I want you to open your Bibles
to start with to Proverbs chapter 8. Proverbs chapter 8. Now my text this morning is in
James chapter 3 beginning at verse 13. But you turn to Proverbs
chapter 8 to start with. In James chapter 3 in verse 13,
James poses this question. He says, Who is a wise man? Who is a wise man? And that's
the title of the message this morning. You know that we could
spend days and days just going through the Bible and finding
verses of scripture that speak about wisdom from Genesis to
Revelation. If you have a concordance at
home or on your computer or something like that, just type in the word
wise or wisdom and see how many multitudes of scriptures come
up there. So obviously we don't have time
to go through all of those, but it's amazing. And what the Bible
is doing there is simply this. It's distinguishing and identifying
wisdom. from foolishness, or the wise
man from the foolish man. And so that we are all without
excuse when it comes to the revelation of what wisdom is, James asks,
who is a wise man? God's Word tells us, commands
us often to seek wisdom above all things. I mean above all
things. Let me just read you a portion
from Proverbs 4, just a few pages over from what I'm going to read
here in a minute. Proverbs chapter 4. Now you know Proverbs, many
of the Proverbs, as inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, were
written by Solomon. And it's like a father to a son,
instructing his son, advising his son. And in verse 5 of Proverbs
4, here's what he says. He says, get wisdom. Get understanding, forget it
not, neither decline from the words of my mouth." This is the
Word of God. This is where wisdom is to be
found. And then in verse 7 of that same
chapter, it says, "...wisdom is the principal thing." It's
the main thing. "...therefore get wisdom, and
with all thy getting, get understanding." Knowledge and wisdom. Seek for
her more than if you were seeking for silver and gold. That's how
important this is. Well, the first point I want
you to see in this message and that beginning of Proverbs chapter
8 is that if there is any wisdom at all concerning eternal matters,
concerning salvation, concerning glory, concerning God and man's
relationship to God, if there's any wisdom at all, that wisdom
must come from God. And that wisdom of God is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's number one. I've been
studying the book of Ecclesiastes, thinking about doing some preaching
from that. And you know, one of the terms that is common that
people know from Ecclesiastes, you know, there's several, several
passages of scripture from Ecclesiastes you'll just know from pop culture.
People have taken the words of the Bible and they made songs
out of them or they have their quaint sayings. And one of them
is there's nothing new under the sun. You've heard that that's
from Ecclesiastes. Another one is the preacher there,
Solomon, is inspired by the Holy Spirit again, talked about those
things that are under the sun. That's those things that are
on earth. So if you're going to get wisdom, you've got to
look beyond the sun. You've got to look above the
sun. And I'm not talking about geographically. I'm talking about
you've got to look to God. And all His wisdom, as Christ
is the Word of God, then all the wisdom of God is in Christ.
He is the embodiment of the wisdom of God. Proverbs 2, verse 6 says
this, for the Lord giveth wisdom. It's a gift. We don't have it
by nature. This kind of wisdom now, this
wisdom of salvation, this wisdom of eternity, this wisdom of God,
has to come from God. And it says, for the Lord giveth
wisdom, out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
So if we have any wisdom, as I say now, in matters of eternity
and salvation and spiritual things. It must come from God. And that
wisdom that God has for His people is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, in Proverbs chapter 8, I'm not going to read the whole thing
to you, but I want a good portion of it. Because you need to read
this. You need to study this. This
helps you to know the Bible. It helps you to rightly divide
the Word of Truth. It helps you to be a student
of Scripture. And that's where wisdom is. It's
in the Word of God that points you to Christ, who is the Word
of God, embodiment of the Word. Well, here, wisdom is personified,
as if wisdom herself is speaking. And what we see here, it is a
description and identification of Christ, the eternal Son of
God, who has no beginning and no end. And look at verse 22.
We'll start there. The Lord possessed me in the
beginning of his way, before his works abode." In the beginning
was God, and the Word was with God. That's Christ, this is wisdom
too. Verse 23, I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, wherever the earth was. Now what he's
talking about there, he was set up as the Redeemer of his people. God was in Christ, you see. This, the salvation, if we possess
a salvation by the grace of God, Paul wrote to Timothy, again
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in 2 Timothy 1, I believe it's
verse 8 and 9 there, where he says, this salvation was given
us in Christ Jesus, when? Before the world began. That's
why David could say before the cross, before Christ actually
came and died on the cross, that he was assured of salvation because
his salvation was a matter of a covenant that was ordered in
all things and sure. How could it be ordered in all
things and sure? Because it wasn't conditioned on David. David's
salvation wasn't conditioned on him. It was conditioned on
a surety who was to come, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he was
set up from everlasting. from the beginning, wherever
the earth was. Somebody said one time, before
there was sin, there was a Savior. And that's exactly right. And
that's the wisdom of God. Verse 24, When there were no
depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. While as yet he had not made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there. When
he set a compass upon the face of the depths, when he established
the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when
he gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass
his commandment, when he appointed the foundation of the earth,
then I was by him as one brought up with him." In other words,
equal with God, that's what that means. "...and I was daily his
delight. Remember when Christ was on earth
and he was baptized, the Father spoke, this is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him, rejoicing always before
him, rejoicing in the habitable part of this earth, and my delights
were with the sons of men. God purposed to save mankind
through a remnant according to the election of grace in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the wisdom of God. That's
Christ himself. in type, in picture, identified
and distinguished as the embodiment of the wisdom of God. Well, now
how does that work out in the message? All right, go to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. Let's see how that works out
in the message that we preach, the message of salvation. You
see, knowledge and understanding and wisdom have to be communicated
to our minds, even to the point that by the Holy Spirit it's
made effectual to our hearts. Our affections and our will,
our very inner being, our inner man, the scripture calls it.
What we really are. What you don't see on the outside. And so, he says in 1 Corinthians
1, look at verse 17. And let's read a portion of this.
He says, For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the
gospel. Now, Paul is not saying he never
baptized, obviously, he did. But he's saying that's not what
his mission was, just to, you know, it's like a lot of group
religious groups today, their success is determined by how
many they can get down an aisle, get a confession out and get
into the baptistry. And that's not what Paul's ministry, we're
here to preach the gospel. We're seeking Christ's sheep,
you see. He said, my sheep will hear my
voice. So he says, but not with wisdom of words, that is wisdom
of man's words, that's crafty words of man's wisdom. That's
what he said. I don't do it that way. He says,
lest the cross of Christ, that's his death, to put away the sins
of his people and establish righteousness in order that God might be just
to justify the ungodliness, be made of none effect. In other
words, if I inject my crafty words of man's wisdom into this
thing to get a crowd or to get people down the aisle or to get
money out of them or to do anything, then the real power of the gospel
is made of none effect. It's diluted to the point to
where it's nothing. It's nothing at all. So he says
in verse 18, for the preaching of the cross, what does that
mean? That's the preaching of the person and work of Christ,
the preaching of the death of Christ as my whole salvation,
my redemption. And he says, it's to them that
perish literally those who are perishing foolishness, but unto
us, which are saved are being saved. It is the power of God.
Remember Paul wrote in Romans 1.16, it's the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth. Have the gift of faith. He says
in verse 19, it's written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Those are people
who think they know it all. He says in verse 20, here's what
God says, where is the wise? Where is the scribe? That's the
lawyer, the one who claimed to know the scriptures. Where is
the disputer of this world? Have not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? Think about man's wisdom in things
eternal, in salvation. What is man's wisdom? Well, he
thinks he can be saved, he thinks he can be blessed, he thinks
he can be rewarded, he thinks he can be the inner glory based
on something that he does or that God does through him, something
other than the blood of Christ. And if he gives lip service to
the blood of Christ, what does he do? In his wisdom, now this
is human wisdom, what does he do? Fallen humanity, ruined Adam,
here's the wisdom. If he gives lip service to the
blood of Christ, he has to add something to it of his own. It's either baptism, you know,
a group says, well, we believe in Christ, but you have to be
baptized to be saved. That's, to God, that's foolishness.
That's man's wisdom. Or you have to do this, or you
have to jump through this hoop, or you have to keep this list
of rules, or you have to cut your hair this way, you have
to wear your hair this long, and you have to wear this and
not wear that, don't touch this, don't touch that. But touch this,
this one's okay. Just stick around, I'll tell
you how to live your life. That kind of thing, you know.
And we'll build a circle around us, and we'll leave what they
call the world out to the point to where nobody can even stand
to be around us. That's about the size of it.
Man's wisdom. They'll add the law, works of
the law, to Christ. You can't add anything to Christ
for salvation. It's His blood alone that brings
about forgiveness of sin. Anything else is man's wisdom.
To God, it's foolishness. You can't add anything to His
righteousness for your justification before God. If you do, you deny
Him. You deny Him. That's foolishness. Man calls it wisdom. Well, verse
21, for after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. When you compare the wisdom of
man to the wisdom of God, it's nothing, and the world cannot
know God by human wisdom. But listen to this now. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Now,
notice it does not say here that it pleased God by preaching foolishness. It says the foolishness of preaching,
what the world calls foolish. That's how God saves sinners,
by the preaching of Christ. Somebody says, that's all you
talk about is Christ and him crucified and risen again. Amen
to that. Write that on my tombstone. How
about that? All he preached, all he did was
exalt Christ. I hope that's my legacy. And
he says in verse 22, now the Jews require a sign. That's human
wisdom. Give me a sign. Give me a dream.
Give me a vision. Give me a sign from heaven. A
cloud. People get into the craziest
things today. I mean, I saw on the internet
one time, the guy saw the picture of Jesus in a grilled cheese
sandwich. Well, first of all, nobody knows
what Jesus looked like. And all those pictures you've
seen, put them out of your mind. How do we know who Christ is,
who the true Christ is? We know it by the Word of God,
not by a photograph, a cloud, or a vision, or a cheese sandwich. You can get on LSD and see anything
you want to see. But that's foolishness. It's
foolishness, see? The Jews require a sign. Give
me a sign. I've got to have a sign. You
know, the Bible says a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh
after a sign. Don't seek signs. Seek the Word.
Get into the Word. And he says, now the Greeks,
they seek after wisdom. Now, that's their philosophy.
Their philosophy. I was reading a cartoon. I can't
remember which one it was. It might have been Frank and
Ernest. And I can't remember, but one of them, he was going
up the mountain, and he came to the great guru on top of the
mountain, the white bearded guru, and he said, oh, oh, great guru,
have you figured out the meaning of life? And he said, well, I
think I've got it all figured out. And he said, well, what's
the answer? And he said, who knows? You know, who knows? And that's where it all comes
to, all the great philosophers. All the great writings, all the
many, many, many, many, many books. How to, what to, when
to, where to. And it does you no good as far
as a relationship with God. It may make you more money. It
may make you healthier for a little while here on this life. It may
help you to get along with your husband and your wife. And those
things are okay in their proper place, but when it comes to salvation,
when it comes to eternal life, where are you going to spend
eternity? Throw them all in the trash. It's foolishness. The preacher's making a mint
today on how to live a better life now. You know how to live
a better life now. Whether you do it or not, that's
up to you. But my friend, these are issues of eternity. This
is the wisdom of God that was set up from everlasting and will
go all the way into eternity. And look here, he says in verse
23, now the Jews require sign, the Greeks seek after their philosophy,
but we preach Christ crucified. That means he died for a purpose.
He didn't die to try to save me or to try to save you. He
died to save His people from their sins, and He got the job
done. He's a Redeemer. He's not one who's trying to
redeem. He is a Redeemer. He shed His blood as the full
payment of the sins of His people, and He drank damnation dry, and
He brought in everlasting righteousness, and God's going to bring them
all to Him. And He says, under the Jews, a stumbling block.
They trip over that, because that's not in their wisdom. That's
not in their scheme of things. You see, it's either Christ alone
or not at all. And he says, unto the Greeks,
foolishness. Well, that's foolish to tell me that the only way
that I can be saved eternally and blessed eternally and justified
eternally is by the death of a Jewish carpenter who came to
earth. And he didn't go anywhere outside
of Judea. He didn't even own a home. He's
not well-traveled, he wasn't well-schooled as far as the degrees
and the doctorates that men on earth seek their wisdom in. That wasn't his way of operating. So you're telling me that the
only way that I can be righteous before God is through the death
of a man named Jesus of Nazareth? That's foolishness! You see,
Christ didn't die as a martyr or as an example. He died as
a redeemer, a substitute, a surety, to drink damnation dry. So he
says, he says, but we preach Christ, verse 23, crucified unto
the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolish, but unto
them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power
of God, that's the dynamite of God, and the wisdom of God. You see that? He's the wisdom
of God. And why? Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Now, God has no foolishness, no weakness. These are comparative
statements. He's making a point here. And he's simply saying,
listen, listen, there's only wisdom in God. There's only power
in God, not in men. And so he says in verse 26, For
you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
worldly wise, that's who he's talking about there. And God
hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty and the base, that's the low born, things of
the world. And things which are despised
hath God chosen. Yea, things which are not to
bring to nothing, that's not nothing, things that are. Now
why did he do it that way? Why did God do it that way? Look
at verse 29. that no flesh should glory boast in his presence. You see, if you're a sinner saved
by the grace of God, you have one thing to boast in, and here's
wisdom. You boast in Christ. You boast
that God was merciful. God forbid that I should glory,
boast, same word, save, accept in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. By whom the world is crucified
unto me, that means the world is dead and cursed and dead to
me, and I'm cursed and dead to them. That's the only thing. And so he says, look here, verse
30, But of him, of God, are you in Christ Jesus, one with Christ? Who of God is made unto us? Wisdom. Christ is my wisdom. See that? And righteousness. Christ is
my righteousness. and sanctification. That means
you're set apart. He is my distinction. That's
what that really means. Some say holiness. That's the
same thing. It's okay. Holiness means to be set apart.
What sets you apart? Well, I don't do this. I don't
do that. I don't touch this. No, no, no, no. That's worldliness
now. That's what you think. That's foolishness. That's not
wisdom. Christ is my distinction. He's my hope. He's my stay. He's my all in all. And then
he says, and redemption. He's the purchase price for my
salvation and my glory that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory where? In the Lord. Now there's wisdom.
Now look at James 3. Who is a wise man? Verse 13.
Who is a wise man? What is wisdom? What is wisdom? Well, wisdom is more than knowledge.
You all, I'm sure you have known people who have very, very high
IQs but didn't have enough sense to get in and out of the ring.
You can know a lot of things and not be a wise person. Isn't
that right? Some of the smartest men that
were ever born or ever will be born on earth died in unbelief,
ungodly, God-haters, fools. That's what a fool is. A fool
is one who doesn't seek the wisdom of God in Christ through his
word. A fool is an unbeliever. You walk out of here today as
an unbeliever. You walk out, you're a walking
fool. You say, well, that sounds kind of harsh. Well, that's the
reality, you see. I mean, I could buttered up a
little bit. I don't know what I'd say you're
stupid. I don't know. But, you know, it's foolish. You're not
stupid. You see, a person who's a fool
is not a fool because they have a low IQ or they're just ignorant
in worldly matters. I mean, you might be wise in
making money. You might have a what is a gold
finger or thumb or something. I started to say green. You might
be wise in farming. You might have a green thumb.
The Midas touch, that's what I was thinking. You might be
able to do that. You might be wise in a lot of areas. But see,
wisdom, wisdom that lasts on into eternity can only be found
in Christ and God's way of salvation by grace through Him. And that's
who is a wise man here. Wisdom is not only knowing something,
but acting upon what we know to be true. James talked about
that earlier in James chapter 1. He said, don't just be a hearer
of the Word, be a doer of the Word. That's wisdom. I was under
professors who could take, listen, I had a professor in seminary
who could take a Greek Bible. You ever seen a Greek Bible?
If you don't know Greek, you can't read a Greek Bible. And
he'd take a Greek Bible and he would read from that in the King
James English just like it was written right here. Smart man. Smart man. But he told us one
time in a New Testament survey class, this is what he said.
He made this statement, I had it written down. He said, the
idea of a substitutionary human sacrifice, dying for my sins,
is repulsive to me. That's what he said. Reading
from his Greek Bible. Very smart man. Very high IQ. He was a fool. My friend, the
only way that we can be saved is through the substitutionary
death of the God-man who gave his humanity. This is my body,
which is broken for you. Isn't that what he said? This
is my blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. The soul that sinneth must die.
Either I'm going to die eternally, Damnation, eternal, or someone
who's appointed of God, someone who is able to die and bring
that justice to its fullness, or someone who's willing. And
that's Christ. And that's our only way. That's
the only way. That's the only wise way. And
you know why it's the only wise way? Because it's the only way
that God can be just and justify a sinner like me and like you.
It's the only way he can do it. He can't pervert justice. He
can't pervert holiness. He cannot pervert his truth in
order to be merciful and gracious and compassionate. God is a merciful
God. I love to preach. Every time
I preach the gospel, we preach the mercy of God and the love
of God, the grace of God. But the gospel tells us he cannot
show mercy and love and grace at the expense of his justice
and his truth. He must punish sin because he's
God. So there's only one wise way
for God to save a sinner like me, and that's through mercy
and grace only found in the embodiment of wisdom, Jesus Christ and Him
crucified, the God-man. So who is a wise man? Consider
the rich fool in Luke chapter 12. You don't have to turn there.
You remember Christ talked about him. He had a real good crop,
but his barns were already full. And he said, well, what am I
going to do? And he said, well, got it. Here's
the wisdom of man. I'll build bigger barns. I got to put that stuff somewhere.
Can't let it go. Heck, it identifies me. I mean, it's everything I am.
Got to put it somewhere. That's how come they got so many
storage places up and down. The country now, you know, but
we got so much stuff. We got to put it somewhere and
we got to pay to put it somewhere now. And that's the thing. Well, what did the Lord say?
He said, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of
thee. Now he had a lot of wisdom in accumulating stuff. But he had no wisdom at all when
it come to his soul. What is a wise man? James says
it right here. Look at verse 13. He says, Who is a wise man and
endued with knowledge among you? You've got to have knowledge
to have wisdom. You can't have wisdom without knowledge. The
prophet Hosea, he spoke of his generation. And here's what he
said. He said, My people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge, because thou hast rejected knowledge.
I will also reject thee that thou shalt be no priest to me,
seeing thou hast forgotten the word, the law of God. I will
forget thy children," he said, destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Paul wrote in Romans chapter 10 that his desire for his kinsmen
according to the flesh, Israels, that they might be saved, for
they being ignorant of God's righteousness, that is God's
way of justice, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
that is by their works. have not submitted to the righteousness
of God." What is the righteousness of God, Paul? I need to know
that, you see. You can't come to God without
knowing that. And he has to reveal it to you. And he says it in
Romans 10, verse 4, "...for Christ is the end, the fulfillment,
the finishing of the law, for righteousness to everyone that
believes." So you have to have knowledge, but real knowledge
must show itself in wisdom. You young people who are about
to get your driver's permit, You'll read that book and you'll
learn some things. You'll know some things. And
then you'll get in the car after you get your permit and you'll
learn to drive that car and you'll know how to drive that car. Now,
will you be wise when you get behind the wheel? I hope so. I hope so, else our insurance
rates go up. Unless you're paying for it.
Ha ha. But are you wise when you get
behind that wheel? You see what I'm saying? Do you
use wisdom? That's the key. You know how
to drive the car. You know how to shove the pedal
down, put the brake down, how to turn left, how to turn right.
You know all that. But are you wise when you get behind that
car? See, real knowledge has to show itself in wisdom. And
wisdom is living out of and according to that knowledge. Look at what
James says. He says, let him show out of
a good conversation. That's his walk. That's how he
acts, how a person acts. You say you believe this. Well,
do you act as if you believe it? That's what he's saying.
And this good conversation, this walk, is the fruit and effect
and evidence of God's grace. You see, do you love Christ and
His Word? Well, show that out of a good walk. And it says His
works. Those works are the works that
James had talked about in James chapter 2. Faith without works
is dead. The works are the fruit of grace.
They're not the cause of your salvation. Works cannot save
you. Works cannot redeem you. Works
cannot make you holy or righteous. Works cannot justify you. By
deeds of law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. For
by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto, not because
of, unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them." So don't be working for your salvation. That's foolishness. That's the
way of Cain. That's the way of damnation.
That's the broad road that leads to destruction. Look to Christ,
trust Him and His work, His finished work for all salvation, for all
righteousness, you see. But those who trust Him and know
Him and believe Him, they're fruit bearers. That's the best
way to put it, fruit bearers. They bear fruit unto God and
it says with meekness. Now, meekness means submission
in humility. You submit to God's Word humbly,
and that's wise. It's the meekness of wisdom.
He says in verse 14, look here, he says, but if you have bitter
envy and strife in your hearts, glory not, or boast not, and
lie not against the truth. That bitter envy and strife,
that's mean-spirited ambition. I'm going to get my way. That's
what that's talking about. And boasting that you're wise
isn't wisdom. Because this is the kind of person
who thinks they know and they see better than everyone. I see
things you don't see. I know better than you. God's
revealed things to me that he hadn't revealed to you. You better
listen to me and follow me. That kind of thing. My friend,
if they can't point to chapter and verse, don't follow. That's
just boasting in a lie. And what he's saying, they twist
the truth to make themselves sound wise. Now, that's not wisdom.
That's what he says. Lie not against the truth. That
means twisting the truth. You take the truth and you twist
it to make yourself seem wise, and it ends up being confusion.
Such false wisdom comes from a false heart. That's the place
and the motive, you see. But look at verse 15. He says,
this wisdom, this kind of ungodly wisdom, which is really foolishness,
this human wisdom, descendeth not from above. It's not from
God. It's earthly. It's sensual. That means it's
natural. Devilish. What he's saying there
is this kind of supposed wisdom is not from God, it's sinful,
it's selfish, flesh, it's natural, and it's even demonic. That's
what he means there when he says devilish. What happens here,
Satan takes advantage of the flesh that is still within us
to inspire selfishness and pride that brings about division. That's
what happens there. And that's devilish. Verse 16.
He says, for where envy and strife is, there is confusion and every
evil work. You might see, if you have a
concordance in your Bible, that word confusion means tumult.
That means trouble, like a storm. It means unquietness. It unsettles
you. And what he's talking about there
is the results that come from this worldly sinful wisdom, human
wisdom, which is in reality foolishness, You see, it's confusion in every
evil work, every worthless and vile thing. In other words, there's
no edification, there's no growth, there's no worship there. It's
just promoting self, promoting our own way. Look at verse 17. He says, but the wisdom that
is from above is first pure. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the motive here. What's the motive? that wisdom,
true godly wisdom in Christ brings. The motive is for the glory of
God and the exaltation of Christ. John the Baptist, he summarized
it like this, I must decrease, I got to get out of the way,
and Christ must increase. Christ must increase. That's
the motive. The glory of God in the salvation
of sinners, the glory of God in the edification of the church,
the building up of the church, not tearing it down, Not factioning
it off. Not taking a little group and
going over here because we don't get our way or we see it another
way. It's the glory of God. That's
the motive of wisdom. And that purity there, that's
not talking about sinless perfection. That's talking about the heart
that's purified by faith. How's the heart purified by faith?
When it looks to Christ and rests in Him. That's the pure, honest,
sincere heart. And he says in verse 17, then
peaceable, that peaceable is peace loving, peace promoting. Our Lord said in the Sermon on
the Mount, Matthew 5, 9, blessed are the peacemakers for they
shall be called the children of God. Those who actively are
engaged in making peace and not dividing. He talks about gentle
here. That's you know what that really
means to be gentle in the Bible. You know, it's not just being
a gentle soul, that's part of it. But it really means able
to endure persecution without revenge. That's what it means.
Able to endure persecution without revenge. And able to treat others
with kindness. Look on, he says, easy to be
entreated. What does that mean? That means
you're willing to yield. Not to lies now, not to error,
but to truth for the glory of God. Willing to yield. Not always
have your way. He says full of mercy. That's
concern and compassion for people who are suffering. And it also
includes forgiveness and patience with the faults and the weaknesses
of others. And then he says, and good fruits,
all good works. That's what the scripture teaches.
The fruits of righteousness, the fruits of grace, that which
God works in us by his grace through the spirit in his word.
And he says without partiality. That is, without hypocrisy, he
says, without prejudice, without pretense. Don't try to be something
you're not. And look at verse 18. He says,
The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make
peace. The fruit of righteousness, the
fruits of the grace and glory of God in Christ, will flourish
amongst those who are peacemakers. Preaching the gospel. promoting
the gospel. So who is a wise man? A wise
man is one who knows and trusts and rests in and loves and follows
Christ. That's what he is. Christ said
in Matthew 7, he says he builds his house on a rock. And when
the winds come and the rains come and beat against his house,
it won't fall. It'll stand the test. Why? Because
it's built on the rock. Who is that rock? Christ Jesus.
Christ and Him crucified, His blood and righteousness. Who
is a wise man? He's one who's been given the
knowledge of God in Christ by the Spirit through the Word.
Brother Jim read it there in Psalm 19. The law or the Word
of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the
Lord is pure, making wise the simple. Paul told Timothy, he
says, Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and been
assured, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. And that from
a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation." You know why the scriptures are
able to make you wise unto salvation? Because the scriptures point
you to Christ for all of salvation. Now, some preachers may not do
that, but the scriptures do. They point you to Christ and
Him crucified and risen again. Christ, who is our advocate,
that when we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ, the righteous. Who is the wise man? He's the
one who believes and fears the Lord. What is it to fear God? That doesn't mean to be afraid
of Him or be scared of Him. It means to worship Him. It means
to respect Him. It means to reverence Him. It's
kind of like the law of the land. And those officers who work for
us to keep the law. You ought to have a respect and
a regard for that law and those officers who do that. And you
don't have anything to be afraid of from them unless what? Unless
you break it. Then you ought to be afraid.
Well, in Christ, we've kept the law. That's right, in Christ. By His obedience unto death for
His people, all who believe in Him, we've kept the law perfectly. We've already served our time
for our crimes. Christ did that on the cross
for us. So we respect and reverence the
God of all grace. We don't have anything to fear
from Him. Psalm 111 verse 10 says this, and I'll close. It
says, "...the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A
good understanding have all they that do His commandments. His
praise endureth forever." All right.