Let us turn again to the Word
of God and directing you this evening to words that we find
in that portion we were reading in Proverbs chapter 30 and taking
for our text the words that we have in the second verse. I'll read verses 2, 3 and 4 here in Proverbs chapter 30.
Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding
of a man. I neither learn wisdom, nor have
the knowledge of the Holy, 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? But as I said, really, it's this
second verse that I want to center your attention upon for a while
this evening. Surely I am more brutish than
any man, and have not the understanding of a man. And of course, as with
any part of Holy Scripture, our principal concern must surely
be the spiritual significance, the spiritual interpretation
of the words. This, of course, is part of what
we call the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, but all
of this wisdom literature, like anywhere else, must ultimately
point us to the Lord Jesus Christ. is he not that one who is wisdom
the wisdom from above which is first pure and then peaceable
and gentle and easy to be entreated and full of mercy and good fruits
and without partiality and without hypocrisy that James speaks of
there in his epistle in chapter 3 at verse 17 those words appear
the wisdom from above is an ax Christ, who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that as it is written, if any man glory, let him glory in the
Lord. What do we know of wisdom? Do
we not rather know the truth of the text, should I am more
brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. Must we not be those who would
make such a confession as that? But then we are here of course
at the end of verse 4 directed to that man. What is his name? What is his son's name if thou
canst tell? Well we know of Jesus Christ
who is the son of the Father in truth and in love. And he is that one who is to
be found here in the Word of God, so it's the Scriptures,
he says. These are they that testify of
me. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
is to be discerned, even in this chapter that we read earlier,
this rather strange chapter you might think at the end of the
book of Proverbs. And yet, are we not to discern
something of Christ even in such a part of Holy Scripture as this. The brutish man then, the man
who has no understanding, and yet part of the writing of King
Solomon, who was the wisest of men. It's Solomon who speaks
here. He says that these are the words
of Agur, the son of J.K., even the prophecies. Now, there's
some significance, surely, in these names that King Solomon
gives himself. Remember, clearly, he is the
author of this book. The opening verse reminds us
of that. The Proverbs of Solomon, the
son of David, king of Israel. Well, why does he speak of himself
by another name? The words of Agor, the son of
J.K. Well, the names are significant. Agor literally means a gatherer. J.K. means hearkening. He gathers that that
he has heard, does this man. and he has heard wondrous things
and he has gathered them together here in this book that we are
familiar with, the book of the Proverbs. He is a gatherer then
of these remarkable words that we have scattered right through
the book Now he has hearkened. He has hearkened doubtless to
those words that were spoken to him by his father, by King
David. How David encouraged him in that
great work that he must undertake, even the building of the Temple
of the Lord, that David had gathered together all the necessary materials
that the work might be put in hand and completed. It is King
Solomon then who is speaking. And as we come to look at the
text, I just want us to consider really two basic points from
the verse. First of all, to say something
with regards to sinful ignorance, and then secondly, to say something
I trust with regards to saving knowledge. And if we would know
the latter, we must first of all be well aware with the former. And so we begin with that sinful
ignorance. And this is very much the subject
matter of the verse. Here we have this wise man saying,
Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding
of a man. Now think of man, and think of
man as he comes from the hand of his Creator God. When we think
of man in that state of innocence, when God said, let us make man
in our image, after our likeness. Remember how there is a difference
in the ways in which God works there in the opening two chapters
of the book of Genesis. We see clearly in the first chapter
that God creates all things simply by the word of his mouth. He
speaks the words by the word of the Lord with the heavens
made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. God
simply says, and it is so, the divine fiat. But then, when we
come to the sixth day and the creation of man, God doesn't
just speak man into being. There is a consultation in the
Godhead. The three divine persons, Father,
Son and Holy Ghost, speak. Let us make man in our image. after our likeness. And then
of course in the second chapter we have some detail concerning
the manner in which God created the man. Surely there is something
different about this man, and so we have man in the state of
innocence. You might be aware of that well-known book by Thomas
Boston, Human Nature in its Fourfold State. one of the classics, I
suppose, of good Christian literature. And he deals with those four
states, man in the state of innocence, and then man in the state of
a sinner, dead in trespasses and sins. And then the third
state he speaks of, of course, is man saved by the grace of
God. And then the final state is that
man glorified. Well, we see man, I say, in the
state of innocence there in the opening chapters of Holy Scripture. And how the man is set over all
the animals. What a mind that man Adam must
have possessed. God brings to him all the various
animals that he's created and whatever name Adam gives to the
animal, that's its name. He names all the animals and
gives them names that are so appropriate to what they are.
And then also we have that verse, don't we, which is sometimes
referred to as the cultural mandate in in the opening chapter after
the creation of man on the sixth day, there at verse 28. Just
turn to read that verse, it's quite a remarkable verse because
we see man sets over all the creatures really. God blessed
the man and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and
replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the
fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every
living thing that moves upon the earth. Here is man then in
the place of God really. He is made in the image of God
and is over all of God's creation. He is to have dominion. He is
to subdue it. He is to make use of all that
God has given him in creation. and he's to replenish it, he's
to behave responsibly. Of course, what we have there
really flies in the face of a modern man who doesn't think that men
should any more make use of those resources that God has given
in creation. I know men abuse and misuse what
God has given them, of course they're sinful creatures. But
so much of modern philosophy just flies in the face of what
we read here in the Word of God. Oh, when man was in a state of
innocency, now all creation was put at his disposal and he could
use it and would use it wisely and well. But then of course
we see man fallen, man as a transgressor. disobeying the commandment of
God, and the awful consequences, his fall, his father. The preacher
says in Ecclesiastes 7.29, Lo, this only have I found, God made
man upright. And they have sought out many
inventions. God made man upright. But what has man done? He's a
fallen creature. And I think I've remarked before
on a statement that we find in Psalm 49 at verse 12. It says there, man being in honour
abideth not. Man being in honour abideth not. And I think if I remember right,
it's in that book I just referred to of Thomas Boston's, Human
Nature and Its Fourfold State. And when he expounds that verse,
he observes that the language that is being used, he says that
the word for man there is actually the word Adam. There are two
words in the Hebrew for man. The normal word is the word Ish.
but also the name, of course, that God gives to the first man,
Adam. It means man. And that's the
word that's used there in Psalm 49. Adam, being in honor, abideth
not. But Boston also points out that
the word, the verb to abide, literally means to lodge. to lodge one night. Man being in honour couldn't
lodge one night. The point that Boston is making,
he reckons that man fell on the very day that he was created. As soon as God had created the
man and the woman, in next to no time as we might say, They
had fallen. So that state of innocence was
such a short period. It was a glorious beginning.
Glorious beginning. But how sad the fall of man,
the fall into sin. And that fall is so terrible. In many ways, what has man done? He's fell so low, he is... he's
lower than the beast really. And doesn't Isaiah, there in
the opening chapter of that book, remind us of where man is, the
way in which he addresses man. He calls the heavens to bear
witness, there in the opening verses. And at verse 3, the ox
knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, But Israel
doth not know. My people doth not consider. They are lower than brute beasts. They have not the knowledge even
of the animal world. That's what he is saying, surely.
Again the psalmist says in the 32nd Psalm, Be ye not as the
horse or as the mule that hath no understanding, whose mouth
must be owed in by bit and bridle, lest it come nearer to them,
or man's sad state and condition. And we do find so many scriptures
that remind us of what we have in this text. I am more brutish
than any man, says King Solomon, have not the understanding of
a man. Another verse, another verse
Psalm 73 and verse 22. So foolish was I and ignorant
I was as a beast before them. But if you look at that verse
as we have it in our authorised version you'll see that the little
word as is in italics, which of course indicates that it's
been interpolated, it's been introduced, and it sets the verse
before us as a simile. So foolish was I and ignorant
I was as a beast. But it doesn't say that really,
it's much stronger. It doesn't say, or it doesn't
have the idea of a simile, it says I was a beast. so foolish,
so ignorant, I was a beast or beasts, I was beasts before the
end of course the plural makes it really superlative it's just
emphasizing the greatness of man's fall how low man has fallen again Psalm 94 verse 8, Understand
ye brutish, it says. Understand ye brutish among the
people, and ye fools, when will ye be wise? All man's sinfulness
then, his fall, his falling. And not only that, when we think
of that man as a fallen creature, he's complete, inability to do
anything really, spiritually, to save himself. Every man is
brutish in his knowledge, says the Prophet Jeremiah. Every man
is brutish in his knowledge. There's a marginal reading there
in Jeremiah 10, 14, and the margin tells us that the Hebrew is literally,
is more brutish than to know. The man is more brutish than
to know. He can know nothing. He can know nothing of the truth,
surely. I am more brutish than any man
and have not the understanding of a man. You see the significance
then of the language that the wisest of all men is using with
regards to himself. And again, the word that we've
already referred to in the Psalm, Psalm 73, 22. So foolish was
I and ignorant. The word ignorant literally means
I know not. So foolish was I, I know not. No innate ability to know. You
can know nothing at all. Paul says, doesn't he, we're
not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves.
Oh, what poor creatures we are. The dreadful truth of the sinner's
condition, his total depravity. Where he is because of the fallout. Noble a creature when we see
him coming from the hand of his God, pristine, in all his innocence,
all his purity. And then that fall, so great
a fall it was. And now we're in that state where
he's completely alienated from his Creator God. The carnal mind's
enmity against God. Not subject to the Lord of God,
neither indeed can be. Or what can we know of the truth?
The natural man. He receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God, their foolishness to him. Neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. And so we see the
great truth of the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ in his
preaching. He makes it plain. No man can
come to me. No man can come to me except
the Father draw him. How God must work in the soul
of a man if he's going to come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Salvation is of the Lord. And
it's of the Lord not only in the sense that it is that the
Lord Jesus Christ accomplished. And He accomplished salvation
by His death upon the cross, but it's altogether of the Lord
when it comes to the application of it. It's the work of the blessed
Spirit of God. No man can make a Christian but the
God who made the world because that man who is in Christ is
a new creation. Oh, that's the wonder of it.
No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me
draw him. What man knoweth the things of
a man save the spirit of man that is in him? Even so the things
of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God man can only know
the things of God by the Spirit of God no man can come to the
Lord Jesus Christ but by the drawing of God the Father all these sinful ignorance and
this is what this wise man is acknowledging if we would be
wise we must We must come in with King Solomon here in the
language of this verse. And yet I said in the second
place we would try to say something with regards to that saving knowledge. How can a man come to anything
of the knowledge of salvation but by the grace of God? The
sinner you see must be born again. He must be born again. And what is it to be born again?
Well, the language of Ephesians chapter 4 verse 23, Be renewed
in the spirit of your minds, and that ye put on the new man
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Oh, it's that new man. That's the work of regeneration. He's renewed now, he's renewed
in knowledge after the image of him that created him. That's
the language that we have in another interesting text, Colossians
3 and verse 10. Put on the new man which is renewed
in knowledge after the image of him that created him is renewed
in knowledge or the words that I just made reference to in Ephesians
4.23 be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that he put
on the new man which after God after God's image is created
in righteousness and true holiness and those two mercies in In Ephesians
4 and Colossians 3 speak of what regeneration is. There is a renewed
knowledge, there's a saving knowledge. But where does it begin? Where
does this knowledge begin? Well, there must first of all
be that knowledge of ourselves. God makes us to know ourself.
God must manifest and make us see and feel what we are by nature
again words that we have in Ecclesiastes remarkable little book which
of course follows the book of Proverbs look at the language
there in chapter 3 the verse 18 I said in mine heart concerning
the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them,
and that they might see that they themselves are beasts." What is Solomon saying here?
Solomon the preacher now, the part of the wisdom literature. He's speaking of the estate of
the sons of men that God might manifest them. They have to have
this shown to them that they themselves are beasts. They must
come where Solomon is, here in the language of our text this
evening. Surely I am more brutish than any man and have not the
understanding of man. All this knowledge then. to know where we are, what we
are, before God. Again the language of the Psalms,
Psalm 92 and verse 6, a brutish man knoweth not, neither doth
a fool understand this. Isn't this God bringing the man
to the end of himself? Making him see and feel what
he is. Verse 3, I neither learn wisdom,
nor have the knowledge of the wholeness. 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? What can we know? Well,
we cannot find God out. We often refer to those words
of Job 11, remember? Canst thou by searching find
out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty
unto perfection? It is higher as heaven. What
canst thou do? Deeper than hell. What canst thou know? The measure
thereof is longer than the earth and broader than the seas. It's impossible. God is greater
than man. God is the creator. Man is the
creature. God is the eternal one. Man is a mortal being. But of
course all of this is so much compounded because man is not
in that condition he was when he was in the state of innocence.
Alas for man there, the fallen creature. But God would have
us to feel what we are, our sinfulness. and our ignorance in our sinfulness
that we really know nothing even the wisest of men with all their
vast learning what can they know of themselves except God be pleased
to reveal themselves to them that God might manifest what they are, that they might
see themselves for what they are, that they are by default
lower than the beasts of the earth. All there must first of
all then be that knowledge of self. Once we come to that knowledge
of self and know something of ourselves, isn't this the way
the Lord prepares his people for the knowledge of him who
is the only saviour of sinners? And those words at the end of
verse 4, what is his name? What is his son's name? If thou
canst tell. How can we know God? We can only
know God through Christ. No man, no man has seen God at
any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared. All the Lord
Jesus Christ, The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, says
John, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and of truth. All that fullness
of truth is there in the Lord Jesus Christ. Within the Lord Jesus Christ
there is also all that fullness of grace. It's God. and God manifests
himself ultimately there. He is the image of the invisible
God. As I said, we can have no knowledge
of God. And it's interesting, the language,
you know, that we have here. I said just now, the significance
of the words that we have in the opening verse. Aegor, and
Jacob, the gatherer, and the one who is hearkening. even the prophecy. And then it
says the man spoke unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Uchel. Well, the word Ithiel literally
means God with me. God with me. That's how Dr. Gill says it's to be translated. And of course it reminds us,
doesn't it, of the language of Isaiah 7. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Immanuel, God with us. And here we have it in the opening
verse of this chapter where our text is found. God with me. Oh, the deity of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God. His coexistence with
the Father and with the Spirit in the glorious truth of the
doctrine of God, the doctrine of the Trinity, His nearness
of union with the Father. He is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of the Father in truth and in love. Oh, this is a blessed
one. How he speaks, remember here
in this book of the Proverbs, that great eighth chapter of
Proverbs, then I was by him, he says, the wisdom of God. Oh,
this is the one who is wisdom. Solomon might be a man wise,
the wisest man on the face of the earth, but what is the wisdom
of Solomon, greater than Solomon? is here and certainly here in
chapter 8 he speaks of his eternal relationship with the Father
then I was by him as one brought up with him I was daily as delight
rejoicing always before him he says this is the Lord Jesus is it
not? when there were no depths he says I was brought forth when
there were no fountains abounding with water before the mountains
were settled, before the hills was I brought forth, He was eternally
brought forth, He's the Eternal Son, the Eternal Son of the Eternal
Father, and He's Ukal. We read of Ithiel and Ukal, and
Ukal means the Mighty One. He's the Mighty One, as well
as being God with man. This is the one whom Solomon
knows. He is the one who is the true source of Solomon's wisdom. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And now of course, when we think
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we know that God was with him. God was with him in all the days
of his humiliation here upon the earth. And in a sense there could never
be any separation between Him and the Father because He never
ceased to be the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father. And there's
no division in the Godhead. This is the mystery, isn't it?
And the Father certainly was with Him in all that great work
that He came to accomplish. The Lord Himself declares it
in the course of His ministry. Look at the language that we
find in the 8th chapter of John. There in John 8 at verse 29,
He says, He that sent me is with me. The Father hath not left
me alone, for I do always those things that please Him. He is
ever about His Father's business and even as He comes to the end
of His ministry, when he's about to make that
great sin-atoning sacrifice, when he's about to utter those
remarkable words, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Look at the language he uses at the end of chapter 16 in John. Behold, the hour cometh. Yea, it is now come that ye shall
be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone.
Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. Oh, the Father is there, you
see, owning him, acknowledging him in all that great work of
redemption that he came to accomplish. And now the Lord humbles himself, really, to accomplish
that great work. What does he do? He comes where
the man is. He comes just where the man is. I dare to say this. I wonder
if I should say it really. Would we be right to say that
these are not just the words of Solomon, but these are the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ in his great humiliation? Surely I am more brutish than
any man, and am not the understanding of a man. All the depths, the
depths of that human... He says, doesn't he? We know
he says it there in the psalm, Psalm 22, and verse 6, I am a
worm, a no-man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people. And that makes me think, well,
maybe it's not improper to see the Lord Jesus even in the words. of the text, Christ speaking,
is the Araduco the mighty one and yet how he has humbled himself
and this is the doing of God, God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemning sin in the
flesh oh what a work has been accomplished by the humiliation
of Christ, he was crucified through weakness we are told Now he comes
just where his people are. He descends, you see. He descends
to us as those who are fallen creatures. He doesn't identify
with Adam in the state of innocence. He identifies with Adam, with
man, as a sinner. and so He is the one who willingly
receives sinners and eateth with them, He communes with them.
Sinners are high in His esteem and sinners highly value Him. Is that true of us? As the Lord
brought us to that knowledge, that saving knowledge, to see
that all our salvation is in this remarkable man, even the
man Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption all that salvation
entails is in Him as it is written that any man glory is to glory
in the Lord oh God grant that we might be those who would indeed
glory in all that He is it's life eternal He says to know
Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom they were sent and
where was it that God sent his son? Oh, he sent him into this
fallen world, this sinful world and he came so willingly and
identified himself with the greatest of sinners and died in company,
of course, with those two thieves upon the cross in order to accomplish
that great salvation. Oh, the Lord then be pleased
To bless the text to us, surely I am more brutish than any man,
and have not the understanding of man. And yet, oh, if we are
in Christ, we are those who know God, and we are those who are
made wise unto salvation that is in the Lord Jesus. May the
Lord bless to us His Word. Amen.