We turn to God's Word in the
book of Proverbs, and I'll read in Proverbs chapter 30, and reading
the first six verses, the words of Agor, the son of
J.K., even the prophecy, the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto
Ithiel and Uchel, 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, 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, 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. Add thou not unto His words,
lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. I want really to take for a text
simply those opening words in verse 5. Every word of God is
pure. Every word of God is pure or
purified. This is the word of God but it
is also the word of a man because God made use of men to give us
his holy words. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Spirit of God, and the way in which they were
moved was quite remarkable. God didn't simply dictate words
to men, but God moved sovereignly, effectually, graciously in their
hearts and in their minds, so that whilst they were giving
expression to things that they doubtless experienced and felt
at times, Yet their words were more than their own words. They
were the words of God. Well, who is the speaker here?
Well, the book of Proverbs of course is part of the wisdom
literature which is reckoned to have been written by King
Solomon. We're told at the beginning of
the book here. the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king
in Jerusalem. Well, here in this chapter we're
told, aren't we, that it's the words of Agur, or Agur, the son
of Jacob, even the prophecy. The man spake unto Ithiel, even
unto Ithiel and Uchel. But these names apply to King Solomon when we
consider what the meaning of the names is. Agur literally
means the gatherer. JK means the hearer. And this is what Solomon did
with the Proverbs and with the wisdom literature he heard. and he gathered. He was a hearer
and he was a gatherer. And we certainly see that in
the book that follows, the book of Ecclesiastes, where the preacher
is still part of the wisdom literature. And what do we read here in Ecclesiastes
chapter 1 and verse 13? I gave my heart to seek and to
search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under
heaven. This sort travail hath God given to the sons of man
to be exercised therewith." He was one who was seeking and searching
out and gathering things. That's what he was about. Again
in chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes in verse 8, I gathered me also. silver and gold and the peculiar
treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got me men singers
and women singers and the delights of the sons of men as musical
instruments and that of all sorts." He was a great gatherer. He was
a wise man, he heard things, he listened to things and he
gathered things together. The end of the book of Ecclesiastes
is there in chapter 12 and verse 9. We read, He gave good heed
and sought out and set in order many proverbs. He sought out
and set in order. He listened and what he heard
and what he discovered to be profitable, he gathered it together
and so we have this book of the proverbs. The speaker is Solomon. And who is it that Solomon speaks
of? Well, he speaks of Christ, and
at times he speaks to Christ. We're told here in verse 1, the
man spake unto Athiel, even unto Athiel and Ucal. And again, it's
interesting to see the significance of the names and the meaning
of these names. Atheel means God with me. The man spoke unto gods with
me. Ukal means the mighty one. Who is he speaking of? Who is
God with me? Well we think of course very
much in terms of the great mystery of godliness. The incarnation. God manifest in the flesh, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And is he not the one that we're
directed to, here in verse 4, 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 the ends
of the earth? What is his name? And what is
his son's name, if they can tell? What is his name? What is his
son's name? all this surely is the eternal
Son of God, He is the wisdom of God who of God is made unto
us, Paul says, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption
that hath it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lord if a man lacks wisdom he is to
ask of God who gives to all men liberally and that wisdom centers
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ that 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. Oh, this is the Lord Jesus Christ
and who is being spoken of. Athia, God's with me. Ukal, the mighty one. He is that one that we see there
in the 8th chapter. as the eternal wisdom of God
or remember how wisdom speaks in that 8th chapter when there
were no depths I was brought forth or when there were no depths
I was begotten when there were no fountains abounding with water
before the mountains were settled before the hills was I brought
forth or was I begotten is the eternal son of God, the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. We see him
there, of course, in the opening chapter of the Gospel according
to Saint John. He is the eternal Word of God,
as he is the eternal wisdom of God. But tonight As I said, I
want really to concentrate on what is said here in verse 5
concerning every word of God. Every word of God is pure. I
really want us to think about the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus
says to the Jews that they are to search the Scriptures. In
them they think they have eternal life, but the Lord says, these
are they that testify of me. All the Scriptures and the Lord's
bear one tremendous name, the written and incarnate Word in
all things are the same. So I want us really to consider
more particularly the Word of Scripture that reveals to us
the Lord Jesus Christ. Every word, every word of God
is pure. And so the theme that I want
to address is that of the pure Word of God. The pure Word of
God and to consider it from three perspectives as it were, to consider
it as the inspired Word of God, the inspiration of the Scriptures.
I want us to think of it as the truth, the truth of God, And then, finally, to consider
it as the promise of God. First of all, the inspiration
then of Scripture. Every word of God is pure. What a statement is this! When we think of it in terms
of all that we have before us in the Holy Bible from Genesis
chapter 1 through to Revelation chapter 22. In every page, in
every chapter, right through every book, we have the Word
of God. Every word. It is all true. And what we are to recognize
then, with regards to the doctrine of inspiration, is that the Bible
is inspired plenary and verbally. What we mean by that is when
we talk about plenary inspiration, it means it's inspired in all
its parts, without any exception. It's inspired, you see, in the
opening chapters of Genesis, as it is inspired throughout
all the record of the Lord's life and His ministry there in
the Gospel. It's inspired in all the genealogies
that we find. Think of the books of Chronicles
and those lists of names. It's inspired everywhere. It's
plenary inspired. But it's also verbally inspired. In other words, all of the words. Those are the words that we would
find in the original Hebrew of the Old Testament and the original
Greek of the New Testament. And we call that verbal inspiration. It's not that these holy men,
as they were moved by the Spirit of God, were just inspired in
their thought patterns and then expressed themselves in their
own words. No. Inspiration is more than that.
Although it's not dictation, yet those men are speaking and
writing the very words of God. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. We read those words at the end
of that third chapter in 2nd Timothy. All Scripture And the
expression is given by inspiration of God. And that's, in our authorized
version, the translation of a single word. And the single word that's
being translated is a compound word, but it literally is saying
all Scripture is God-breathed. It's two words. It's the word
God, and it's the word to breathe. So what do we have in the Bible?
We have God's breathings. Now, when we speak, of course,
we speak as we breathe and so forth, and there are certain
words that we have to aspirate. It's the way we breathe, the
way we express ourselves. Well, this book is the breathings
of God, the words of God. And it's interesting, isn't it,
what the Lord Jesus himself says. There in the Sermon on the Mount,
verily he says, I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one
jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Lord till
all be fulfilled. One jot or one tittle is never
going to depart from God's Word. What is a jot? What is a tittle?
Well, the jot is one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. There are 22 letters in that
alphabet. And I've said this before, the
119th psalm is built around those 22 letters and it's an acrostic
poem. If you turn to that psalm, And I'm thinking in particular
of the section that begins at verse 73. Now, this is a pulpit
Bible, and at the head of the sections we have the various
letters of the alphabet. And you'll see at the head of
verse 73 the word Jod, or Jod, J-O-D it is here, The beauty
of this pulpit Bible is that it doesn't just give the name
of the letter, but the actual Hebrew character is also printed
alongside the name. And if you have this Bible, you
might have it in your own Bible, but you'll see that that letter,
the jot, is by far and away the smallest of all the letters of
the Hebrew alphabet. It's a very tiny letter. Now, the Lord is saying there
in his sermon concerning God's Word, not one jot, not one of
those small letters can ever pass away, because it's all the
words of God. And in the Hebrew, of course,
the very letters that make up the words are so important. But what of the title? Well,
the title is reckoned to be probably some of those little marks that
distinguish one letter from another. A little horn on a corner of a letter
maybe. We can think in terms of our
own language where we put a little cross in a T. Or we put a little
dot on top of an I. We might think of tittles in
those terms. It's just little bits of letters.
You see the significance then of what the Lord Jesus says concerning
God's words. And He prefixes what He says
there in the Sermon on the Mount with that word verily, truly,
so be it, very emphatic. I say unto you, till heaven and
earth pass one jot, or one jot, or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law till all be fulfilled." Again, in his ministry,
what does the Lord say? John 10.35, the Scripture cannot
be broken. The Scripture cannot be broken,
it's all the Word of God. It is plenary inspired, it is
verbally inspired. And all of it is to be believed.
All of it is to be believed. We're not to be those who are
partial in the Word of God. Or the Lord, through the prophet
Malachi, rebukes the priests. You read the words that we have
there in Malachi chapter 2 and verse 9. They are accused of
being partial in the Lord of God. We're not to be partial
in God's Word. All of it is to be believed.
We are to believe the precepts. We are to embrace the precepts,
the commandments, as well as the promises. We are to delight
in every part of it. If we believe it, if we believe
what God says concerning heaven, we must also accept what God
says concerning hell, because both of these are set before
us. I know that the men today, they call themselves Christian
ministers, but their theology is thoroughly liberal, and they
want to send everybody to heaven, but that's not what the Bible
says. It doesn't just speak of heaven, it also speaks of hell. And of course those men, with
their liberal ideas, they reject the historic account of creation
in the opening two chapters of our Bibles. They dismiss it as
an irrelevance really. They say it's just myth, and
we have to demythologize our Bibles to fit in with modern
so-called science. No, we have to accept all that
is written here in Holy Scripture. It's all to be believed, and
it only is to be believed. One of the great watchwords of
the Reformation, as you probably know, was Sola Scriptura. The
Bible alone. Or that is the religion of Protestants.
Are we those who recognize any importance? Every word of God,
every word of God is pure. And what does it say here in
verse 6? "...add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee,
and thou be found a liar." Oh, we're not to add to his words,
and we're not to take away from his words. Why? Almost the very
last words of the Bible there in chapter 22 of Revelation Verse 18, I testify unto every
man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if
any man shall add 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. We're not to add, and we're not to subtract. No,
all of it, in its entirety, is to be submitted to and embraced
and believed. It is all the Word of God. Now, what does the Roman Catholic
Church do? It adds. It adds to God's Word,
its traditions. What do those who are charismatics
do? They add because they say there
are still revelationary gifts amongst men that God is adding
to His Word. Not so. The Bible is complete. The Lord Jesus has come and sealed
up the prophecy. There is to be no prophet after
the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, Muhammad is a false
prophet. But there are not only those
who would add to the Word of God, there are others who would
take away from the Word of God. As I have said, the liberals,
ministers who don't really believe the Bible, they want to take
great sections away from the Bible. and just dismiss it as
almost as a fable, as a myth. No, it is all true. It is plenary
and verbally inspired. And it is also absolute truth. It is inerrant, in other words.
What do we mean when we use the word inerrant? We mean that the
Bible is without any errors. There's no errors in the Bible.
What does it say in the text? Every word of God is pure. It's pure metal. There's no dross,
there's no alloy. It's purified. That's what it says in the margin.
Every word of God is purified. And again, we see it in the 119th
Psalm. The same truth really is declared
there in verse 140, thy word is very pure. But it is in fact
a different word really that's used there because the margin
indicates that the meaning of that word is that it is tried
and refined. I suppose it's the same truth,
it's purified. It's not liable to any error
at all. It's inherent in that sense.
And when we think about it, it must be so because what is the
Bible? What is the Bible? It's a revelation
of God. That's what the Bible is. It's
God revealing himself. I know we read there in the 19th
Psalm that God has revealed himself
in his works of creation. He is the one who has made all
things. The heavens and the earth are the works of his hands and
they all reveal something of him. The heavens declare the
glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto
day uttereth speech, night unto night showeth knowledge. We can
look up into the starry heavens into stellar space on a clear
night, and we can see the vastness of the universe that God has
made. Night unto night showeth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard,
their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words
are the end of the world. God has revealed himself in his
works, but God has revealed himself in a special way here in His
Word and of course that Psalm, Psalm 19 goes on to speak of
the Word of God in verse 7 following the Lord of the Lord is perfect
converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise
the simple the statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the
heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the
eyes Fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments
of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. These various words,
these synonyms are all used. The law, the testimony, the statutes,
the commandments, the judgments, the fear. Oh, it's interesting
that God's word is referred to as the fear of the Lord. And
all of these synonyms, you see, they they're referring to the
Bible, the special revelation that God has given. It is a book
that is free from all error. It's holy. It's holy. And why? Because it is a revelation
of God. And God is holy. Why? God is
thrice holy. He is Holy Father, Holy Son,
and Holy Spirit and remember the the angels there in Isaiah
chapter 6 as they veil their faces they cry Holy, Holy, Holy
Lord God of hosts all God is said to be glorious in holiness
His justice is Holy His wisdom is Holy His power is spoken of
as His Holy Arm That's how God's arm is described when God condescends
to speak to us of himself in human terms. He speaks of his
arm, the strength of his arm, but that arm is holy. And so
God's words is also a word that is holy and pure. Every word
of God is pure. All the word of God is called
the fear of the Lord. And so, it is plenary inspired,
that means all of it, every part of it, it's verbally inspired,
every word is the word of God, it's inerrant, there's nothing
of error anywhere in it. That's the doctrine of inspiration
that we find embedded here in Holy Scripture. But secondly,
that word that we have here before us is also the truth. We thought of the inspiration
of the Scriptures, let's turn in the second place to the truth,
the truth of the Scriptures. And see here how, in a sense,
a contrast is being drawn. Every word of God is pure, He
has assured unto them to put their trust in Him, add thou
not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. The contrast is drawn between
God and the Word of God on the one hand, and men and the words
of men on the other hand. God's Word is pure, but man oft
times is found to be a liar. we find a fuller contrast, a
similar sort of a contrast but much fuller in the psalm. In psalm 12. Psalm 12 and verse
2. Psalm 12 verse 2 following, speaking of The children of men, they speak
vanity, every one with his neighbor, 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. Pure words. As silver tried in
the furnace of earth purified seven times. Now see the contrast
there. We have from verse 2 to verse
4 a description of men. They speak vanity. It speaks
of their flattering lips, their double hearts. It speaks of tongues
that speak proud things and so forth. And all of that is contrasted
with the words of the Lord which are pure words. And so there
is also a contrast here in verses 5 and 6 between God's pure word
on the one hand and the lies, the lies of men on the other
hand. Now what is man by nature? Man is fallen. God made man upright,
but they have sought out many inventions. And who is the one who is the
cause of that fall of man? It is the devil. And remember
how the Lord speaks of the devil. He was a liar from the beginning,
says Christ, and he is the father of lies. He's telling the Jews
how they are of their father, the devil. The devil was a liar
from the beginning, and he was a liar. There in the Garden of
Eden, when God set the man there, in that paradise, we cannot begin
to conceive what it was like. This is creation in its pristine
condition, as it's come forth from the hand of a God who is
a holy God. And God has looked upon his creation
and pronounced it very good. And he sets the man in the garden,
and he gives him a help meat for him, brings Eve to him, and
he brings his pair together, husband and wife, and he sets
them there in paradise. And God gives a command concerning
the tree in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, and he says quite clearly to Adam that he is not to eat
of that tree. In the day that they eat us thereof,
they shall surely die. That's the Word of God. Don't
eat that tree. If you eat of that tree, Adam,
if you disobey my voice, you will surely die. And then remember
in chapter 3 of Genesis how the devil comes. And what does he
do? Immediately he contradicts the
Word of God. Thou shalt not surely die, he
says to Eve. Thou shalt not surely die. The
very opposite of what God had said. as he tempts the woman
and she partakes and she gives to Adam and Adam with his eyes
wide open he partakes of the forbidden fruit and have sinned
and it's all as a result of the liar the devil's lie and the
devil still lies today of course and men love the lies of the
devil you don't need me to tell you that We see it all around
us. We see it so obviously in the
whole theory of evolution, the denial of God, the denial of
God's creation, the nonsense. I read recently how someone said,
you probably heard this illustration, evolution you see, everything
happening by mere chance, no design. And they said this, if
you had a junkyard, and a great wind suddenly blew through that
junkyard, and then you looked, and what was there but a 747.
Perfect aeroplane. All its parts, just in the right
place, and it's just happened. And it's a poor illustration
really, because the creation is much more glorious than an
aeroplane. But this is the lie that men
choose to believe. They love the devil's lies. Why? Because it discounts God and
it discounts any idea of their accountability to God. The God
who has said that it is appointed unto all men once to die and
then the judgment. Men don't want that. All men
don't want that. They want to do as they please.
They want to live their lives to the full as they say, with
no accountability. Men love the devil's lies. nor
the folly of men and remember how Paul speaks of man and he's
quoting from the Old Testament he's quoting from the book of
Psalms you know the passage there in Romans chapter 3 where he
refers to the words of the Psalmist in Psalms 14 and 53 so we have
it recorded twice in the Psalms and then we have it in the New
Testament in Romans chapter 3 where Paul quotes these words and you
can check it well he says in verse 10 of Romans 3 as it is
written but I'm thinking of verse 13 their throat is an open sepulcher
with their tongues they have used deceit the poison of asps
is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness
those are the words of men But what a contrast when we come
to the Word of God. Every Word of God is pure. And
why is it pure? Because God's Word is absolute
truth. God's Word is absolute truth. And in contrast, the words of
men are lies. They flatter with their lips.
They utter bitter, proud and hard sayings. But God's Word,
all God's Word is tried and proved. God's Word stands fast and we're
not to doubt it. Oh God grant us faith to believe
His Word and not to call His Word into question. And again I have to direct you
to the context. We have to see all these things
in context. Here he goes on, well previously really, just
before the words of our text. He speaks of God. What is His
name? What is his son's name, if thou
canst tell? Every word of God is pure. And
isn't there a connection here? Or are we not to think in terms
of the Lord Jesus Christ himself? All scripture leads up to the
New Testament. All scripture leads up to the
coming of Christ, who is the great prophet of the Lord, who
speaks the words of God. Remember the opening words of
Paul in the epistle to the Hebrews, God who at sundry times in diverse
manner spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds,
who be in the brightness of his glory, and the express image
of his person. Oh, this remarkable person! the
man Christ Jesus. God has revealed Himself now
in the person of His only begotten Son. And who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
Why, He is the Amen. He is the faithful and true witness. That's what He says of Himself.
He is the Amen, the so be it, the verily, the truly, the faithful, and true witness. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Oh, this is truth, you see, the
Word of God, the Word in Scripture, and He directs us to the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, No man hath seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
He hath declared Him." Oh, never man spake like this
man. Every word of God is pure. What pure words fell from the
lips of our Lord Jesus Christ. And how they had to bow to that
Word, even those who in many ways were His enemies. Remember what we are told at
the end of the Sermon on the Mount when the Lord had ended
all these sayings and the people were astonished at his doctrine
because he taught them with authority and not just as scribes and Pharisees. And he is that one, you see,
in whom we have all the promises of God. Isn't that what the Gospel
is? It is primarily the great promise
of God. The law was given by Moses Grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. And all the promises of God in
him they are yea, and in him are men. To the glory of God
by us is Paul. Oh, what promises, what gracious
invitations fall from his lips. What does he say? The poor needy
sinners come unto me. all ye that labour and are heavy
laden I will give you peace take my yoke upon you learn of me
for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto
your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light why his
commandments are not grievous his commandments are not grievous
all the words that fall from his lips be they promises be
they precepts or be they those gracious invitations he says
all that the father giveth me shall come unto me and he that
cometh unto me I shall in no wise cast out or if we would
but come if we would but come unto him he will not cast any
out that come unto him he is speaking truth you say to me
how can I know whether I've been given to him of the father well
the secret things belong unto the Lord The Lord knoweth them
that are His. We don't know the elect are.
We're told to give all diligence by Peter, to give all diligence
to make our calling and our election sure. And there's a significance
of course in the order there. Really, election stands before
calling because election is eternal. It was in eternity that God chose
a people in the Lord Jesus Christ before ever He created the worlds.
And calling is that that comes in time. That call by the efficacious
grace of God, the effectual call of the Holy Spirit, that irresistible
grace, that's the call. That's in time. And yet when
Peter speaks of giving diligence, he says, to make your calling
and elections. Sure, you can only know you're
elect by giving attention to the calling. And what is the
call of the Lord Jesus Christ? Come unto me. Come unto me. He that cometh unto me I shall
in no wise cast out." That's where we have to look, you see,
and concentrate our thought, if we would but come. And if
we come, why? We prove the truth of what said
previously, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And
these words are true words. Every word of God is pure. Well, we've really come, haven't
we, to what I was going to say in the third place, the promise,
the promise of Scripture, the inspiration of Scripture, the
truth of Scripture, and the promise of Scripture. All this Word of
God you see, it is very pure, as we read there in the 140th
verse of Psalm 119. Thy Word is very pure. The margin
says trite, or refined. We have it there in Psalm 12,
we read it, verse 6, "...the words of the Lord are pure words,
as silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times."
And what do God's people do? They prove that Word in their
experience. That's where we prove the truth
of God's Word, in our soul's experience. Or when that Word
comes, what does it do? It searches us. it drives us, it finds us out
all the word of the Lord it's sharper than that two-edged sword
it pierces to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit of joints
and marrow it's a discerner of the thoughts and the intents
of the heart that's the word of God how it comes, how it brings our
conviction out of truth when it comes into our poor sinful
heart it shows us what we are that's the ministry of the Lord
of God is it not? to work that convictions to stop
our mouths that every mouth might be stopped says Paul and all
the world become guilty before God it finds us guilty we are
transgressors but then there's not just that
experience of the Lord of the conviction of sin or the The law of itself cannot
save us. It can only condemn us. It's
administration of condemnation. And we need to hear that voice
of truth speaking to us in the gospel of the grace of God. And
God's people, they prove that. They prove that, or taste and
see that the Lord is good. That's the language of the gospel.
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that
trusteth in Him. Here's where we prove it, you
see. And we discover that it's sweeter than honey, and sweeter
than the honeycomb. And why is it? Why is it that
this gospel is so sweet? Why is this word, this promise
of God so dependable? Because of the God who has given us that word. Here
in verse 4 we have these questions, five questions in all. Who hath
ascended up into heaven or descended? Who hath covered 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? And what is his son's name, if
thou canst tell? It's question upon question,
upon question, upon question. And do we not find something
very similar in Isaiah? There in Isaiah chapter 14, and
look at the language in verse 12, And the following verse is, Who
hath measured the water 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 path
of judgment and taught him knowledge and showed to him the way of
understanding. What are these questions, those
three questions there in Isaiah, these five questions here in
Proverbs chapter 30, what do these questions lead us to? They lead us to recognize the
greatness and the glory of God. And this is why, you see, His
words, His word of truth is so dependable. Because God has said
it. It's because it's God's Word.
And when God gives us the Gospel, what does He do? Well, He gives
His promise, but He does more than that. When He gave promise
to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He swore
by Himself. All these two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie. The Word of God,
the promise, and the oath of God. He swore by himself. Now what does that mean? Well,
if God's Word fails, if God's Word is not a pure Word and a
true Word, a dependable Word, that means God is no more. He
has magnified His Word above all His name. His name is Himself. his name is the revelation of
himself all that he is and he's magnified his word above all
his name what a blessed and favoured people we are that we have this
word of God and that God brings it before us and we hear I trust
his voice as he speaks to us in his word this is all that
Solomon will do he directs us to Christ. The man spake unto
Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ukel. And remember the significance,
all the significance of those names. God with me, the mighty
one. Or that God might come and be
with you, and that God might come and impress the truth of
his word upon your heart, upon your souls, upon my heart, upon
my soul. that we might be those who are
brought to feed upon it, that we might discover the sweetness
of it, sweeter than honey, sweeter than the honeycomb. Why? Because it's God's Word. And
every Word of God is pure. And He is a shield unto them
that put their trust in Him. O God, grant that we might have
that trust, that saving faith. The Lord bless His Word. Amen.