First verse says, does not wisdom
cry and understanding put forth her wisdom? This whole chapter
is dealing with the wisdom and wisdom's instruction. And we
know that God's wisdom is the Lord Jesus Christ. God made Christ's
wisdom unto us. And he's the very wisdom of God. By him, we see how God can be
just and justifier in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then God turned
around and made Christ unto us wisdom, righteousness, redemption. And I tell you what, it's through
him we have any understanding, if we have any at all. But it
says, doth not wisdom cry? Wisdom cries out. And what it
does, it proclaims, it preaches. It preaches. And what it preaches
is the everlasting gospel, the eternal gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that gospel shows men the
way of peace, the way of acceptance, the way of eternal heaven. We
just sung that. May I reach my God, my heaven, my all. When
I reach my home, my heaven, my all. And that's what the gospel
teaches us. It teaches us that We have an
eternal place to go, and happiness, eternal happiness and eternal
joy. That's why wisdom cries. Truth doesn't whisper. Satan
comes and whispers in persons here. And the gospel don't look
out for a dark corner over here. Paul said this thing wasn't done
in a corner. But the gospel, wisdom, Christ,
truth doesn't whisper. but it puts forth its voice loudly
and wants everybody to hear it. And I'll tell you this, the gospel,
the truth of the light of our Lord Jesus Christ will stand
any test, anywhere, anytime. Yep, I'll tell you it will. It'll
stand any light or any inspection anybody gives it. It certainly
will. And I'm not ashamed, that's why
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of it. I'm not ashamed of it. And
then look at our, in verse two and three, our Lord's voice again. She standeth in the top of high
places 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.
Now he talks about, you know, speaking, crying out. Our Lord's
voice is first and foremost heard in his word. That's the first
place you hear God's Word, and hear the voice of Christ is in
His Word. You hear it from His prophets.
You hear Our Lord Jesus preach the gospel in His own person.
He looked at him and said, you know, Philip said, show us the
Father and it'll satisfy us. He said, Philip, have I been
such a long time with you and you've not seen the Father? I'm
the Father of all. If you're looking at me, you're
looking at the Father. You want to know the way? I'm the way.
You want to know the truth? I'm the truth. You want life? I've got it. And me alone. And
I tell you what, he preached the gospel in his own person
and the apostles and preachers And the gospel's supposed to
be proclaimed to all from high places. We're all high places. To all men, whether, no matter,
and you know, our Lord Jesus, he went up onto a mountain. Matthew
5, he went up onto a mountain, and he sat down on that mountain.
The disciples gathered around him, and then he preached unto
them the sermon on the mountain. He was sitting on the mountainside.
He was in a high place. And I tell you, that's what we
need to be in a high place, preach to the people in the high place.
Then it says between the paths, by the pathways. And where the roads cross, that's
what he's talking about, where the roads cross. And then at
the gates, he said at the gates, set by the gate. And that means
gates of the temple. You know, they had all the gates
into the temples and those men would gather around the temple
and preach the gospel. And it says in the city, in the
entry of the city, go in the city and preach the gospel. And
then he says, coming in at the doors, that means coming in with
a private home where people live in their own homes. And I tell
you, and then look what he says there. In verse four, oh, this
is such a blessed verse. Unto you, O men, I call. My voice is to the sons of men.
You know, when we preach the gospel, we preach it to all men. Everybody that'll listen, that's
what we're gonna preach to them. Huh? The reconciliation that's
in Christ, being reconciled to God Almighty. You know, we were
enemies. And how was we reconciled? We
didn't reconcile ourselves to God. We couldn't do that. Well,
how was reconciliation made? Through our Lord Jesus Christ
offering Himself as a sacrifice in our place. He laid, He broke
down that enmity in our hearts by the Gospel. And I tell you,
brother, and he says, you go in this redemption, the blood
shedding of our blessed Lord. And he says, you go preach to
the fallen sons of Adam, to all men. I call, I call. And I tell you, it's God that
has to call them. But we tell men, if anybody's
thirsty, let him come. In order to hear the voice of
Christ is to all the sons of Adam, all to the sons of men. If we just get an opportunity
to tell them, excuse me, then look in verse five. This is so
obvious. Oh, you simple understand wisdom
and you fools be of an understanding heart. You know, the gospel, the gospel came. Salvation came by the Lord Jesus
Christ, who's the wisdom of God. And it came in a mystery. Do
you know the Jews didn't know it when it came? We didn't know
it when it came. And it was a mystery that had
been hid from all ages. the mystery of God being made
incarnate, the mystery of Christ coming here, assuming human nature,
the mystery that he would live the sinless, holy, and perfect
life, the mystery that he would offer himself to God without
spot and without blemish. Now that was as unknown to me
and you as anything that could be unknown. And I'll tell you,
it's the highest wisdom, highest wisdom to know Christ and Him
crucified. But all men by nature, look what
he says, simple understand wisdom. Oh, you simple understand it.
You fools build an understanding heart. All men by nature are
simple and are fools. Without understanding of spiritual
truth, they don't have any understanding at all. But when Christ comes,
and Christ sets himself up in a man's heart, and Christ makes
himself known, then he gives understanding to the will and
the purpose that's revealed in Christ himself. You know, that's
why it says, you know, the Jews, the scriptures tells us that
the hidden wisdom of God, they didn't know that hidden wisdom
of God, or they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. Who's it hid from? Our Lord said,
you know, I thank the old father that's hid these things. Who's
hid? They're hid. And where in the
world are you gonna get them from? You got to get it from
the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Ain't no place else to get it.
Over in Ephesians 1, it says, He made known unto us the mystery
of His will, being predestinated according to the good pleasure
of His will. Then look what he says in verse six. Here, for
I will speak of excellent things, and the open of my lips shall
be right things. Well, when you talk about Christ,
you talk about the gospel. Tell me anything that excels
it. Tell me anything that excels
the Lord Jesus Christ. Tell me anything excels the knowledge
of knowing Christ. Tell me anything that excels,
any person that excels Christ. Any knowledge that excels Christ. Huh? Look at any covenant. Look at any laws. You tell me
anything that excels it. Huh? Oh my. And I tell you, in
knowledge and light and understanding, the gospel excels anything in
this world. And Christ does. And I tell you,
you're talking about the author. Look at the author of the gospel.
God Almighty Himself in the person of His Son. Oh my, look at the
content of it. Look at all the promises contained
in it. And then He said He speaks right
things. He said, my lips shall speak,
and my mouth is going to speak of right things. What does that
mean? What can he do? He cannot say
anything but what's right. He cannot speak the Word of God
without it being right. Oh, everything he says and everything
he did, he manifested the truth, he was the truth, he is the truth,
and he manifested the truth. Every time he opened his mouth,
it's true. And I'll tell you, this is why
the gospel is so important. And that's why it's so important
that we know the gospel, believe the gospel, know Christ, and
believe Christ, and trust Christ. And this is so important is because,
beloved, by nature, we're not that way. And you know, and if
you always stay with him, if a man starts compromising the
gospel in any way, to try to get somebody to believe it, then
he's just throwing the gospel away. You cannot compromise any
part of the gospel. You cannot compromise any part
of Christ. Nobody ever gets converted. We can't do that. We can't do
it. Our Lord, He's told the truth. He told the truth. And I tell
you, out of His mouth, truth flowed. And then look at verse
seven and eight. Again, He says, for my mouth
shall speak truth. When I open my mouth, truth's
coming out of it. Nothing but the truth of God.
And then look what else He says there. And verse seven, and wickedness
is an abomination to my lips. Wickedness is an abomination
to my lips. Oh my, you imagine what comes
out of our mouth, and the things that come out of me and mine,
how abominable it is to Christ and to the Lord. And all the
doctrines of Christ, They all come from the scriptures and
they agree with the scriptures. The scriptures agree with that.
And look what he says in verse eight. All the words of my mouth
are in righteousness. His mouth agrees with righteousness
and brings righteousness and tells the necessity of us having
a righteousness. And the righteousness has to
be not one of our own, it has to be one given to us, because
we certainly don't have one of our own. And this is the righteousness
that he's talking about now. All my mouths are in righteousness.
There's nothing froward, perverse in my tongue. You know, I was listening to a fellow the
other day, and he was preaching on progressive sanctification. And you know, I sometimes think
I need to stop. Shirley and I was going by church
the other day, and the guy's putting his signs up and all
that, and I said, I need to stop and go back and talk to that
guy. And Shirley said, well, that won't do any good. He said,
you know, all you'll do is make him mad and upset yourself too.
So, you know, but that's, But that's the truth. You know, you
can talk yourself blue in the face, and if God don't open a
man's heart, it's not going to be open. And that's why I said
a fool. All you fools build understanding. You simple minded build understanding.
Where's a fool and simple minded going to get an understanding?
He's not born with it. It's got to be given to him.
It's got to be brought to him. Then in verse nine, that I look
at this now, they're all praying to him that understandeth, and write to them the fine knowledge.
The gospel, you know what we've learned? It was just plain to
us. and right to them that found
knowledge. Everything about God, everything about his word, everything
about Christ, everything about his gospel is right and plain
to them that God gave knowledge to. We listen to him and said,
boy, and we all, every one of us has said this one time or
another. I just don't understand why they can't see it. It's so
plain, it's so plain, it's so understandable. Well, blind man can't see until he
gets light, gets sight. But oh my, that's what, you know,
once we see it, we say, why can't everybody see this? Why can't
everybody see this? Oh my. And the Bible's a sealed
book. and the gospel's foolishness
to the natural man, whether he's educated or uneducated, until
God gives him understanding. As God shined the light out of
darkness, even so he sheds the light into our hearts to give
us the understanding of the gospel and in the person of his blessed
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then look in verse 10 and
11. I believe I'm gonna make it. And I love this right here. Now
listen to this. You're talking about how Christ
excels everything. He said, receive my instruction
and not silver. Would you rather have Christ
teach you and instruct you or have money? Huh? And knowledge rather than choice
go. Oh, listen, you want me? You want me? You want my understanding? You want me? You want my relationship
with me? Well then listen, don't be going
after silver and gold because I'm more precious than any of
those things. He said our faith is more precious than gold. You
ain't find gold. That's what he said. And then
look what else he goes on to say here now. And wisdom is better
than rubies. And all the things that may be
desired are not worthy, are not to be compared to it. Now you
take Christ, the wealth and riches we have in Christ is worth more
than all the wealth that's in this world put together. Now
I'm telling you, I got a sister, And she'd, you know, and everybody
on TV all the time, buy silver from this person, buy gold from
that person. You know, if you need gold, you
can do the buy it here, and if you need silver, you can buy
it there. Now listen, one thing you can't buy with silver and
gold, you can't buy faith, you can't buy Christ, you can't find
understanding, and when you leave here, it's like that old woman
said, listen, said, She said, now listen, you put everything
I own in the casket with me, all my money in the casket with
me. She wrote a check and stuck it in there and said, there,
you got it all. So he took it with him, took
every penny of it with him, but in a check. But that's the way,
I mean, you know, we're not taking anything with us. And that's
what he said, Christ is worth more than anything in this world
that you can get your hands on. You buy a car, it wears out,
you gotta get another. You buy clothes, they wear out,
you gotta buy more. You get a haircut, you wait a
little while, you gotta get another. You buy a house, and after a
while it starts falling down on you if you don't take care
of it. And all, but listen, one thing that's eternal and one
thing that's precious and one thing we can never lose, and
that's our Lord Jesus Christ and our souls. We can't lose
that. I'm so thankful for that. I am
so thankful for that. Oh, I'll tell you, we sung that
song, when I can reach my God, my heaven, my all. That's real
to us. That's not just cliches to us.
Religious talk, that's real. That's our reality. Hmm, all
right. Look here in verse 12, and we'll
go, it's verse 12, and he says, our wisdom dwell with prudence,
and find out knowledge of witty things. You know, Colossians
said, all the treasures of the wisdom of God are in Christ,
and all the knowledge and judgment dwell with our Lord Jesus Christ. And it says, you know, and said
wisdom, and he said, and I dwell with prudence and find out knowledge.
I mean, when he finds out knowledge, what he's telling us is he knows
the heart of men. He knows their thoughts. He knows
their schemes. He knows everything that they're
up to. And then when he says, There that he'll find out knowledge
of witty inventions what he's talking about there He knows
the craftiness the subtleties of Satan and makes them things
known to his people So that they're not deceived. He said they would
deceive the very elect if it was possible But it's not possible. He said I'll let my these people
come up with witty inventions I'll let my people know when
they come up with them. I'll make them understand. That's
just a witty invention Stay away from that. And look in verse
13. This is another one. Just the
fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogancy in the evil
way in the froward mouth do I hate. You know, the fear and reverence
of God Almighty in our heart makes His people hate evil. He
said, they hate evil. The fear of the Lord is to hate
evil. You can't love righteousness and love unrighteousness at the
same time. You know, you can't love Christ
and the world. And that's what he's talking
about. And especially when it's found in themselves. Oh my. And especially when we find out,
you know, and our pride raises up and our arrogance raises up
in ourselves. And I'll tell you, look over
here in Proverbs 16, 18. Let me show you something over here. Proverbs 16, verse 18. Boy, I'll
tell you what. He makes his people to hate evil,
especially when it's found in themselves, especially pride,
being arrogant. Look what it said in verse 18.
Pride groweth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a
fowl. I can tell you two people quickly
from the scriptures that did those very things. David got
real proud and got real haughty. I'm the king, I can take anything
I want. But look what it cost him. And
Simon Peter said, Lord, I'll go with you even to death. He
was so full of pride and he was so arrogant and so convinced
how good he was and how strong he was. Lord, I'll go to prison
with you. I'll go to death with you if
I have to. He is the first one to deny. And boy, don't you know that
he grieved over that the rest of his life? Grieved over that,
and that's what he's talking about. And a froward mouth speaks
things contrary to the truth and to the gospel and the good
of the Lord's people. Now look with me in verse 14
and we'll go down to verse 16. Let's look at these together.
Counsel is mind and sound wisdom. I am understanding, I have strength. By me kings reign and princes
decree justice. By me princes rule and nobles,
even all the judges of the earth. You know, when it talks about
him being the counsel, he is the very counsel of God. In fact,
he's called the counselor, the wonderful counselor, the mighty
God. He is wisdom and he's understanding. He's the fountain of it. He's
the author and giver of understanding. And he has so much power and
so much strength and so much authority in this world that
it says here, you know by me kings reign. There's not a king
on the face of the earth that Christ didn't put up there. Whether
they're a despot, or whether they're a tyrant, or whether
they're somebody that cares for the people. And I tell you what,
and he says, by me princes decree justice, by me princes rule,
even nobles and even all the judges of the earth. There's
not a person reigning in any position in this world that Christ
didn't put there. And I mean, and I'll tell you
what, And when you look at some of the people he puts up, we
have to deal with them. We have to live by them. We have
to live in a world run by a bunch of people that Christ put on
the throne and lets them see how foolish they are. And I'll
tell you what, when we look at how foolish some of these people
are and how they don't care about anybody
but themselves and their power. And here's the thing about it.
And we have to live with that and have to live in a world like
this. And we have to honor God and
be true to Christ and bless His holy name and not be led astray
by anything in this world. I don't care who the leader is. And I tell you, I'm, oh, you
know, everything, You know it said over in Colossians, by Him
all things exist, and by Him all things consist, and He upholds
it by the word of His power. And He's raised up some awful,
awful wicked people in this world. He delivered his own people to
Babylon, and then they went in and took all the gold, and all
the gold cups, and everything that was in the temple, they
stole it all, and went over to no heathen country, and took
God's things, silver cups, and gold cups, and drank wine out
of it. Until I was a handwriting on
the wall says, wait in the bowels and found water, and I tell you,
everybody's waiting in the bowels and found water unless they're
in Christ. Huh? I mean, we got since enough to
put them in the waste and find out that they're out of balance. Then look at verse 17. Oh, here's
your wonderful verse. I love them that love me. I love
them. Ain't that something Christ said?
I love them. I love them. And those that seek me early
shall find me. Now we know our Lord loves His
people. But I tell you what, we love
those, but He loved us before we ever loved Him. And we love
Him because He loved us. And we get up and we, you know,
the only people who seek Christ, the only people who seek the
Lord Jesus Christ are those who see their need of Christ. And
they know something of the worth of Christ. They know something
of the glory of Christ. And they seek him early. And
we find him. When we seek him, we find him.
Because he's right there always for us and with us. And then
let me show you here verses 18 through 21. Riches and honor are with me.
Oh my. Yea, durable riches and righteousness. What I give you, it'll last you.
It'll last you forever. That's what he's talking about.
Riches and honor, I give it. My food is better than gold and
fine gold. My revenue is then choice silver. What I give you out of my treasure
is more than that. And he said, and I lead in the
way of righteousness. in the midst of the paths of
judgment. I mean our Lord Jesus Christ said, I lead in the way
of righteousness. I walk in the way of it, I read
in it, I live in it. And as a shepherd, he takes care
of his sheep and he leads them that way. And then look what
he says, that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance
and I'll fill their treasure. He said, I'm gonna give them
something of substance. We have substance. He gave us
substance. And then look what he says. And
I'm going to fill their treasures. I'm going to fill them up. Oh
my. We come in here and Christ fills
us with the treasures of grace and mercy, kindness, compassion,
righteousness, justification, forgiveness. And I'll tell you what, what
he gives us has substance to it. Everything in this old world
is just vain and shadowy. What we have is real. You know
people, they don't understand that. They don't understand because
they don't have faith. They don't understand faith.
They don't understand what it is to believe and actually see
Christ by faith. That's to see the glory of Christ,
the worth of Christ, the value of Christ. They don't see it. They don't understand it. But
it's substance to us. When we come in here, he gives
us substance, something to sustain us, something that has substance
to it that'll keep us. You know, we eat meals to keep
our bodies going. And most of us eat enough to
keep two or three bodies going. But anyway, we ought not do that.
But anyway, what I'm saying is we have to have substance. But
Christ, when he gives us the gospel, he gives us substance
that we can go out in the world and live by it, and make it from
one service to the next, and we look forward to coming in
there and get some more substance. Get something to hold us up,
get something to feed us. All right, let me go down here
in verse 22. I'm gonna make this, I believe
I'm gonna make it. I ain't been 30 minutes yet. Look what he
says here in verse 22. We just read this. Now this is
about Christ and His eternality. God said, the Lord possessed
me in the beginning of His ways. I was His Son before His works
of old. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, before the earth was ever made. There was
no depths, there was no depths in the earth, there was no depth
in the sea, there was no depth to the sky, I was brought forth. When there was no fountains abounding
with water, before he set the mountains and they all settled
down before the hills, I was brought forth. While he yet not
made the earth or the fields or the highest part of the dust
of the world, When he prepared the heavens, I was there with
him. When he set a circle on the face of the death, when he
established the clouds above, when he stood in the fountain
of the deep, when he said, see, this is as far as you can go
and you can't go no farther. And when he appointed the foundations
of the earth, where was I? I was right beside him. Huh? I was right beside him. I was
brought up with him. We were together. I was, and
listen to this, and I was daily his delight. Oh, he delighted
in me. Rejoicing always before him.
That's what God thought about his blessed son. Daily his delight. Rejoicing in him always before
him. And okay, let me look what he
goes on to say in verse 31. Rejoicing rejoicing in the habitable
part of his earth. Oh my, and my delight were with
the sons of men. I delighted to be able to come
and save sinners. Delighted in the sons of men.
I delight in them. And oh now listen to what he
says. Now let me wind it up here in verse 32. Now therefore hearken
unto me, O ye children. For blessed are they that keep
my ways. Oh, he said, those that heard
his voice did not with them cry out, those that heard the voice
and received my words. And that's what he says, now
hearken unto me. Where in the world shall we go if not to Christ? To whom shall we go? Oh my, for
blessed are they that keep my ways. Blessed is the man who
hears. and bows to the gospel and bows
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And blessed is the man, hear
instruction and be wise and don't refuse it. Oh my, don't refuse
the truth. Blessed is the man that heareth
me. Oh my, here's the Lord Jesus. Our Lord Jesus said, blessed
are your eyes for they see. Blessed are your ears for they
hear. For many righteous men have desired to hear and see
what you have and ain't. And that's what he says, blessed
the man who hears and waits for me, watching daily at my gates,
waiting at the post of my doors, waiting at the door for Christ,
go in and hear Christ first, to hear our teacher, to set at
his feet like Mary did. Then look what he said, whosoever
findeth me, finds life, and he'll have the grace of the Lord, he'll
have favor with God, For whoever findeth me findeth light, and
shall obtain favor. Oh, the happiness and joy of
those who know Christ, are found of Christ, and have found Christ
to be everything to them. But listen to this, but he that
sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. They that hate me,
you know what they're saying? I love dying, I love death. There's a great joy and happiness
as in us knowing Christ. And who in the world can tell
of the misery that's going to happen with those that hate Him.
That hate Him. That hate Him. Oh, there's lots
of people in this world that hate Him. They really truly do. They do. Our Father, thank You for Your
great mercy and grace in Christ. Thank You for allowing us to
speak tonight. I pray that what's been said is a blessing, encouraging,
enlightening, bringing understanding, bringing hope, bringing peace,
bringing assurance, bringing comfort. And Lord, we know and
we feel in our heart of hearts that we need you more than anything
in this world. We need our relationship with
you. We need everything you have.
and give us everything you've got. And Lord, we have everything
that we need, everything we could desire in you. And Lord, help us to walk, talk,
live, honor, and bless you while we live and while we have breath.
God bless our dear saints. God bless Daryl and Joyce, those
that are traveling. Keep these dear saints until
they can worship with us again. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen. Amen. Let's sing that wonderful
old chorus that we love so much. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Ain't that so? Ain't that so? Well, I made it. I've done it. And I'll tell you what, that's
a good thing.