Open up with me to Proverbs chapter
1. Proverbs chapter 1. Verse 1 says, The Proverbs of
Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. Solomon is who penned
the Proverbs. Solomon was the son of King David
and Solomon became king in his father's place. Solomon was the greatest mortal
earthly king that the world has ever known. The greatest earthly
king this earth has ever known. God gave exceeding riches in
all things, everything, exceeding riches to Solomon. And the reason
is because Solomon represents a greater than Solomon. That's why. Solomon represents
the Lord Jesus Christ, the high King of heaven and earth. I want
to show you how Solomon became king. Turn with me over to 1
Kings 1. Back towards Genesis, 1 Kings
1. 1 Kings 1, verse 1 says, Now King David was old and stricken
in years. Verse five says, then Adoniah
the son of Haggath, Haggath was one of David's wives and Adoniah
was one of David's sons. Then Adoniah the son of Haggath
exalted himself that's what Lucifer did and that's
what Adam did. Adoniah the son of Haggath exalted
himself saying I will be king and he prepared him chariots
and horsemen and 50 men to run before him. Verse 11 Wherefore, Nathan spake unto
Bathsheba. You remember Bathsheba, the wife
of Uriah. David killed Uriah and took her
for his own wife. Bathsheba was Solomon's mother. Verse 11 says, Wherefore, Nathan
spake unto Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, saying, Hast thou
not heard that Adoniah the son of Haggath doth reign, and David
our Lord knoweth it not? He's just decided on his own,
I'm gonna be king. Verse 15. And Bathsheba went in unto the
king into the chamber, and the king was very old, and Abishag
the Shunammite ministered unto the king. And Bathsheba bowed
and did obeisance unto the king, and the king said, What wouldst
thou? And she said unto him, My lord, thou swearest by the
Lord thy God unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy
son shall reign after me and he shall sit upon my throne and
now behold Adoniah reigneth and now my lord the king thou knowest
it not. Verse 22. And lo while she yet
talked with the king Nathan the prophet also came in and Nathan
said the exact same things to David. So we know what's going
on so far, right? Verse 28 says, Then King David
answered and said, Call me Bathsheba. And she came into the king's
presence and stood before the king. And the king swear and
said, As the Lord liveth that hath redeemed my soul out of
all distress, even as I swear unto thee by the Lord God of
Israel saying assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me
and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead even so will I certainly
do this day. Then Bathsheba bowed with her
face to the earth and did reverence to the king and said let my lord
king David live forever. And King David said, Call me
Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the
son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king.
The king also said unto them, Take with you the servants of
your Lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own
mule, and bring him down to Gihon.
and let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him
their king over Israel and blow ye with the trumpet and say,
God save King Solomon. Then shall you come up after
him that he may come and sit upon my throne for he shall be
king in my stead. And I have appointed him to be
ruler over Israel in Judah. and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada
answered the king and said, Amen. The Lord God of my Lord the king
say so too. As the Lord hath been with my
Lord the king, even so be he with Solomon and make his throne
greater than the throne of my Lord King David. So Zadok the
priest and Nathan the prophet and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada
and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and caused Solomon
to ride upon King David's mule and brought him to Gaon. And
Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle
and anointed Solomon and they blew the trumpet and all the
people said, God save King Solomon. And all the people came up after
him And the people piped with pipes and rejoiced with great
joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them. Now, does
that remind you of anything? Does that remind you of anything?
Hold your place here. I don't want to read too much.
I understand that we get lost in reading too much, but this
is one of my favorite things to read in the scripture. Every
time I have the chance, I have to read this. Hold your place.
And I want you to go with me over to Luke 19. Luke 19, verse
29 says, And it came to pass when he,
that's our Lord, was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany at the
mount called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples
saying, go ye into the village over against you in the which
at your entering you shall find a colt tied. Whereon yet never
man sat. Loose him and bring him hither. Verse 35 says, And they brought
him to Jesus, and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they
set Jesus thereon. And as he went, they spread their
clothes in the way. And when he was come nigh, even
now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, The whole multitude
of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice
for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed
be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from
among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. them up. They are hurting our
ears. They are causing a scene. Stop
them. Verse 40 says, And he answered
and said unto them, I tell you that if these should hold their
peace, the stones would immediately cry out. It wouldn't do you any
good. If I were to shut their mouths
right now, all the rocks would start crying out, Hosanna to
the son of David. Hosanna in the highest, all hail
God's king. Solomon points us to our king,
the son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, as he rode triumphantly
into Jerusalem on a mule. Don't you love that? I love that. Go back to 1 Kings
with me. This time go to chapter 3. 1 Kings 3 verse 5 says, in Gibeon,
the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night And God said,
ask what I shall give thee. Verse nine. And this is what
Solomon said. Give therefore thy servant an
understanding heart. That means a hearing heart. I pray that God would give me
and you that, us that, a hearing, not a talking heart, not a boasting
heart, just a hearing heart. To hear each other, to hear Christ.
Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge
thy people that I may discern between good and bad, for who
is able to judge this thy so great a people? And the speech
pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. And God
said unto him, because thou hast asked this thing and hast not
asked for thyself long life, neither hast asked riches for
thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies, but has asked
for thyself understanding to discern judgment. Behold, I have
done according to thy words. Lo, I have given thee a wise
and understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before
thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee." That's
Jesus Christ. Verse 13 says, and I've also
given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honor,
so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee
all thy days. God gave Solomon more wisdom
than any other man on this earth. And God did that because Solomon
represents wisdom himself. Lord Jesus Christ. We all need
wisdom and when we say that we know that we mean Christ. We all need Christ. Let's listen
to what he has to say. Go with me now to Proverbs 2
where we read from Proverbs chapter 2. Solomon, the representative under
the inspiration of God Almighty, says in verse 1, My son, if thou
wilt receive my words, that is wisdom. That's wisdom. We were just talking about that.
This is the word from wisdom. This is serious. It's so serious. I didn't put two and two together
whenever I made the broadcast this morning, search the scriptures.
It's so serious. He says, if thou will receive
my words, do you know that these words right here are the line
in the sand? These words right here. How do
you know if sinners are on the Lord's side? They receive his
words. That's how you know. He didn't
say except, did he? There's no choice on the part
of the sinner. That's not what he's saying.
He's not saying if, then. There's no choice. Sinners by
nature only reject his word. That's all they can do. They
only kick against His words. That's what Saul of Tarsus did.
He was kicking against the Word. But thanks be to God, he didn't
have a choice. That's the thing I rejoice over
the most is that I don't have a choice. I have to be saved. I don't have a choice. Sinners
by nature question His Word. That's all they do is question
His Word. But he said in verse one, my son, if thou will receive
my words and hide my commandments with thee. How does a sinner
hide his commandments? Look over at chapter four, Proverbs
chapter four. Verse 20, he says again, my son, We see who he's writing to, don't
we? My son, this whole book is written to those who have been
adopted. This book is not talking to the
whole world. Let me quote a few places. In
Acts 1, the Lord calls Philip to write, O Theophilus, friend
of God, that's who I'm writing to. Romans 1 says, to all that
be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. That's who Romans
is written to. Ephesians 1 says, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children. That's who Ephesians is written
to. Philippians 1 says, grace be unto you and peace from God
our Father. 1 Peter 1 says, elect. That's who it's written to. 1
John 2 says, My little children. 1 John 3 says, Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. That's who it's written to. 1
John 5 says, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God. That's who it's written to. And
it says right here in Proverbs 4.20, My son, Attend to my words. Incline thine
ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine
eyes. Keep them in the midst of thine
heart. For they are life unto those
that find them. How true is that? Life, they
are life unto those that find them and health to all their
flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life." Salvation is not only
knowing that Jesus Christ is God. Salvation is loving that
Jesus Christ is God. There's a difference. My God, He is my God. It's not
only knowing that the truth is His Word and His Word is the
truth. It's loving the truth of His
Word. I love it. You know what the
Word says? The Word says, I'm a sinner,
I'm a liar, and God is true. And you know what? I love that.
Amen. I love that. Look at chapter
2 again. Go back to Proverbs chapter 2.
Verse 1 says, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments
with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom." We just
said that wisdom is not a what. Wisdom is a who. Wisdom is Christ. Verse 2 says, "...so that thou
incline thine ear unto Christ." We are not here to incline our
ear to doctrine. We're not here for that. Get
our brains wrapped around something, learn something new. We're not
here to incline our ear to the preacher. We're here to incline our ear
to Christ. We ask him and beg him, Lord,
would you speak to us? If he does not speak to us, we
are met here in vain. And my soul has not received
any life. Speak to us. Samuel, you remember
the story of Samuel and Eli. Samuel was a young boy and his
mother, Hannah, gave him to the service of the Lord. And Samuel
grew up in the temple with Eli. And Samuel heard somebody call
his name. And he went into Eli and he said,
you called for me? And Eli said, no, go lay down
again. And Samuel went into Eli three
times. And Eli finally realized this
is the Lord. This is the Lord. And Eli gave
Samuel some wise counsel. some very wise counsel. May I
heed Eli's wise counsel. He said, the next time you hear
him, call your name. You say, speak Lord, for thy
servant heareth. That's why we're here, to incline
our ear to the Lord. I'm not here to give my two cents,
tell what I think. I'm here to hear from the Lord. That's it. That's it. Does the
Lord speak out loud? No, he does not. He speaks through
his word. Verse two says, so that thou
incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding. David wrote, the entrance of
thy words giveth light, it giveth understanding to the simple. Do you know what the problem
is for this world and for religion, specifically religion? They have
no understanding. And it's not just because they
haven't been taught. It's because they're dead. That's
the reason. Because they're dead, they have
no idea what happened in the Garden of Eden. Okay? Here's the issue. Here is what God reveals to a sinner.
They have no idea what happened in the Garden of Eden with Adam
and Eve. And they have no idea what happened
on the cross with Jesus Christ. They know Adam was kicked out
and they know Jesus died and that's all they know. In the garden, man died. That's what happened. Adam and Eve didn't just get
a spanking for disobeying God. Man died spiritually, that's
what happened. And on the cross, man lived again. When he died, I lived. On the cross, when the blood
of God the Son satisfied the holy demands of God the Father,
God the Spirit, breathed life back into a sinner. That's what
happened. And man became a living soul
again. And the natural man who does not understand that, and
he can't understand that by nature, he just can't. He spends his
life trying to figure out, how do I play a role in this? You don't. You just don't. Back, look at verse three here
in Proverbs 2, verse three, he says, yea, if thou cryest after
knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding, he's
saying, if you ask, if you cry out to God. David wrote, hear,
O Lord, when I cry with my voice, have mercy also upon me and answer
me through thy word. How many times has the Lord answered
our prayer and answered our questions and given us his will and his
direction through his word? Verse four says, if thou seekest
her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures, what are the words of God worth
to us? What are the words of God worth
to us? I can't help but pick on people
today. Why you drive so far to get here? Why do you drive so far to get
here? What are the words of God worth
to us? What is true wisdom himself worth
to us? Turn with me over to Matthew
13. Matthew 13, look at verse 44. Our Lord says, again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto
treasure hid in a field. The witch, when a man hath found,
he hideth. And for joy thereof, goeth and
selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls, who, when
he hath found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that
he had, and bought it. He is worth Everything, isn't
he? He's worth everything. What is
a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Go back over to Proverbs 2. Verse one says, my son, if, Verse three says, yea, if. Verse four says, if. Verse five says, then. Then shalt thou understand the
fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. So then it
sounds like my salvation is based on something I do. It is most
certainly not. Verse six says, for, that means
because. If, then, for. Verse six says, the Lord giveth
wisdom. Out of his mouth cometh knowledge
and understanding. There is no if with us, period. And the reason is because we're
dead. Verse seven says, he layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler to them that
walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment
and preserveth the way of his saints. He gets all the glory. If I do receive his words, if
I do hide his commandments, If I do incline mine ear, it's only
because He gave me the wisdom to do it. He gave me Christ,
and Christ did it. If I apply my heart, if I cry
out, it's only because He gave me the knowledge and the understanding
to do it. If I find this treasure, it's only because He laid it
up for me. He led me to it. He opened my
eyes. He bought it for me. If I am kept, if I am preserved,
it's only because verse seven says, He is a buckler to them
that walk uprightly. He's my shield. He's my fortress. He's my deliverer. Do you know
how you can tell whether or not you're hearing the truth? In the truth, all the glory goes
to Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ is getting all
the glory, then you are hearing the truth. If, then, for, he. That's the gospel. Salvation
is of the Lord. If God ever reveals that to a
sinner, look at verse 9, it says, Then shalt thou understand righteousness,
and judgment, and equity, yea, every good path. If you ever truly see Jesus Christ,
you will understand the righteousness of God. You know that? Outside of Christ, in churches
everywhere, what's going on is men and women are trying to establish
their own righteousness. What that means is, what do I
have to do to be good enough to be allowed in? But if a person
ever sees Jesus Christ, they will see the righteousness of
God. If you ever see Jesus Christ
crucified, you'll understand the judgment of God. And if you ever see Jesus Christ
risen, you'll understand the equity of God. Equity is that
part that's paid for. I got a little equity in my house.
That's the part that's free and clear. Paid in full. If God ever shows us Jesus Christ,
we will understand every good path because every one of them
will lead us to him. Every one of them. God save our
souls. All right, let's stand together.