Wisdom crieth without. She uttereth
her voice in the streets. She crieth in the chief place
of concourse, in the openings of the gates. In the city she
uttereth her words, saying, How long, you simple ones? who love
where ye love simplicity, and the scorners delight in their
scorning, and fools hate knowledge. Turn ye in my reproof. Behold,
I will pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make known my words
unto you. Because I have called, and ye
refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded. But ye have said it not, all
my counsel, and would none of my reproof. I also will laugh
at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh,
when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then
shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall
seek me early, but they shall not find me. For they hated knowledge,
and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of
my counsel. They despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat the
fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity
of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me
shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil." Our Father, in the blessed, blessed,
blessed, blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ, That wisdom,
oh, that wisdom of God. Lord, as we read these words,
we're struck at how gracious and compassionate and long-suffering
you are. And yet there's an end to your
patience and your grace and your long-suffering. And Lord, give
us wisdom to understand your Word wisdom to seek you out and
look to you for everything. Father, I thank you for Bill
and Fran. Thank you for what you've done
for them and how you've healed his body and he'll soon be home.
Thank you for what you've done for Brad and Pam. And Lord Jesus,
others among us are tried and have heavy hearts, have troubles
in their homes, maybe troubles with their finances, troubles
with their health. Lord, You know every home. You
know every heart. And Lord God, You know how to
meet the need. Lord, Your eyes run through and
through on the face of this earth. You behold everything. You see
everything. You know everything. And Lord,
You've promised and You said You'd be our surety. And You'd
take care of us and preserve us. Keep us and cause us to stand. Keep us from falling. Present
us flawless. And Lord, we take it Your Word.
We believe Your Word. And Lord, we have that faith.
That faith, that's the evidence of things not seen. And Lord,
there's things we haven't seen, but faith gives evidence to it,
gives proof to it. And so Lord, we in faith look
to You. Look for that blessed hope we
have in our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless Your Word tonight.
Have mercy upon our children, on our grandchildren, on our
great-grandchildren. Oh Lord, have mercy, mercy, mercy. And have mercy upon me and do
it for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. The title of my message this
evening is Wisdom's Cry and Justice's Reaction. Wisdom's Cry and Justice's
Reaction. Now we've read so far up to this
point that what wisdom requires and what wisdom gives. First
thing, wisdom requires, back over here in verse 7, wisdom
requires the fear of the Lord. This is what wisdom gives us,
it's the fear of the Lord. That's just the beginning of
knowledge. And then it tells us to heed His Word, to understand. Burke back up there in verse
5. To understand the proverb, the interpretation, the words
of the wise and the dark-sighted. And he said in verse 5, a wise
man will hear and will increase in learning. That's what wisdom
brings to us. And we heed His Word. And it
tells us, you know, my son, hear your father's instructions. Give
heed to your mother's law. Hang them right about your neck.
So we're to respect our parents. Listen to what they teach us
and instruct us and their words And don't heed he said my son
heed not those that entice you and draw you away evil communications
corrupt good manners those who entice you away from God entice
you away to sin and Then Solomon brings us back Brings us back
here to wisdom the theme of Proverbs wisdom and here he addresses
wisdom as a woman and Now we know that our Lord Jesus Christ
is the wisdom of God. And this is in the margin. If
you got a marginal Bible, there in verse 20 where it says wisdom,
in the margin it says wisdoms. This is excellent wisdom. Wisdoms
is plural here. That means that all wisdom. Every
kind of wisdom. Every type of wisdom. All the
wisdom that God would require that you need is found in our
Lord Jesus Christ. And all wisdom. Wisdom here is
a person. And I'll tell you why I know
it's a person. First of all, she cries and then you turn around
and then he says, I'll pour out my spirit unto you. I'll make
you know my words. I've called and you refused.
There's a person talking here. And it goes from wisdom, and
wisdom we know is our Lord Jesus Christ. He said He is the power
and the very wisdom of God. It's Christ talking here. And
all the treasures, God's got treasures of wisdom. God's got
treasures of knowledge. And the treasures of His wisdom,
the wealth of His wisdom, the wealth of His knowledge dwells
in our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it says. And you
remember when our Lord Jesus Christ stood and cried on that
last day, that great day of the feast, He said, If any man's
thirsty, let him come to Me. And I'll give him to drink. And
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. and by which
he spake of the Holy Spirit that had not yet been given. And so,
he is the wisdom of God. And look over here in Proverbs
8. Look at Proverbs 8. Here's another illustration. Here's another thing showing
us. And that's why our Lord says, you know, greater than Solomon
is here. It says here in verse 8, chapter 8 and verse 1, Doeth
not wisdom cry? I mean, she hollers at you, she
gets your attention. An understanding put forth her
voice. She stands in the top of the
high places by the way of the places of the past. She cries
at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at
the doors. Under you, O men, I call, and
my voice is to the sons of men. Oh, you simple understand wisdom,
and you fools be of an understanding heart. So wisdom, And I'll tell
you one verse over there, I can't tell you where it's at, but it
says, in all you get it, get wisdom. In all you get it, get
wisdom. And that's what he said here,
and wisdom cries without. Now let's look at wisdom's plea.
Look here at wisdom's plea in verse 20 through 21. Wisdom cries
without. That means she cries in public
places. She's out. She's not in a private
place. Wisdom's not in a private place.
Wisdom's in the public place. Wisdom's outside. It's in a place
where people are. Wisdom goes where people are.
And she's crying without. And she utters, she's out in
the streets. And she utters her voice in the streets. And I tell you, you know, where
she utters her places as she cries out in the streets is your
wisdom's crying all the time. All the time. Wisdom, God, Christ
is speaking all the time. Speaking in His creation. Speaking
in the gospel. Speaking in all the providences
of God that He orders for people in this life. When people automatically
get in trouble, the first thing they start doing is calling on
God. But where do they get the wisdom
to know God? How are they going to know God? Just because they
get in trouble and turn to Him. And that's why she said she cries
in the streets. She used to be heard everywhere.
And then look what it says, she cries in the chief place in the
concourse. And you know what the chief place
is? That's where all the people that somebody gathers. She goes
to the highest place in the city, to where all the people are in
the city, where people are milling about in the city, and she cries
out, listen to me! Hear me! I'm going to tell you
about something. I'm going to tell you about God.
I'm going to tell you about Christ. I'm going to tell you about sin.
I'm going to tell you about how God can be judged and justified.
I'm going to tell you how God in eternity planned and purposed
to pay the people. And oh, listen. And then she
goes into the city. She's always out in the public. God did not do this thing in
a corner. And she's crying out in the city.
And she utters her words. Oh, listen, she gathers where
people are. And God in the gospel and in
His Word and in His people and in His providence and in His
creation. Oh, how He speaks. How can anybody
not see spring come and not believe in, see something about the wisdom
of God? When a brand new baby is born
and it lives, how could you not see the wisdom of God? And see
the compassion of God? A friend of mine got hit with a
baseball the other day. Had to carry him up to Boston.
He had to carry him to the hospital. He was at a baseball game, got
hit with a foul ball. They put stitches in his mouth
and out of his mouth. His face all swelled up like
pins. He said today, now this happened
four or five days ago. Last Thursday, I think it was.
And today, you know what he says? He said, now that I've got my
mind back and I'm straightened out, he said, I want to know
one thing. He said, why me? Why me? And somebody said to
him, why not you? Why not you? And that's what,
it seems wisdom, instead of saying, well, of all the places it could
have been, it could have missed, at least it hit me, didn't hit
a little kid. Didn't hit an old, old man and knock him out or
kill him. At least it hit me. But that's not the way, that's
what wisdom would say. But simple, he's going to say,
why me? Why God let that happen to me?
I'm such a good person. But oh, listen, then look what
she says. She goes into the openings in
verse 21. She goes into the openings of the gates. Do you remember
where all the chief men in the cities, Job, set at the gate?
Absalom sat at the gate. People sat at the gate. When
people come in, there's the men who govern the city. There's
the people who sat there in the place to see what's going on
and help people that's in need. At the gates of the city. And
she stands at the gates of the city. People going in and out.
Listen to me. Listen to me. Wisdom cries out. Wisdom cries out. She utters
His words. And wisdom isn't hidden, but
it speaks to those who listen. I'll tell you some people it
was hidden to, and we'll see that later. It was hidden to
the prince of this world, for had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. That's where wisdom came
into this earth. And men, they scorned and they
ridiculed, and they took the Son of God and crucified Him.
Because wisdom was hidden to them. And oh, look here, Wisdom
addresses three kinds of people. She addresses three kinds of
people. There in verse 22. How long, you simple ones, will
you love simplicity? And oh, this is the thing, how
long? That's what the question, how long? Will you simple ones? And that word simple means that
they're easily led. That means they're naive. They
just don't want to use their brain. They don't want to use
the initiative. They don't want to use what they've got. Everything
is just simple to them and they don't want to get anything complicated
whatsoever. And wisdom and God and salvation
and sin and Christ would confuse them. And oh, he said, how long you
simple ones? You're naive. People can lead
you here and lead you there. And then he says, and then the
second person she mentions says, and the scorners delight in their
scornings. How long, you scorners, will
you delight in your scornings? You know what a scorner is? A
scorner is somebody who ridicules other people, makes a mock out
of them, makes fun of them. They delight in scorning people. They bought God. I heard us the
other day that 80% of the scientists in this world, 80% of the scientists
in this world, and this is how it started out, that people in
religion are some of the dumbest people, shallowest people, than
the world because 80% of the scientists in this world, the
smartest people in the world don't believe in God so that
makes the rest of us fools. Now that's scorning. They're
ridiculing God, they're ridiculing Christ, they're ridiculing you,
they're ridiculing God's word, they're scorning it. And our
Lord Jesus, when He went in to raise Gerias' daughter, and He
said, she's not dead, she just sleeps. And even Peter and John
and James, they laughed Him to scorn. They went to laughing.
Oh Lord, you just don't know anything. That's the stupidest
thing I ever heard. Until He raised her by the hand, raised
her up. And oh, listen. We're scorned by the world. How many times if somebody tells
you you know, I just can't I just can't I just can't believe the
way y'all believe I just can't get to get the way y'all believe
I just can't believe that God would choose somebody and elect
somebody if Christ only died for his people I can't believe
that I cannot believe that we don't have a choice and we don't
have a will we don't have a power And they scorn and ridicule the
truth when they see it I And then he look what else he
says, now he talks about the delight in scorners and look
what else and then the fool. He said, and you fools, how long
you simple ones, how long you scorners and how long you fools
hate knowledge. Hate knowledge and that word,
hate the fools there, hate knowledge means that they're hardened.
They're hard to the point where they even hate that which is
good. Look down here in verse 29 of
chapter 1. It says, for they that hated knowledge. Hated it. Hated knowledge. And here they
are. It's what it says. They hate knowledge. Not just
any knowledge. They hate this wisdom of God.
They hate the wisdom that God speaks of. The wisdom that cries
out. The wisdom that cuts some sense
to it. The wisdom that'll save a man's
soul. A wisdom that'll make Christ
known. A wisdom that'll make God known.
A wisdom that'll open your eyes and make the Bible something
you never ever knew existed before. But they hate that which is good.
And boy, I tell you what, they hate the knowledge of which sins
pointed out. And they hate the fact when you
talk about their lost condition. And let me show you, keep this
and look at Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. Look in Ephesians 4 with me here
and see what happens. Here's some people. You know,
our Lord Jesus Christ over in, I believe it's Mark. Mark chapter
4 and verse 6, but it may not be. But anywhere there it says
that our Lord Jesus Christ, He was angry at them for their hardness
of heart. Men's hardness of heart. And
they hate knowledge. They hate knowledge. They don't
want to know anything about God. They want to know about the world.
They want to know about politics. They want to know about how to
make a lot of money. They want to know how to go on
the internet and find out every whip stitch of a thing that you
peel or anything you can take to make you feel better. And
if they got somebody tell you, you know, they got this supplement,
that supplement, somebody else, you know, if you take this vitamin,
that vitamin, eat this many carrots and eat that many broccolis and
eat this and that, they got wisdom enough to go do that. But boy,
tell them about sin! That they don't have any interest
in God? My own children say that. My own children say that. They
say, one of these days, one of these days, one of these days,
One of these days ain't going to come. Wisdom keeps saying
you need to come hear the Gospel. They keep saying one of these
days, one of these days. There's going to be a day when
there ain't going to be another day. For all of us. And oh, look what
He said here in Ephesians 4, in verse 15, 6-17. 17, Ephesians 4, 17. This I say therefore and testify
in the Lord. We're talking about hardness
of heart, hating knowledge. Walk not as other Gentiles walk
in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened. being alienated from the life
of God. Now listen to this. Through the
ignorance that's in them, because of the blindness, and you look
in the margin, it says, because of the hardness of their hearts. Who being past feeling, they
don't even feel anymore. They don't feel truth. They don't
feel wisdom. They're not touched by the things
of God. They're not touched by the things
of Christ. Their conscience is only alive
to this world. who being past feeling have given
themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with
greediness. So all wisdom, she's addressed
three people. Three people. And all back over
here now in verse 23. Look what he says now. So listen.
Wisdom. She cried out. Listen to me. She went everywhere. Everywhere
where people gathered and cried out about her wisdom. And God
sent the gospel all over this world. all over this world and
then listen to wisdom what she says now listen to what Christ
says now oh listen and that's the point listen to wisdom that's
what she said turn you at my reproof and I'll pour my spirit
unto you and I'll make known my words unto you that's what
wisdom will do that's what Christ will do He says, you turn. Turn at her rebuke. Turn at her
warnings. And that word turn means to repent. Turn. You listen. You turn, simple
ones, this way. You squatters turn this way.
You fools turn this way. And listen to wisdom. And you
know what she said? I'll pour out my spirit upon
you. I'll pour my spirit on you. The
Holy Spirit will come and be poured out on you. And listen
to this. And this is the most amazing thing. I'll make known
my words to you. Huh? I'll tell you something. The Word of God is a closed book.
Until our Lord Jesus Christ in wisdom opens it up to you. And
makes His Word known. That's why He's given His own
disciples. He opened their understanding. And I tell you, He's the only
one who by the Holy Spirit can make His words known. And He
says, you turn and you listen to Me. And you follow Me. And you pay attention to what
I'm saying. And I'll put My Spirit on you. And I'll give you understanding
of My Word. Oh my! You see, we don't need
a new revelation. We just need the Spirit of God
to be the teacher. And that's why she says, how
long, how long, how long? Turn, turn yourself. And I tell
you what's needed is the Spirit and the Word. But now look what
happens when you refuse. Look what happens. People think
this is a sad, sad statement. Preachers have done it. Preachers
is guilty. Preachers has got this world
in the condition it's in. It started back in the turn of
the century and back in the 50s when this Preachers started preaching
and having these big revivals that God loved everybody, Christ
died for everybody, and they started sugarcoating the gospel
and toning it down until people absolutely didn't have no concept
of God whatsoever except as somebody that they needed to wait on and
let Him do what He wanted to do. And that's why when God's
brought down to man's level, then the next thing you know
you ain't got no God you got to pay any attention to. And
this is what happens whenever men refuse the wisdom of God.
This is what happens. This is what happens when men
market Christ instead of preach Christ. This is what happens
when men come down, bring God down to man's level, still talking
about God being high and man's got to be brought up. Oh, listen, listen to what she
says now. Verse 24, because I have called and you refused. God called. How did He call? Called by His
Word. Called by His providence and
all the things He said to you in your life. Called by His preachers. Called men by their conscience. And I called. I called. And look
what He said. And you refused. You said, I don't want to hear
it. I don't want to hear it. Don't want to hear it. How many people do you know said,
I'm satisfied where I'm at, just leave me alone, don't bother
me. And look what else he goes on
to say, and this is it, I stretched out my hand, and no man regarded. You know what he said over in
Romans 10, 29? God said, all the day long I
stretched forth my hands, unto a disobedient and gainsaying
people. How long can you hold out your
hands like this? After a while they had to come
down. God said I stretched them out all day long. Stretch them
out. God is stretching out his hands.
He said I stretched out my hands. and no man regarded. They said,
well, he's got his head stretched out. Bless his heart. Just walk
on by. And oh, listen. Look what else
he says here. Oh, disdained it. No importance
to him. No need of it. And then look
what he says there. This is justice speaking now.
This is God saying, this is what happens if you refuse Christ,
you refuse the gospel. You refuse the wisdom of God.
He said, you set it not, all my counsel. That word set it
not means that you counted it as nothing. And ain't that what
he says about they set Christ it not? And he says, and they
set it not. And that means you treated it
as it was nothing. All my counsel. And the scripture
says God works all things after the counsel of his own will.
He has purpose to so shall it come to pass. And here he says,
You said it's not all my counsel. All my counsel. All my will. You just... That's nothing. That's just nothing. Set it aside. And if I were to reprove you,
you'd just... Forget it. I ain't listening
to you. I don't have no more nowhere. Don't reprove me. Don't
preach to me. That's what they mean. Just don't
preach to me. God, just leave me alone. Quit
reproving me. I'm fine where I'm at. I know a couple people over the
years that every time I've seen them, they've made a mark of
religion because they know me. And they mark me. And y'all might
remember years and years ago, some fellas working on our house
was having a meeting. And I asked them both, I said,
y'all come to the meeting. And this is where most people
really regarded. I said, well, I You know, I would,
but there are just way too many hypocrites. People in church
are just so hypocritical. There are always a bunch of hypocrites.
When God gave me a little wisdom that day, I said, well, I said,
come on, one more won't make any difference. And that's the
way it is. You know, one more hypocrite
among us ain't going to make a bit of difference, is it? Listen,
you're going to have to be a heapsight better than me to not be a hypocrite. I tell
you what, I've got enough hypocrisy in me for all of us. But listen,
that's what he said. He said, my reproof will prove
me. But listen, look what happens
now. God said, I'll tell you something,
you said it not, none of my reproof. Let me show you something over
here in 2 Chronicles. And you go back to your left
to the end of Job, then there'll be Nehemiah, then there'll be
Ezra, And then there you are at the last chapter of Chronicles,
chapter 36. About three or four books to
your left. And I want you to see this. Where they set it nought,
what God does when they set His word at nought. Set His counsel
at nought. Set His wisdom at nought. Look what he says here. In verse
15, 2 Chronicles 36. And the Lord God of their fathers
sent to them by his messengers, rising up beatimes, that is continually
and carefully. and rising up B times and sending
because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling
place. Now listen to this. But they mocked the messengers
of God, despised his word, misused his prophets until the wrath
of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy. I ain't gonna do nothing to save
them. That's what he said. And that's what he said right
here, back over here in Proverbs. I'm not gonna save them. He said,
because you set my counsel, you refused my stretched out hands,
and you said everything about me, disregarded me, disdained
me, and felt I was of no importance. Look what God said, I'm going
to do. There will be no help. He said,
when you get in trouble, I'm not going to help you. I will
also laugh at your calamity. When some kind of calamity comes
your way, whenever there's a calamity, Whenever your house burns down,
whenever a tornado comes through and tears it all to pieces, whenever four or five people
in your family get killed at one time because you had no regard
for me, he said, don't ask for no help. I ain't going to give
it to you. I'm going to laugh at your calamity. That don't
sound like God love, does it? That's frightening to me. That's frightening. That's scary. And I'll mock when your fear
comes on you, when the thing that you fear comes on you. That thing that scares you to
death, that you lay awake at night and are afraid of, and
you worry about. He said, when that comes upon you, I'm going
to mock you. You've mocked me, I'm going to
mock you now. I'm going to mock you. And when your fear comes
as desolation, Ah, that's right, be not deceived,
God's not mocked. And when your fear comes as desolation,
it comes and just leaves you desolate. And it comes as a desolation,
and you feel so desolate, you feel like you can't get out from
under it. And your destruction comes as a whirlwind, just like
a tornado. And distress and anguish comes
upon you. He said, I'm not going to help
you. I'm not going to help you. Who can stand such a warning?
This is God speaking. He who has so long suffered saying
things like this. Huh? And look what else He says. Look what He says here now. He
said, then when all these things start happening to them, then
they're going to call on Me. When all but their calamity comes,
their fear comes, their desolation comes, and everything, all the
whirlwinds just taking everything away from them, Then they gonna
call on me. But I ain't gonna answer them.
They've already let me know what they think about me. They've
already know what they think about my counsel and my reproof
and my word and my wisdom. They've already made it known
to me what they think. And they'll get up early and
they'll start seeking me. But he says, you know what? They
ain't gonna find me. They ain't gonna find me. Huh? And here's why. Here's why. They hated knowledge. Then to
us, beloved, to us who know God and God's blessed us to have
some understanding of Him and His wisdom and grace in Christ,
the knowledge of God is wonderful, it's blessed, it's precious to
us. But it says here that they hated
it. They hated it. Why are you seeking
me? You hate knowledge. You hate knowledge. You hate
the knowledge of me. And look what else it said. You didn't
choose the fear of the Lord. You said, I'm not going to fear
the Lord. I'm not going to fear the Lord. My mother told me one time, she
said, why should I talk to her about fearing God? She ought
to fear the Lord. And she said, why should I fear
somebody that's so loving? And I talked to my dad when he
had a heart attack one time. I was in the hospital with him.
I tried to talk to him. He said, oh DB, DB, don't worry about
me. He said, me and Jesus got it
all worked out. God said, now it's come on you.
You call on me and I ain't fixing to hear anything you got to say. Now that would be an awful state
to be in, wouldn't it? Scary, scary, scary. For God
to forsake a man? For God to leave him alone? Oh, they didn't choose the fear of
the Lord. Why do I need to fear God? They were none of my counsel.
They despised all my reproof. Men say, I'll ignore God. I'll
ignore Christ. I'll ignore His Word. I'll ignore
His wisdom. And then this is what happens
to them. Man's sin lies at his own door. Sin And this is what
he says, they'll eat the fruit of their own way. This is the
fruit. Whatever you sow, that's what
you're going to reap. And he said here, they'll eat
the fruit of their own way. They wanted their way. They didn't
want knowledge. They didn't want wisdom. They didn't want my counsel. They didn't want my reproof.
They didn't want my rebuke. They didn't want anything to
do with me. He says now, they wanted sin. They wanted rebellion. They didn't want knowledge. They
didn't want God. They didn't want Christ. They didn't want
anything. So listen. He said, I'm going to give them
the fruit of their own ways. They love sin. Well, let them
live in sin. That's the fruit of sin. This
is the fruit of sin. By the fruit, you're going to
know. And then he says, not only will you eat the fruit of your
own ways, but look what else he says, and you'll be filled,
filled with all the devices that you figured out. and all the
ways that you figured out how to live in this world without
God, without Christ. And oh, listen, be filled with
it. Judas was. Demas was. Haman was hanged on
his own counsel. Ahab and Jezebel was. David's wise counselor, he decided
he was going to join up with Absalom. Thought he was smart. He ate the fruit of his own doings.
And then I'll tell you, I'll be done. For the turning away
of the simple, that's going to slay him. And the margin that
says the ease of the simple, that simple man wanting all the
ease that he can find. The turning away of the sinful,
that's going to slay them. It's going to end up destroying
them. It's going to kill them. And listen to this, in the prosperity,
the prosperity of fools. Prosperity of fools. When a fool
starts having some prosperity, well you know what it's going
to do to them? It's going to destroy them. But now listen
here. Listen now. Here's the safety
and security of those who believe wisdom. Take God in His Word. Believe in the wisdom of God.
She hears the voice of wisdom. But whoso hearkeneth unto me,
hearkeneth to Christ, shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from
fear of evil. Oh, safety and security. We're going to dwell safely while
God's not even listening to them. He said, you're going to dwell
safely, those who listen to wisdom, listen to Christ. And not only
that, you're going to be quiet from the fear of evil. You know
why we don't fear evil? Yea, though we walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil. You know
why? For thou art with me. That's why. We're going to be
quiet. We're just going to rest, be
still, and know that God is God. That's what we're going to do. Oh, listen to wisdom. Listen
to wisdom. Listen to Christ. Listen to what
Christ has to say. His Word. Oh my, if God would
ever do that to somebody we know and love. Oh, say those things. Our Father, blessed be Your name for allowing
us to meet here tonight, for allowing us to look into Your
Word. I thank You for it. Bless You for it. Ask for your
forgiveness of everything that's so unlike you, not only what
I do, but for what I am. And oh, Lord, tender my heart.
Please open my ears. Lord, teach me to take heed to
what I hear. Listen for the voice of Christ
in his word, in his church, in his people. Bless these dear saints of God.
Strengthen and encourage them. See your saints safely home,
those that are sick, those that are burdened. Bless the meeting
up at Brother Paul's this weekend. David and Bruce, God bless them. And Don, oh Lord, use them. And
those that travel, see them safely there and see them safely back.
Oh, to go hear the gospel, how delightful it is to be with the
children of God. Nothing like it on this earth.
God, thank you for allowing us to be numbered among the living.
In Christ's name, amen. Amen. Well, I'll see you Sunday
morning, God willing.