Back to Proverbs 4 now. Thank
you, Jeanette. Thank you, John. Title, as I wrote to you, and subject
in these verses, is Fatherly Words of Wisdom and Life. That's what he says here. Words
of wisdom, and these words are life. Words of life. Listen to Isaiah 55. He says
this. He says, incline your ear and
come unto me. Here and your soul shall live. Here and your soul shall live. Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 32,
I believe it is. These are not vain words. This
is life. Life or death. And he says this
over and over again, verse 1, Hear, you children, the instruction
of the Father. Hear, look at verse 10, Hear,
O my son, receive my saying, the years of thy life shall be
many. Verse 20, My son, attend to my
word, incline thine ear unto my saying. Chapter 5, verse 7,
Hear me now, O children. Over and over again, just keep
reading. Chapter 7. My son, keep my words
now. Listen to me. You know, if only
I had listened better as a young person. Anybody? If only I had listened as a child,
I would have saved myself and others from a lot of trouble. Trouble I caused myself, trouble
I caused others. A lot of hurt, a lot of pain,
a lot of grief. And if only people would hear
God's Word, He'd save their soul. Who will? Who will hear? Scripture says, the hearing the
ear, the seeing the eye, and the Lord hath made them both.
If you hear the Word, if you're here to hear like old Cornelius,
and you hear the truth, and believe it, and love it, and receive
it. You've been born of God. Blessed are your ears, they hear. The Lord says this, and Scripture
says it over and over again, I have ears to hear, but they
don't hear. And the world turns away their ears
from the truth, unto fables. They'd rather hear and believe
a lie. Isn't that something? But not
you. Why? You must be one of his children. Did you notice who he's talking
to? Here, my children. Little children. My son, over
and over again, says that. My son. You notice how many times
in the Proverbs you've seen? Here, my son. These are the words
of our Heavenly Father to his children. To his children. He
says in verse 2, Well, verse 1, hear the instruction of a
father and attend to no understanding. Attend. Attend the preaching. Whenever preaching is going on,
you need to be in attendance. You know that? And you need to
be attentive. You can be here and not be here.
We've all done that. I know you well. I know you well. Some of you cannot hide your
feelings. Some do. Some are kind of, you
know, same all the time. But others, it's pretty clear
when you're not with me. That's why I'm all the time saying,
are you with me? Why? Because I want you to hear
this. It's life. It's life. Be attentive. Be attentive. Oh, my. Verse 2, he says, I give you
good doctrine. This is good. Teaching. Doctrine
means teaching. The doctrine of Christ. Any man
abide not in the doctrine of Christ, John wrote. And none
of his. This is good doctrine in it.
This is good. There were things I was taught in school that I
don't need. I don't use them anymore. I saw a plaque somewhere. I almost bought it. It said,
Another day where I haven't used any algebra. But now, Mike corrected
me on that. He's an engineer, and he said,
yes, you do too, you just don't know it. Geometry. If you're a carpenter, you use
geometry. But, you know what I'm saying. There's some things
you learn in school that you just don't really need. I'm glad
some people learned them, so there'll be this and be that.
I'm glad I liked, the Lord gave me a desire to read and write. Why? That's going to be my life
from then on. I didn't know it, but it is. He gave me that from an early
age. This is good doctrine. Good doctrine. Forsake not my law. You know, God's Word is not advice.
Kings don't give advice. It is counsel, it is good advice,
but it's a command from a father. This do. My father's son, he said, tender
and only beloved in the sight of my mother. Who's speaking
here? Solomon, right? The Lord used
Solomon to write the Proverbs, 910 Proverbs, I think. I counted
them one time. He wrote many songs and many
more proverbs than that. The Lord used him. He was David's
son. He was the son of David. It was
the son of David who wrote this. Oh, a greater than Solomon wrote
this, didn't he? The son of David. The Lord Jesus Christ wrote this.
I like, though, thinking about David teaching his young son
Solomon. You reckon Solomon sat on his
knee and Bathsheba's knee? This is Bathsheba's boy. She
was able to teach him well of God's mercy and grace, wouldn't
you? Salvation to a sinner. So young Solomon sat on his father's
knee, David the king, and sat on his mother's knee, Bathsheba,
and they taught him these things, as we should, as we should our
children. I've got to tell this, Kara. Corbin sat in the service back
there last Sunday. And his mother asked him what
he heard after the service. He said, I heard singing. That's
good. She said, what else did you hear?
He said, I heard blood. That's good. I heard blood. You won't hear
that in the average church service. Well, this is good doctrine. So, he said, my father taught
me, my mother, but this is the Son of God speaking. This is
Christ speaking. He said, I was my father's son. Tender, Isaiah 53. He should grow up like a tender
plant, a root out of dry ground. God's Son, equal with the Father,
in the beginning, took a body, a man, and became a man. He was
a boy. That's the mystery of all mysteries,
isn't it? Great, it's the mystery of God. God was manifest in the
flesh, and He was a child. The child was born, but the Son,
the Eternal Son, was given, but He grew up as a young boy, learning. How could He, whose wisdom personified
He, is omniscient, learn. I don't know. But he did. Didn't he? He grew in wisdom
and stature. His father taught him. Who's
his mother? Would you like to take a guess
who teaches God's children? I just talked about it the other
day. The Holy Spirit. He's the teacher. Our Lord was
filled with the Spirit, led by the Spirit. He had the Spirit
without measure. He taught the things he learned
in the Holy Spirit, ministered Him. The Spirit of God is like
our mother. We have father, we have son. and mother. Not, as I said before, not in
weakness or inferiority at all, but all one in this thing of
life, God's people. Life. I'm getting way ahead of
myself. I'm going to deal with that in
a minute. But look at verse 4. He taught me also, and he said,
let thine heart retain my word. Keep my commandments and live. This is Christ speaking, and
His commandments are not grievous, but they're life. Do you remember
when Simon Peter said, Thou hast the words of life? Words of life. He said, Christ said, My words
are spirit and they're life. Let thine heart, that's where
we need the Word of God to be planted in our hearts, not just
our head. It says in verse 5, get wisdom. Get wisdom. Get a knowledge of
Christ. Get understanding. Forget not.
Neither did it decline from the words of my mouth. Now, Christ
is the one that's speaking. Christ is wisdom. Christ is the
Word. Christ is the Son of the Father.
And as I said, the Father, through the Holy Spirit, taught Him as
a child. Go to Psalm 45. I want to show you this. when talking about the Spirit
in the feminine as a type of a mother. In Psalm 45, look at
this, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, our Mother. We're
born of the Spirit, aren't we? We're born of the Spirit, like
our Mother gave birth to us. We're led by the Spirit. We're
taught by the Spirit. We're raised. He's the keeper
of the house. Christ is sitting on the throne.
The Spirit leads us. He's the one who guides the house,
isn't it? In a kingdom, you have a king,
you have a queen, you have a son, don't you? And heir. Psalm 45,
look at this. This is a great psalm. My heart
is indicting a good matter, good doctrine. I speak of the things
which I've made, touching the king. This is all about the king.
Thou art fairer than the children of men. Grace is poured in thy
living. What a psalm this is. Verse 6, Thy throne, O God, is
forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a scepter of righteousness. Thou lovest righteousness and
hatest wickedness. Therefore, thy God hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellow. God the Father,
Christ is the only begotten Son, made King, like Solomon, made
King by David. Oh, we could keep reading, couldn't
we? Verse 9, King's daughters were
among thy honorable women. Who's that? That's you and me. We're the king's daughters. We're
all the weaker. King's daughters. Upon thy right
hand did stand the queen. The queen. Harken, O daughter,
consider, and climb thine ear. Forget your people, your father's
house, your earthly father. So shall the King greatly desire
thy beauty. He is thy Lord. Worship Him. The daughter of Tyre will be
there with a gift, a rich among the people. Verse 13, The King's
daughter is all glorious within. Her clothing is of wrought gold.
She will be brought into the King. But that's not our text. Isn't that wonderful? So you have the king, you have
a daughter, you have a queen, king's son, heir. Have you ever
thought about Proverbs 31, that virtuous woman? Who's that? Holy
Spirit. Holy Spirit. You read it for
yourself sometime and use that in application of the Holy Spirit. And then there's a sense in which
the church is a type of a mother. In fact, in Galatians 2, or Galatians
4.26, it says, Jerusalem, which is above, is the mother of us
all. Have you ever read that? Galatians
4.26. Listen to this in Isaiah 65. Turn quickly. Isaiah 65. The Church, and the reason I'm
saying this is because all through Proverbs 3, 4, 8, wisdom is in the feminine. She, her. Does that confuse you? No, it shouldn't. It shouldn't. Because the Holy Spirit is the
one who takes the things of Christ and shows them. And when he does
that in the context of the church, where did you learn the gospel?
Where? In the church. Look at Isaiah
65 with me. Our Lord, he, I'm sorry, Isaiah
66. Isaiah 66. The Lord honors his
church like a husband honors his wife. Look at it, verse 10. Rejoice for you with Jerusalem,
be glad with her, all you that love her. Rejoice for her with
joy, all you that mourn for her. That you may suck and be satisfied
with the breasts of her consolation. What's the milk, the breasts
of God? This is that which we get our
nourishment from. That you may milk out and be
delighted with abundance of her glory. Read on. Thus saith the
Lord, Behold, I extend peace to her like a river. The glory
of the Gentiles is like a flowing stream. Then shall ye suck, ye
shall be born upon her sides, dandled upon her knees." Where
did you learn the Gospel? In the church. And you were born
and raised there. The church doesn't give birth
to you and I. The Spirit of God does. The Word
of God is power. You understand what I'm saying.
Verse 13, as one whom his mother comforted, so will I comfort
you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You see that? This is not talking about Mary. That's what Roman Catholicism
said. Like Revelation 12, that woman that bore a child, that's
not talking about Mary. It's talking about the church.
or the Holy Spirit. No type is perfect. You can't
force things, say things, make it fit. That's the reason there
are so many types. You understand? If you try to
force it, it won't work. Alright, go back to our text.
Proverbs 4. So, look at verse 5. Let's read verses 5 through 9. Get wisdom. Whatever you get. You need Christ. Get understanding. What's understanding? People,
you can have a head knowledge and not have an understanding.
Here's what the dictionary said. Understanding is to know the
meaning. It's to know the reason. It's
to comprehend. It's to perceive. It's to know
something by experience. You can know facts and not know
God. You can believe doctrine and
not know God. But we, 1 John 5, 20 says, the
Son of God has come and given us an understanding that we might
know Him, a personal relationship with Him, like Adam knew his
wife. You don't just know about Him, you know Him. Like I was
saying about some of you, I know you, and you know me. You know
our ins and ups and downs, our ins and outs, our feelings, our
emotions, and all that. See, we've been around each other
so long, we can read each other. Faith answers to faith. Same
way with understanding, you see. You say, someone says, I believe
God is sovereign. I believe God is creator. Well,
a lot of people believe that. They don't know God. But we understand,
because the heavens declare His glory, the firmament showeth
His hand in work. Day in and day out of their speech, I'm
a sinner. Everybody, you know, may say
that. Oh, we understand what it means
to be a sinner, don't we? We understand something of God's
mercy and His grace. You understand? You understand?
Get an understanding, and only He can give us that. Verse 8,
Proverbs 4, Exalt her. She shall promote thee. She shall
bring thee to honor when thou dost embrace her. She will give
thee thine head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory shall
she deliver to thee. Oh my! He says, forsake not,
but love, exalt, embrace Christ. Now you won't be forsaken. You'll be kept. You'll be preserved. You'll be promoted. You'll be
honored. You'll be glorified with Him
when He comes. Glorify Him, and you'll be glorified
with Him. Do you understand that? Crown Him with many crowns, and
He'll give you a crown of glory when He comes. Do you understand
that when Scripture talks about a crown, it's not talking about
a literal crown? The crown of glory is salvation. In fact, it's Him. Listen to
this. I'll turn for you. He's the crown. Let me see if
I can find it. Isaiah 28. I think this is it. Christ said in John 17, He says,
I've glorified them with the glory that you gave me. I've
already glorified them. What's glory? No cry, Him. Listen to Isaiah 28, I hope this
is it. Yeah. In that day shall the Lord
of hosts be for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty unto the
residue of His people. He's a crown of glory to the
residue, to the remnant, to the refuse. off scouring of the earth. He's going to crown them with
honor and glory and life just by being with Him in glory. And listen to this. Do you know
that we are His crown? Listen to this. We are the jewels
in His crown. Isaiah 62 verse 3, listen to
this. He's talking about the Gentiles.
Thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, a royal
diadem in the hand of thy God. You'll not be forsaken anymore
or desolate. I'm going to call you Beulah.
Beulah, married. The Lord delighted in thee. He says you're His crown. He crowns His mercy. He crowns His love. He crowns
His grace. crown, a jewel in his crown.
Look what I have saved, the Lord is going to say. I and the children.
Go back to the text. It says in verse 10, Here O my
son, receive my sayings. The years of thy life shall be
many. If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you know how many
years you have. Eternal. Eternal life is what
you have, to those who hear, those who believe, those who
receive, born of God, eternal life. Verse 11, I've taught thee
in the way of wisdom. The Spirit of God, the Father,
teaches us that. The Spirit of God teaches it.
What's He teach us? The way. Christ the way. Psalm 25, you'll teach sinners
the way that he chooses. Christ is the way. He's chosen
for among the people. So he teaches us of Christ. Nothing
new here. Nothing you don't already know.
He says, I've taught thee, I've led thee in right paths, paths
of righteousness. For what? For who? For what?
His name sake. Christ is our righteousness. All paths, everything, every
path that he puts us on in this life leads us to Jesus Christ. And the paths of the Lord drop
fat in this Psalm 92. Verse 12, when thou goest, thy
steps shall not be straightened. What does that mean? It means
you'll know the way to go. You'll know the way to go. Straighten
means narrow. It means you're kind of hemmed
in, and you just don't know which way to go. Paul one time said
this. He said, I'm in a straight between two. I have a desire
to depart and be with the Lord, but to stay with you is far better. But when you go in the paths
of righteousness, when you follow Christ in the way, you'll know
where to go. Look at verse 25. Here it is. Let your eyes look
right on your eyelids straight before them. It's looking to Christ. You said
that four or five times in your prayer, John. That's what that
means. You walk following Christ the
way, You'll know how to go. Keep your eyes straight. Don't
look to the right. Don't look here. Don't look there. When
they say look here, look there. No, don't do it. Look straight
on. Like the pilgrim in Pilgrim's Progress. They kept hollering,
stay, stay, stay. His ears, fingers in his ears,
hollering, life, life, eternal life. And he went towards John
Wicket Gate. You do the same. Let nothing
deter you. And when you do, when you run
this race that's set before you, you won't stumble. You won't stumble. Spirit of
God, angels of the Lord, keep our feet, lest we dash our foot
against a stone. We will not stumble. We walk the paths of righteousness. Verse 13, take fast hold of instruction. Let her not go. Keep her. She's
there in thy life. Take fast hold. Hold fast. The word fast means tight. Hold tight. Fast hold. Have you ever held on to something
so tight? like your life depended on it. I don't know if any of you have
ever held on to a rope or something or whatever, like, you know,
your life depended on it. I have. But this is a better
illustration. When Hannah was one or two years
old, we were in a big city, Detroit, Michigan. And we were crossing
a busy street, and that's a loud, rambunctious place. It wasn't
like Ashland, Kentucky. It sure wasn't like Rocky Mountain.
And she was scared. I was, too. But I remember I
picked her up to cross that street. And, you know, I'm holding her
really tight. I do not want to let go of her.
Well, she was choking my neck. She was holding me. I said, hey,
she's holding me tight. That's all right. She was holding
me like her life depended on it. That's what it means to hold
fast. I will not let you go, Jacob
said. Now, what was my daughter's salvation? Her holding me? As I am holding her. What is your salvation? The Lord
has laid hold of you and said, I will not let you go. I will
not forsake you. Though I'm with you always, even
at the ends of the earth. You're kept by the power of God. What's the power of God? Christ. Gospel. Christ. Power of God. How do you know the Lord is holding
on to someone? And they're holding on to Him
like their life depends on it. They keep coming to hear this
gospel. Why? Our life depends on it. You understand? Hannah didn't
want me to let her down. I wasn't about to. So, we lay
hold of Him because He's laid hold of us. Our salvation is
not our whole to Him, but I tell you what, if you need Christ,
you're going to hold fast the beginning of your confidence
steadfast to the end. Yes, you are. Like your life
depends on it. This is not part-time for God's
people. This is life. Christ really is our life, the
Gospel. So he says in verse Verse 14, enter not in the path of
the wicked, go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not
by it, turn from it, pass away. They sleep not except they've
done mischief. Young people, oh my, old people,
this world is just so evil. Don't fall in with them. Their
life, verse 17, says, eat bread of wickedness, drink the wine
of violence. You live, you sustain your body
by eating and drinking. That's what the world lives on.
Sin and evil. We live on Christ. But the path
of the just. Don't you love verse 18? Isn't
that a wonderful verse? The path of the just. The just
one. The Lord Jesus Christ. or those
who have been justified by Him, is as the shining light that
shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Doesn't the gospel
get more and more clear? No, isn't your understanding
growing more and more the more you hear the gospel? Brethren,
you know, I doubt myself a lot. But I don't doubt this word,
not one bit. There's not one doubt in my mind
that this is God's Word. You need to not trust yourself. Put any confidence in yourself
at all. Doubt yourself. Be afraid of yourself. Don't
trust yourself. But I've lived going on 70 years
now, and God has never given me one reason to doubt Him. Not
one. We should trust Him completely. We can. We should. Not one of
His words have failed. Haven't they, brother? Haven't
failed. He hasn't failed me. His word hasn't failed. It's
all come to pass. So He says the path of the just
is like a shining light. A shining light. But the way
of the wicked, verse 19, is darkness. More and more perfect day. Isn't
that great? The way of the wicked is darkness. They don't know
what they're stumbling. Stumbling everything. Trip and
fall and stumble and swallow everything. They pray to the
darkness. I quote to you all the time Isaiah
8. And you need to know these verses,
but it says in Isaiah 8 real quickly. I've only been 31 minutes. And I'm going to close. But in
Isaiah 8, it says, this is like a father to the sons. Verse 11. Isaiah 8, 11. The Lord spake
thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me. My dad used
to put his hand on my shoulder. Did your dad ever do that? Put
his hand on your shoulder? Ron, you need to pay attention,
don't you? When he lays hold of you. Yes,
sir? This is what he said, he instructed
me, don't walk in the way of these people. Verse 12, tell
you not of confederacy, that is all everybody joined together.
You're all joined together in this call. Don't do it. Don't
get with them. Confederacy. Neither fear ye
their fear. Don't fear their fear, nor be
afraid. You know what you will do if
you fear their fear? You'll do what they do. The world fears
everything but God. We need to fear God and not fear
anything. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself. Let me know, understand this
now, that God is Lord of hosts. Demons, devils, things, diseases,
He's Lord over. Let Him be your fear. Let Him
be your dread. And He'll be for us sanctuary. Salvation, a stone of stumbling,
a rock of offense to both houses, and they'll stumble and fall,
verse 15, be snared and broken, but bind up the testimony, seal
the law among my disciples. Down in verse 20, to the law
and to the testimony, if they speak not according to His word,
there's no light in them. I don't care who it is. I don't
care how wise they seem. I don't care how much education
they have. I don't care if all the scientists get together.
It's a confederacy. It's a conspiracy against God.
In verse 21, they'll pass through this earth heartily, bested and
hungry. They'll come to pass. They'll
be hungry. They'll fret themselves. They'll
curse their king and their God and look upward. In verse 22, they'll look to
the earth and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish,
and they'll be driven to darkness. But the path of the just is as
a shining light, clearer and clearer, until the perfect day. What perfect day is that? Do
you know how many times the Scripture talks about that day, that day? Isaiah more than any other. Isaiah
in that day. In that day. What's that day?
When Jesus Christ comes. The day spring. So close with
this. It says in verse 20 of our text,
My son, attend to My words and climb thine ear unto My saints.
Let them not depart from thine eyes. Keep them in the midst
of thine heart. There is life unto those that
find them. Health. Health. All flesh. Some of you
love Proverbs 3. Nancy, you love Proverbs 3, don't
you? It says, Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord.
Depart from evil. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him.
He'll direct your steps. Be not wise in thine own eyes,
fear the Lord, depart from evil, be health to your navel, your
inner being, and merit to your bone. I give you good doctrine. This
is good doctrine. Wise words from our Heavenly
Father. Words of life. Words of life. Stand with me.