Well, it's certainly good to
be with you again. I'll never forget our visit here
last year and seeing the beautiful scenery here, but especially
meeting with our brothers and sisters in Christ here in Oregon. And it's cooler here. So in South
Georgia, it's been like 100, 101, 102. But I'm so thankful. the fellowship that I've had
with Brother Norm and Sister Nancy and all of you, Craig and
Evelyn, Cynthia, good to see you again, Lauren and Chris and
all of you. I'm so thankful that the Lord
has brought us together in love and in truth. And I do want to
thank you for your hospitality. It means a lot. I want to bring
a message tonight entitled, Christ, the Wisdom of God. If you read
and take some time, I don't have time to go through all 36 verses
here, but take some time and read the whole chapter here in
Proverbs. It's wisdom personified. Speaks of wisdom crying out here
in verse 1. And Christ is the personification,
the embodiment of God's wisdom. So when you read these words,
think of Christ. The wisdom of God is fulfilled
and revealed in the glorious person and in the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. all of it determined by God in
the eternal covenant of grace made before the world began.
And it speaks of that down in here, talking about wisdom with
God before anything ever was. Well, Christ, the summation is
this, Christ himself, his person, his finished work, his redemptive
work, is the very wisdom of God, the summation. the embodiment
of the wisdom of God. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 and verse 30 that all sinners saved by grace are in
Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom. And then
it says this wisdom consists of righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. And the reason that God has set
it up this way, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
or he that boasteth, Let him glory in the Lord. And that's
one thing, when God reveals this wisdom to us, we find that we
don't have a thing to boast in in ourselves. It's all in Christ.
And look at verse 1, it says, Doth not wisdom cry, and understanding
put forth her voice? Wisdom cries out or proclaims
and preaches the gospel. the good news of salvation by
the grace of God, which directs sinners in the way of peace,
peace with God, acceptance with God, eternal happiness, all the
blessings and benefits of God's grace. And it cries out. The
truth of God is not hidden in some secret code, but now it
must be revealed by God. These are things that man by
nature does not understand. But here we see how Christ boldly
puts forth His voice of knowledge so that all whom God has chosen,
all whom Christ redeemed may hear and understand the wisdom
of God in Christ. His wisdom to save sinners by
His grace so as to honor His justice and His mercy. And that's
what this wisdom is all about. This wisdom you notice here in
verse 1 is connected with understanding. And it's an understanding that
God gives His people through the gospel and the power of the
Holy Spirit. This understanding is not natural to us. This wisdom
is not natural to us. The Bible says, the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he
know them, for they're spiritually discerned. So if we have this
wisdom, it's a gift from God, it's a revelation from God. But
it comes with understanding. And it's an understanding that
God gives. In 1 John 5, I believe it is, it says, and we know that
the Son of God has come and have given us an understanding. Understanding
what? That we may know Him that is
true, the true and living God, and that we are in Him that is
true, even His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life, 1 John 5, 20. So it comes with an understanding
that God gives. And then look at verses, let
me read verses two through four. She standeth in the top of high
places, this is wisdom, this is Christ, by the way in the
places of the paths, she cries at the gates, at the entry of
the city, at the coming in at the doors, unto you, O men, I
call, and my voice is to the sons of men. This wisdom is preached
out, revealed by God everywhere to his people wherever they are.
Everywhere, all over the world. God has a people that he chose
before the foundation of the world, out of every tribe and
nation, and he's going to call them out. And notice how he calls
us sons of man. That's our fallen state. We're born into this, we fell
an atom into the state of sin and death, born into this world
spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. God calls us out and
how does he call us out? By the preaching of the gospel
and the power of the Spirit. The gospel is the power of God
and the salvation to everyone that believe it to the Jew first
and the Greek also for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith that is from knowledge revealed to knowledge
received by God given faith for it's written the just shall live
by faith. So this gospel is a beautiful
message of God's wisdom and God's glory. And it has no boundaries. It goes wherever God sends it.
And it's heard by those whom God gives a new heart, this understanding
heart. That's a gift from God. That's
not the natural heart. The natural heart's deceitful
above all else. Wicked, who can know it? But
God says to His people, I'll give you a new spirit, a new
heart, a new mind, new understanding. That's what the heart is, the
mind, the affections, the will, the conscience. And He reveals
Himself. But look at verses 5 and 6. He
says, O ye simple. Now that's a good description
of us by nature. We're simpletons. When it comes
to salvation, when it comes to a right relationship with God,
We're just ignorant, we're in the dark, we're blind, we're
simpletons. And he says, oh ye simple, understand
wisdom. It reminds me of the call of
God in Isaiah chapter one in verse 18, when he says, come
now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. and that reasoning
has to be upon the foundation of God's truth revealed. It's
not human reasoning. It's not human rationale. We
do reason with God, but we reason on his terms, on his truth as
he reveals it to us. So he says back here, he says,
oh ye simple, understand wisdom, and you fools, again, that's
what we are by nature, He says, be ye of an understanding heart.
Here, for I will speak of excellent things. Every time this gospel
is preached, every time the word of God is preached, we're speaking
of excellent things, things that excel anything that we can have
or find here on this earth. This is heavenly wisdom. This
is the treasure. that cannot be valued. It's above everything. It's excellent
things. And he says, and the opening
of my lips shall be right things. Things that are right as considered
by God. Not necessarily considered by
man, because by nature we call good evil and evil good. But
God, he speaks right things. in Christ, righteous things,
things that are just and true. And the gospel of God's grace
in Christ is the wisdom of God in a mystery. And the simple-minded, unregenerate
people cannot figure it out. Look over with me at 1 Corinthians
chapter two. The first part of this chapter
is telling us that this excellent message of God's grace This,
as Paul said, Jesus Christ and Him crucified, the glorious person,
the finished work of Christ, is something, it's a message,
it's a wisdom that has never entered the minds of men, even
the best of men, the noblest, the smartest. And that's what
he says here. He says, verse six of 1 Corinthians
2, we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, talking about
those who are complete in Christ, yet not the wisdom of this world,
nor of the princes of this world that come to naught, come to
nothing. He says, but we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery. That's something that must be
revealed to us by God. And he says, even the hidden
wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which
none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. This is wisdom
that we don't have by nature. But he says in verse nine, as
it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him. Hadn't even entered our mind.
This is, again, it's not natural to us. But now this is wisdom
of God that's revealed, the highest wisdom. Think about this. The
highest wisdom is to know how God, how God, in justice and
in mercy, can save sinners like us. That's the highest wisdom. How God can be just and justify
the ungodly, and it's based upon that which God freely gives us. He says, look here in verse 10
of 1 Corinthians 2. But God hath revealed them unto
us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the
deep things of God. And that's not some kind of a
notion of some deep theological concept. The deep things of God,
it's just the gospel. How much deeper can you go? And
then he says in verse 11, what man knoweth the things of a man
save the spirit of a man which is in him. In other words, all
we can know is what we know by nature. If God left us to ourselves,
we wouldn't understand or know any of this wisdom. Even so,
the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. Only
God knows himself and reveals himself to us. But look at verse
12. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but
the spirit which is of God, that we may know the things that are
what? Freely given to us of God. And what are those things that
are freely given to us? All the blessings, all the benefits
of salvation, given to us because of the glorious person and the
finished work of Christ. And these are things that God
reveals to us. So God speaks right things, things
agreeable to righteousness, to justice, his mercy consistent
with his justice and manifesting the glory and honor of all the
attributes of God. Think about it. In Christ, in
Christ crucified, risen from the dead, we see every attribute
of God manifested, honored, working consistently together for one
purpose, and that's the glory of God in the salvation of sinners. There's no higher knowledge.
There's no greater wisdom. Now consider how the wisdom and
glory of God is accomplished and revealed in the salvation
of God's people, sinners, by His grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want you to turn to to
a passage, turn to Proverbs chapter 17. And what I want to do is I just
want to take a moment to show how God's wisdom is such an excellent
thing that is so high and far above what the natural man can
conceive. And I want to show you this because
of perversions of this notion of how God justifies the ungodly. And look at Proverbs 17, 15.
Now it says here, he that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth
the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord. Do you
see that? And what he's saying here is
this, men in human courts cannot do either. They cannot justify
the wicked. They cannot condemn the just
without perverting the law and justice of God. But here's the point. To save
His people from sin, to save His chosen people, God the Father,
now listen, here's what He did. He condemned and punished His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, unto death for the sins of His chosen
people. Who is Jesus Christ? He's the
holy, perfect, sinless, and impeccable, impeccable Son of God. That means
He cannot sin. It was impossible for him to
be a sinner or to commit sin. He knew no sin. He did no sin. And Peter wrote this in 1 Peter
3, verse 18, that Christ died the just for the unjust. Now here's the question. How
could God do this and not be an abomination to himself? If
he that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just
are an abomination to God, How could God condemn His holy, perfect,
sinless Son and not be an abomination to Himself? But hold that thought. Now in
salvation, God the Father forgives His people of all our sins and
He declares us to be righteous in His sight. Well, who are we? We're sinners. We're sinners
who deserve and have earned nothing but God's wrath and death and
hell. That's who we are. Paul wrote
this, that God is the one who justifies the ungodly. Romans 4 and verse 5. Well, how
could God do that and not be an abomination to Himself? How
can He justify a sinner like me and like you? and not be an
abomination to himself? For example, did God just ignore
and set aside his justice and truth? Well, the answer is no. God cannot deny himself. He must
be just. Yes, he's a merciful God. Yes,
he's a loving God. Yes, he's a gracious God. He's
God our Savior, but he's also just, and he cannot deny or pervert
his justice in order to save us. Can God elevate His love
and mercy and grace above His truth and holiness? No. No. Turn to Isaiah chapter 45. This
is a passage of scripture here that the Lord used, I say it
this way, to get my attention. When I was in Ashland, Kentucky
listening to Brother Henry Mahan, he preached a message from this. And it answers the question,
how God could rightly and justly condemn His Son, the perfect
God-man, and how He could justify us, sinners, and not be an abomination
to Himself. And it says here, look at verse
20 of Isaiah 45. It says, Assemble yourselves,
come and draw near together, you that are escaped of the nations,
They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image
and pray unto a God that cannot save. Tell ye and bring them
near, yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this
from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord, and there is no God else beside me? Now
God's going to describe his holiness here, his uniqueness. And here's
how he identifies himself, a just God, and a Savior, both. A righteous judge and a loving,
gracious Savior. And he says, there's none beside
me. And then he says in verse 22, look unto me and be ye saved.
Look unto who? This just God and a Savior, all
the ends of the earth, for I'm God and there's none else. So
how can all this be? Now this is a question. You go
back into the Old Testament like the book of Job. How many times
does that question pose? How can a man be just with God? How can a man be right with God?
A sinful man. How can a man be just with God? And how can God be just and justify
sinners? How is that possible? Well, I
want you to go with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Now this is a passage. that has been worked over. I believe it's been confused,
convoluted by so many preachers. But this shows us the wisdom
and glory of God in Christ. It's like this. You read that
passage in Proverbs. It says that he that condemns
the just and he that justifies the wicked is an abomination
to God. And some preachers will conclude,
we'll see there, man cannot do that, therefore God can't do
it. God cannot do that because he would be an abomination to
himself. And they'll say things like,
well, God has to make you, he has to make Christ sin before
he can charge him or impute sin to him. or that God has to make
us righteous before he can impute or charge righteousness to us.
Because they put men, what they're doing, let me, they're pulling
God down on the level of men. And they say, well, because that's
true for us, well, it's true for God too. Now that's human
reasoning. That's sinful reasoning. How
can God justify the ungodly? How can he condemn His Son and
not be an abomination. Well, here's what I say. Behold
the wisdom and glory of God. And it's revealed in the gospel.
And here's how it happens. Look at verse 18 of 2 Corinthians
5. The Apostle Paul writing, of all things in the new creation,
all things in salvation are of God. God is the source. of justification. And he says,
God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. Now there's your key right there.
God reconciles his people to himself by Jesus Christ and hath
given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Now, what Paul's doing, he's
reminding the Corinthian believers of what the ministry of reconciliation
is all about. This is what we as a church are
all about. It's the Gospel. It's Christ. And he says in verse
19, here it is, to wit, namely, that God was in Christ, you know
the Bible says, in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. God was in Christ, engaged Himself, Father, Son, and Spirit. Engaged His glory in Christ. Reconciling the world unto himself,
now we know that's the world of his people, that's God's elect
all over the world. And listen to what he says. Not
imputing their trespasses unto them. Not charging them with
their sin. This is how God does it. This
is the wisdom and glory of God. This non-imputation of sin. You know, David said back in
Psalm 32, he said, Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
not iniquity. We're sinners. But the Bible
says, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God that justifies. God does not charge us with sin.
Well, who did He charge them to? What did He do with them? He couldn't just sweep them under
the rug. He couldn't just deny that they're there, pretend that
it didn't exist. Well, before the foundation of
the world, wisdom was set up in Christ. And Christ, God chose
a people and gave them to Christ, and Christ was made their surety. He's the surety of the covenant.
And what is a surety? One who takes responsibility
for the debt of another. And that's what Christ did. That's
who God charged, accounted, credited, The sins, the sin debt of his
people to Christ. And because of that, Christ had
to become incarnate. The Word made flesh, dwelt among
us. See the wisdom of God in this?
He had to be made of a woman, made under the law, meaning that
he became accountable to keep the law and to satisfy the justice
of God to redeem them that were under the law. He had to pay
the redemption price. Why? How could God do that to
his son who was holy and harmless and undefiled? It's all based
upon the sins of his people imputed to him. God did not make him to be a
sinner. And people say this, let's go
on and I'll get to that, but look in verse 20. He says, now then we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. Now verse 21 is showing
the ground upon which God is reconciled to His people, sinners,
and the ground upon which sinners are reconciled to God. And what
is that ground? Verse 21, For He hath made Him
to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. Now there's the wisdom of God.
How was Christ made sin? Boy, have you heard anything
about that lately? You can't even get away from
it. And people say, well now that word made, and they go into
definitions of the word made that are so confusing, so humanistic,
so irrational and convoluted. That word made, the most common
translation of it in the New Testament is one little word,
one little verb called do, D-O. And the word made here, in and
of itself, does not tell us how Christ was made sin. I heard
a fellow define it this way, he said, that word made means
that he was made in some mysterious way that cannot be defined. No, that's not what that word
made means. All it's simply saying in that
word made there is this is something that God did. You didn't do it,
I didn't do it, God did it. And the only way you can find
out how Christ was made sin is by the context. And what does
the context say? Well, look back up at verse 19.
There it tells you. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. That's
how Christ was made sin. He didn't impute the sins to
us. He didn't charge it to us. He didn't credit it to us. He
charged it to His Son. And that's the only way that
Christ was made sin. And then it goes on in verse
20 when it says, that we might be made. That's a different word.
And what that refers to is the outcome, the result. Here's something
God did. Here's the result of it. Christ
was made sin. He who knew no sin, here's the
outcome, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
In him. Now how are we made the righteousness
of God? God didn't make us righteous
within and then impute righteousness to us. He made us the righteousness
of God in him by imputation. And those who preach it any other
way, I'll tell you exactly what they're doing. They're sucking
all the glory. and all the wisdom of God out
of the gospel. That's what they're trying to
do. That's what it is. That's the wisdom of God. The
glory of God. Look back at Proverbs chapter
8. Listen to this. He says in verse 7, For my mouth
shall speak truth. Now we all want to speak truth.
Every man who stands behind a pulpit wants to speak truth. Well, listen
to the Word of God. Don't go off on a tangent. Don't
deny the context of these words. That's what they're doing. And
he says, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the
words of my mouth are in righteousness. They're right, they're just.
There is nothing froward or perverse in them. They are all plain to
him that understandeth. If God gives us an understanding,
these things are plain to us. It's very simple. I had a fellow
ask me one time, we were talking about this verse in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. And he said, well, are you saying
that salvation is no more than imputed sin and imputed righteousness?
I said, no. Because sin was imputed to Christ,
He had to become incarnate. He had to suffer. He had to keep
the law. He had to bleed. He had to die.
He had to redeem us from our sins by His death on the cross. He had to be buried. He had to
be raised again. But how could God be just in
doing that to His Holy Son? One ground, imputed sin. Our
sins imputed to Him. And in our salvation, we have
to be born again by the Spirit. We have to be kept and preserved
by the Spirit of God through His Word. We have to be brought
unto glory. We have to be changed, given
a new heart, new mind, new spirit, all of that. But what's the ground
of that? How can God give us all that
and still be just? Through the righteousness of
Christ imputed to us. And that's plain. There's nothing
confused about that to those whom God has given an understanding. That's what verse nine means.
They're all plain to him that understandeth. Well, who are
those who understand? Those whom God has given life
from the dead in the new birth. Those whom God has given knowledge.
He said they'll teach, God will teach us. and write to them that
find knowledge. How do we find knowledge? God
gives it to us. This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou
hast sent. And so he says in verse 10, receive my instruction. Receive God's instruction. And
not silver and knowledge rather than gold, for wisdom is better
than rubies. Do you realize how valuable this
wisdom is, this wisdom of God? and to understand it, and to
know it, receive it, not like silver, and knowledge rather
than choice, gold. We all know something about what
silver and gold is worth, and how we look at that on this earth,
but it's nothing to be compared to this wisdom of God. And I'll
tell you what, it breaks my heart when I see people going away
from this, especially people who before preached the right
way. And then they change and they
go another way. And they remove that which is
the wisdom and glory of God in Christ. It's sad. But that's what's happening.
Well, you know, as this chapter goes on, and like I said, I don't
have time to go through it all. But look over at verse 27 of
this chapter. Again, this is Christ speaking.
When He prepared the heavens, this is God, I was there. This wisdom is eternal. It's older than the earth. And
it hasn't changed. He says, when He set a compass
upon the face of the depths, when He established the clouds
above, when it strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he
gave to the sea his decree that the water should not pass his
commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth,
then I was by him, as one brought up with him, as the Christ, the
Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, co-equal with
the Father and the Spirit, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing
always before him, rejoicing in the habitable part of the
earth, and my delights were with the sons of men, his chosen. Now therefore hearken unto me,
O ye children, for blessed are they that keep my ways." And
what are his ways? What's his word? It's his grace.
Walking in the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
Hear instruction and be wise. Refuse it not. Blessed is the
man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at
the post of my doors. For whoso findeth me, findeth
life. I think about that passage over
in 2 Timothy where Paul told Timothy about the scriptures
that are able to make you wise unto salvation. Well, how can
that be? Only as the scriptures and the
power of the Holy Spirit lead us to Christ. You know, the Pharisees
studied their Bibles, what scriptures they had. They were seeking salvation,
seeking eternal life, seeking wisdom. Remember what Christ
told them. He said, they are they which
testify of me. You think you have eternal life,
but they are they which testify of me. But whoso findeth me,
this wisdom in Christ, findeth life and shall obtain favor with
the Lord. But he that sinneth against me
wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death."
You understand that, you know, Christ is the one and the only
way of salvation, of being right with God, being accepted with
God. He said that, I'm the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. If God ever reveals this to us, He makes us wise
unto salvation. And we see the wisdom and glory
of God. The God who justifies the ungodly. The God who saves sinners by
His grace through Christ in a way that honors His justice, honors
His truth. honors His righteousness as well
as His love and His grace and His mercy. You know how love
in the Bible, the love of God to His people is connected with
what the Bible calls propitiation? Hearing His love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the what?
The propitiation for our sins. You know what that word propitiation
means? It means just to satisfy the sin bearing sacrifice that
brings justification, that brings salvation. And it's connected
with that wisdom and understanding which comes from God only in
Christ.