time that literally means the mighty one all this God who is
with me is the mighty one the Almighty, the Gods of Israel. He is that One who is the Eternal
Son of God. He is that One who is the Revealer
of God. That One who speaks, for example,
so plainly in the 8th chapter of this book of Proverbs, when
there were no deaths, The bounding with water was I
brought forth. He says before the mountains
were settled, before the hills was I brought forth. He is brought
forth. He is the Son of God. The Son
of the Father in truth and in love. And He who is the Eternal
Son is also the Eternal Word of God. And in the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
And the same was in the beginning with God. And all things were
made by Him. The Word was made flesh and we
beheld His glory, the glories of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. Christ is that Word of God, the
Word incarnate. And here we have God's Word set
before us in the Scriptures of truth. Every Word of God is pure. And He is a shield unto them
that put their trust in Him. Had thou not unto his words,
lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar? Well, coming
to these words and considering these two verses for our text
for a while tonight, I want to divide the subject into some
three parts and to say something with regards to the words, the
word of Scripture and then the truth of Scripture and finally,
the promise of Scripture. First of all, then, to say something
with regards to the words, the word of Scripture. And we have
a contrast here between God and man, and the words of God and
the words of men. Every word of God is pure, and
He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him, Add thou
not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. The word of God is pure, and
yet man is found to be a liar. There is nothing true then in
the words of man in that awful state of alienation and enmity
against his God. And in many ways we have a a
far fuller statement of that same truth in Psalm 12. Turn back to that 12th Psalm
and the language that we have there from verse 2 through to
verse 6. David says they speak vanity,
every one with his neighbor, These are the words of men, they
speak vanity, every man with his neighbour, with flattering
lips and with a double heart, do they speak? The Lord shall
cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud
things, who have said, with our tongue will we prevail, our lips
are our own, who is lord over us? For the oppression of the
poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith
the Lord, I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
The words of the Lord are pure words. The silver tried in the
furnace of gold, tried in the furnace of earth,
purified seven times. The contrast, it's really the
same contrast in the fuller statement of it there in the psalm as we
find here in the two verses of our text tonight. Oh God's word
you see, how it is that that is tried and purified and the
words of men are vain words and here we read of the words
of men as lying words and you know who is the father of lies
as the Lord himself declares there in the 8th chapter of John's
gospel addressing the Jews saying they are of their father the
devil that he was a liar from the beginning and it was of course
so as we see so clearly in the account of the fall of man in
Genesis chapter 3 Now the devil comes and whispers lies in the
ears of Eve and she embraces that lie of the devil. Now we contradict the word of
God. God says thou shalt surely die, the devil says thou shalt
not surely die. The plain contradiction of what
God had said. And how the words of men are
clearly declared to be lies when in Romans chapter 3 The Apostle
is describing something of the natural state of men as they
are in that condition, dead in trespasses and sins. And he quotes
verses from several Psalms, principally from Psalms 14 and 53. There
in Romans chapter 3 and verse 13. Their throat is an open sepulcher,
he says. with their tongues they have
used deceit the poison of asp is under their lips whose mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness these are the words of men and
this is the contrast I say that is being drawn by King Solomon
here in the verses before us this evening all the words of
men are lies they flatter with their lips they speak proud and
bitter words against the God who has made them how solemn
is that condition of man so different to what God is and
God's words tried, proved they stand the test there's no question
with regards to the truth no need to doubt the words that
God has spoken. And when we think of the context
here, in the verses 5 and 6 he's clearly speaking of this book,
the Holy Scriptures. But there at the end of the previous
verse he's speaking of that One who is the Son of God. What is
His name? What is his son's name, if thou
canst tell? Well, what is his son's name?
As we've already intimated, his son's name is Word. He is that
Word of God incarnate. And when we see him exercising
his ministry here upon the earth, of course, we see him as the
one who is the fulfillment of all the great offices that God
had instituted in Israel. the office of the priest, the
office of the king or the prince, but we think especially of the
office of the prophet, and he is the one who is the very spirit
of prophecy, and he is the last and the greatest of all the prophets,
no prophets following the ministry of him, who is God's Word incarnate. And here we see him, you see.
What is his name? He speaks God's words. And in
him we have the sealing of all the words of God. Remember those words that we
have in, is it Daniel chapter 8? I can't remember if it's Daniel
8 or 9 now, but Surely the prophet is speaking of Christ who has
finished the transgression and made an end of sin and made reconciliation
for iniquity and brought in everlasting righteousness and sealed the
vision and the prophecy. It's sealed. It's finished with
his ministry. This is the full revelation of
God that we have in the New Testament Scriptures, the final revelation
of God. in the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time,
the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
He hath declared Him." What a declaration, when we read the account that
we have in the Fourfold Gospel of the ministry, the preachings,
the teachings of the Lord Jesus. Even those who were sent to arrest
him by the Jewish authorities could only come back and testify
that never man spake like this man. Or no one ever spake like
this man. And when we read that great sermon
of Christ on the Mount we come to the end of it at the end of
Matthew chapter 7 and the reaction of the people When Jesus had
ended all these sayings, they were astonished at His doctrine,
at His teaching, because He spoke as one that had authority, and
not as the scribes and Pharisees. He is that one then who speaks
to us the Word of God, and all God's Word, all God's promises,
in the Lord Jesus Christ, our Yahweh, and Amen. Oh, what is the gospel? It's
God's exceeding great and precious promises. And it all centers
in the Lord Jesus, what words He speaks, all the words of Scripture,
the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ, the gracious invitations
that fall from His lips. Come unto me all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you,
learn of me. for I am meek and lowly in heart
and you shall find rest unto your souls. Gracious words. Gospel
words. We were reminded yesterday, of
course, there are those who preach all those gracious words of the
gospel, the kindly words of the Savior, the promises of God,
the invitations of God. And then they come to the concluding
remarks and they want to whip the people with the law to tell
them they've got to do this, that and the other. Whereas Christ
speaks and preaches a salvation that is as free as it is full. Gospel words. The word of God
here then in Holy Scripture. Every word of God is pure. He
is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him. add thou
not unto his words lest he reprove and thou be found a liar. But as here we have the words,
the word of God, surely we recognize that here
we also have to take account of the truth of that word, the
truth of the scripture. These opening words, every word
of God's And mark the word, every, without any exception, every
word of God's is pure. In other words, it is all true. There's nothing of impurity in
that word of God's. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God's. All, every part of scripture. We speak then of what's called
plenary inspiration. It's inspired in every part of
it. From Genesis right through to
the book of the Revelation. Every part is inspired. It's the breathings of God. Who is the author of it? Well,
ultimately the author of it, of course, is God, God the Holy
Ghost. The One who proceeds from the
Father and the Son. He is the One who inspired men.
Those holy men of God, they speak as they were moved, as they were
born along by the Spirit of God. They're speaking the words of
the Holy Ghost. It is all true. And remember
the words of Christ concerning it in the Sermon on the Mount,
Verily I say unto thee, Till heaven and earth pass, not one
jot or tittle shall pass from my law till all be fulfilled. What does he mean when he says
not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law? Well, the jot or
the joth is the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet. You know,
in the book of the Revelation we have a sort of an acrostic
poem built around the letters that make up the alphabet of
the Hebrews. And one of those letters is that
Jot, or Joth, And it's the section of the psalm from verse 73 through
80. And in some Bibles, well certainly
I'm pretty sure, I'm going to look it up, but I'm pretty sure
that here, in this pulpit Bible, all of the sections, yes they
do, they have the particular Hebrew letter at the head of
the section. So, here, verse 73 of Psalm 119,
at the top, the tiniest little mark, the jod, or the jot, or
the joth, and each of the sentences, or each of the verses in that
section would begin with that particular letter. That's why
it's an acrostic. But if you have a Bible that
does of that feature it is interesting to observe how tiny a spot of
a letter that is and Christ is saying even that little letter
can never pass away until all is fulfilled till heaven and
earth pass one jot, one tittle shall in no wise pass from the
Lord well what of the tittle? well A tittle really is only
a part of a letter. Some of the letters are very
similar in shape and size and there are small little pieces
that distinguish the one letter from the other. I suppose in
a way you might say a tittle is like a dot on an I in a Latin
alphabet. the dot on the top of an I or
the stroke on the top of a T. It's only a part of a letter. What is the Lord teaching there?
He's teaching a profound truth that the Word of God is not only
inspired in a plenary way in all its parts but in all its
letters, in all its words. So we also go on to speak not
just a plenary inspiration but verbal inspiration. The very
words are the words of God. I think I said earlier this morning
it's not just that these men were inspired in their thought
patterns and then expressed themselves in their own words what was inspired
by God in their mind but using their own language and vocabulary
to express those wonderful things. No, it's more than that. The
very words are the inspired words. This is the view we're to have
of Holy Scripture. Every word of God is pure without
any exception. Though the Lord Jesus himself
again says the Scripture cannot be broken. The scripture cannot
be broken, it stands. And of course at the end when
all the books are opened and the final judgment comes, will
we not be judged out of the things that are written in this book? Which is as a looking glass.
It tells us much about ourselves and where we are and what we
are. The scripture cannot be broken. We're to believe it,
we're to believe all of it. As I've said we're not to be
impartial or rather we're not to be partial, we're to be impartial
when it comes to the Word of God. Look at Malachi 2.9 and
now the prophet as the very mouthpiece of God is rebuking the people
because of their partiality. We're to accept all of it. We're to love the precept as
much as we love the promise. If ye love me, Christ says, keep
my commandments. Do we love the commandments of
Christ and desire to live in accordance with them and we grieve
because so often we fail and we fall and we sin and we transgress
instead of keeping those holy precepts? We're to believe the
precepts, we're to believe not only in heaven but we're also
to believe in hell. And how terrible it is to contemplate
it. I think we were reminded of it
in some measure yesterday. There's no unbelief in hell,
is there? There's no unbelief in hell. They know what they're
suffering. They're suffering the just wrath
of God. And they're tormented. the worm
never dies conscience is luring and accusing forever and ever
and ever we have to believe in that awful place why? because it's in the bible and
you know there are men who call themselves evangelicals and they
reject that the late John Stott who was a famous evangelical
really One wouldn't dispute he probably said some fine things,
wrote some good books, useful books. But in the end he denied
hell really. He said he believed in annihilation
for the ungodly. How can a Christian man say that? Hell is in the Bible. And it's
all true. You have to believe all of it.
We're not to pick and to choose. The Bible is to be believed. One of the great solas of the
Reformation is Sola Scriptura. Remember those five solas concerning
grace, and Christ, and Scripture, and faith, and ultimately all
to the glory of God? Sola gratia, salvation is solely
by grace. Sola Christos. All our salvation is only in
Christ. Sola Fidei. How are we saved? By faith. By faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Sola Scriptura. The Scriptures
alone we This is our sole authority, and then all solely to your glory,
all to the glory of God. The five solas, and amongst them
that that concerns God's Word. Every word of God is pure. Add thou not unto his words,
lest he repudiate thee, and thou be found a liar. We need to be
careful with regards to God's words. You know what we have
there when we come right to the end? There in the final chapter
of Revelation 22, almost the final words of the revelation
that God has given us in Holy Scripture, verse 18, I testify
unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this
book, if any man shall add unto them, unto these things, God
shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book,
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of
this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book
of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which
are written in this book. And then the final word, See
he which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.
Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Amen. In many ways, you see,
that's a final sort of salutation, isn't it? The final words are
what we read there in verses 18 and 19. We're not to add,
nor are we to subtract. And it's not just speaking of
the final book, the Revelation, it's speaking of the total revelation
that we have, from Genesis through to Revelation. And what happens? Why the Romanist What does he
do? He adds. He adds to the Word
of God. He adds the traditions of men.
He puts the tradition of the Church on a par with the Word
of God. And in many ways, of course,
we might say the Charismatics do something similar when they
speak of their revelatory gifts. They say that those words that
they speak, that they've received, so they imagine from the Holy
Ghost they're on a par with Scripture. They're adding to the Word of
God. On the other hand there are those, the liberals and the
modernists and the higher critics who come to the Word of God and
and take scissors to it as it were and we'll cut out great
sections and say oh well this is just mythology it's not true
you don't have to believe this account of the creation of all
things that God has said before us in the book of Genesis there's
much there that's simply myths and fables and so they cut away
at the word of God As solemn it is. Every word of God is pure. We're not to add, we're not to
subtract from those things that God has said. It is all true. It is all true and it is its
absolute truth. Its absolute truth. So we use
another word. We say it's inerrant. It's plenary
inspired. It's inspired in all its parts. More than that, it's verbally
inspired, the very words. And this is the beauty of our
authorized version. You're aware of that. It's such
a faithful rendering where they want to try to bring out more
properly, as I understand it, the sense they will add words. But they indicate that by the
use of italic letters because they recognize you see
it's the words of God it's verbally inspired and it's inherent in
other words there are no errors there are no errors anywhere
in the Word of God it's pure it's purified there's no dross
there's no alloy it is all together The Holy Word really. Psalm 119
again, that great 119th Psalm that celebrates the Word of God
really, that acrostic poem. And verse 140, Thy Word is very
pure. The Psalmist says, Thy Word is
very pure. It's tried, refined, no liability
to any error. It's a revelation of God. And
God is holy. What is the song of the angels?
Holy, holy, holy. Lord God of hosts. Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Spirit. God's justice is holy justice. God's wisdom is holy wisdom. God's power All we read of God's
power in the opening words of Psalm 98. God's power is a holy
arm. God's power is a holy arm. He's
holiest in all things. His Word then is a holy Word. His Word is a pure Word. He's glorious in holiness. The
God that we worship. Every word of God is pure. And we read in the 19th Psalm
and we have those verses which really give a series of synonyms,
different words to describe the Scriptures, the judgments of
the Lord, the statutes of the Lord, the commandments of the
Lord. And amongst those synonyms in
verse 9 of that psalm we read of the fear of the Lord that's
the name given to the scriptures the fear of the Lord or how we
need to revere the sacred page of holy scripture it's the word
of God that we have here it's the truth of the word of God
that we have here and then finally this evening yet to say something
a little with regards to The promise? The promise of Scripture.
Every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that
put their trust in Him. Isn't there a connection here
between the two clauses? The parallelism that we know
is peculiarity really of the Hebrew. There's a connection
between these. There's a promise at the end,
isn't there? He's a shield unto them that put their trust in
Him. And in that hymn of John Newton's
that we sang just now, 43, he speaks of the shield of the Word
of God. Of course, in the Christian army,
in Ephesians 6, the sword of the Spirit that's
the Word of God. But Newton does speak of the
Word being a shield and as we sang it I thought of these words
here in verse 5. That Word that is pure is the
Word that is a shield unto them that put their trust in the Lord
God. Here is something that is tried,
refined, purified. It is something that we can trust
in, the Word of God. And how God's people prove that
Word, they prove that Word in their own experience. In another
psalm we read, O taste and see that the Lord is good, lest it is that man that putteth
his trust in him. We taste the Word of God and
we find how sweet it is, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb
we had it in that 19th Psalm. Or we can rest in the promises
that God has given us here in His Word. Why can we rest in
these promises? Because God's Word is so dependable. That's why we can trust in it.
The God who gave it is a dependable God. We have these five questions.
Who hath ascended up into heaven or descended? Who hath gathered
the wind in his fist? Who hath bound the waters in
a garment? Who hath established all the
ends of the earth? What is his name? What is his
son's name if they can tell? Is it not meant to raise our conception of the
greatness of this God whose every word is a pure word and again
we find a much fuller statement really of that same truth in
the language of Isaiah chapter 40 this blessed gospel book set
here in the Old Testament scriptures and the language that's employed
there in in verse 12, following in Isaiah 14. Questions again. Who hath measured the waters
in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span,
and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed
the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath
directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor, hath
taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him,
and taught him in the paths of judgment, and taught him knowledge,
and show to him the way of understanding. Oh, this great God! Behold, the
nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as a small dust
of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the aisles
as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient
to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted
to him less than nothing can balance. He is the great God. And every word of this God is
pure and He is a shield unto them that put their trust in
Him. All His word you see. He gave His promise to Abraham
and because He could swear by no greater He swore by Himself. He has magnified His word above
all His name. All that name the name of our
God and His word, the reliability of His word. Surely this is where
we must rest and we're not to add to His words. We're not to
fear the lies of men. We're to trust in the name of
our God forever and ever. Every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that
put their trust in Him. Add thou not unto His words lest
he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. Oh God, God grant
us faith in to believe the truth that he sets before us on the
page of Holy Scripture, and that Scripture that all bears its
testament to one person. Search the Scriptures. In them
you think that you have eternal life. Eternal life isn't here
in Scripture, is it? Although we love it, we value
it, but we see that it all bears testimony to a person, even the
Lord Jesus Christ. It all testifies of Him, that
One who is God's Incarnate, the Word of the Lord. Oh, what purity! Perfection we find then in the
person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord be pleased
to bless His word to us tonight. Amen.