I'm gonna ask you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31. I have truly prayed and asked the Lord to give me some understanding in this passage I think about that truth set forth by our Lord. He said you have not because you ask not. Ask and it will be given to you. And I truly ask that the Lord might be pleased to give us some understanding tonight. Proverbs 31 verse 21-22.

It is speaking of the bride of Christ, the church. She is not afraid of the snow for her household. For all her house are clothed with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry. Her clothing is silk and purple. Now, as just a quick reminder of what we had previously looked at in this precious book, I want us to just look for a moment at the bride again in her labor.

Now, this is what this last chapter of the book of Proverbs, Proverbs 31, this is what this chapter is about. It's talking about the work of the bride, the work of the church. It's the work, not for salvation, but because of it. Without the Lord, we can do nothing. But the bride, the church, the assembly of the beloved, of the Lord Jesus Christ is set forth in this last chapter concerning what the bride is doing in this world today, what the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, the last time I looked at 19 and 20, and it says in 19 and 20, And she had been talking about, I won't go over everything, I don't have time, but she's going to be making a garment. She's making a garment. Remember she had gathered the yarn, the flax, the wool. She gathered these things and she starts to make the thread, the fabric, that she's going to make a garment. But it's the Lord himself. that is working in the bride, and it's written such that she's doing it, but we know that faithful is he that calleth you who shall also do it. Somebody said, well, Marvin's up here preaching.

Yeah, yeah, frail creature of dust, scared about making a mistake, about misquoting about saying something that I don't, you know, don't you, Neil? You're scared to, you're scared. And here I am and I'm standing here and I think to myself, this is the way that God calls out his people. I'm standing in a pulpit on behalf of the Lord God himself as a spokesman. I'm a repeater, is all I'm doing. I'm just telling you what God has said and struggling with it. A battle is going on. I told you a couple of weeks ago, it made me think of this battle that's going on.

I sit here and study and study and read over and change. and mark out, and do it again, then go to another passage that I didn't think I was going to go to, and then struggle whether or not I'm doing the right one there, looking the words up, and then coming and trying to preach, realizing that the eternal soul of men and women is the necessity of them hearing what God has to say. So here I am, I'm gonna try to just stay consistent to the scriptures.

And that couple of weeks ago, in the making of this garment, 19, it says, she layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor, yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. Now, she layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. Now, while these words may seem strange concerning the work of the ministry, we need to remember something. Now, that right there, what I just read, that she layeth her hands to the spindle, her hands to the distaff.

Now, it's written such that it's a parable. I don't have a spindle here tonight, a real spindle, so it's an illustration about something. She's weaving a garment that is made by the Lord using the frail creature of a human being doing something. It pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And here is this parable that we're talking about. It's a woman making a garment. And it's a parable. Matthew 13. I love the remembrance. Matthew 13, 33 to 35. How the Lord taught. Matthew 13, 33, 35.

Another parable spake he unto them the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables and without a parable spake he not unto them. that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

So here we see that this is a woman. It's a bride. It's a bride of Christ. We're talking about the woman, the beloved of the Lord, the church, the bride. And the Spirit of God is telling a story here. But it's a heavenly story with an earthly subject matter, this woman. So here's the, in this passage that we had just looked at about this verse 19, 20, she layeth her hands to the spindle, her hands hold the distaff. The heavenly truth is this. God Almighty has an elect bride that he's eternally loved and chosen. out of this world.

And he's surely going to call them. He's going to call them. He's going to call his people. But he's going to tell us what he's doing in a story. And the eyes of God's sheep are going to be enlightened. It's not going to be just a story to them. It's not going to be a fairy tale to them. This is truth. This is the way God does something.

Isn't it marvelous how the eternal God speaks to us like little kids so that we can understand something? I'm so ignorant. I just, I don't, I don't understand. You got to keep it very simple for me. So here, here it is. The Lord himself has got an elect people. He's going to call them through this illustration of a woman making This garment. Now, here's the thing.

Humanly speaking, if someone desires to weave a garment, if, you know, if you want to make something out of it, now, what you've got to do is you've got to take and use the adequate tools I dare say I don't know anything about weaving. I don't know how to, I don't know what Glenda will tell me about a slip stitch. I have no earthly idea. If you told me, show me how to do a slip stitch. I just heard her say that word the other day. I don't know what that is. I have no idea what it is. But obviously it has something to do with sewing. I'm assuming that.

But here's a woman and she's going to make this garment And the tools, according to the parable, is that she's going to use a spindle. I had to look and find out what a spindle does. It holds the yarn. That's what a spindle does. I know that. Holds the yarn. And it has a distaff. Now, you people that have done this before, you know what it is. I'll tell everybody else so we'll all get on the same page here. What a disc staff does is it secures the unspun fibers, keeping them untangled. I thought, well, that's neat. But you're going to have to have the right tools to do that. You can't just do it if you don't have the right tools or the skill. You could hand me a spindle and a disc staff, I could look at it, but I don't know what to do with it.

But this woman, this weaver, she, in this parable, uses what is necessary to weave, and she's got the skill to do it. Now, we've been blessed to know, because we know that this parable is about how the Lord is going to call out his people. And he's going to tell us in this parable. We've been blessed to know the desire of the Lord that's going to use the church, the bride, to call out his people. And he's going to tell us about how she does it through this story.

But here's what the purpose, the love, the desire of the Lord Jesus Christ is. the one that's going to use this bride who is in our parable here, this woman. Here's what his desire is. John 4, 34. Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. So I know this, the Lord is going to call his people out of darkness. He's going to call them and just like this woman that's going to make this garment and she's going to use this staff and this spindle, she's going to be using the right tools to accomplish the work.

The spirit has been to reveal unto God's people the right, if I can say this, I've thought about this so many times, I thought, can I say that in another way that makes it more spiritual? And I don't know how, but you'll know what I'm talking about. What is the right means? What is the right tool, if I can say it that way, that God has been pleased to use?

She's gonna make a garment and use a spindle and a distaff. The Lord is going to call out his people. He's got a, he's got a will and a purpose. And what is he going to, what is the tool that he's going to use to do what he's illustrating in that parable? What is his means? His way is, what is it? Well, I can tell you what it is. It is the preaching of the gospel. This is how. God is gonna call his people out. He does it one way. He does it one way. One way. Only one way. This is what Paul the Apostle says.

1 Corinthians 1.18. He said, for the preaching of the cross. Now that doesn't mean that he's preaching that there was actually a crucifixion. Everybody and their brother knows that. What was accomplished at the cross? What was accomplished at the cross? That's what.

God had an elect. And Christ at the cross bore all of their sins. And Christ put all of their debt away at the cross, on the cross. He didn't die to make salvation possible. He said, I lay down my life for the sheep. So what happened at the cross? The Lord Jesus Christ, bearing all the guilt of all the elect, went to the cross under the judgment of God. He was made sin. And being made sin, where sin was found, what happened? God forsook him. You said, now wait a minute. No, you wait a minute. My God, my God. Why hast thou forsaken me? You know what the answer is? Because you're holy. You're holy.

So here's what this woman does. This woman in our parable, she's going to take these tools. She's making this garment in the accomplishment of her purpose. purpose being in reality, the calling out of God's sheep, the saving of God's sheep. And here's what the scripture says concerning her work. Verse 19 again. This is the bride. This is the church. This is the believers.

She layeth her hands to the spindle and her hands hold the distaff. She is serious. She's serious about what she's doing. She grasped hold of the only tools that's going to be adequate to accomplish the purpose that she wants to do. She didn't go there with some other tools that's not going to get the job. She needed a spindle and a disc staff to be able to weave.

And whenever God Almighty is ready to call out his people, he's going to use one means, one means. This is it. He's going to send preachers. He's going to send a preacher. that he'd been pleased to call, teach the gospel, give him a gift to preach it, give him some understanding of it, and he's going to put him wherever he wants him. That's what he does.

So this woman in this parable, being a picture of the bride, the Christ, what is she doing? She grasped hold of that tool that she grabs, she lays hold. of the spindle and that distaff. And what she does in verse 20 says, she stretcheth out her hand to the poor. Yea, she reaches forth her hands to the needy.

Every person born in Adam needs to hear the gospel because they are poor in spirit. They're poor in spirit. They're lost. They're dead. They're, you know. But man by nature doesn't know it. He doesn't know it. He doesn't, you know, before the Lord was pleased to reveal himself to me, I needed salvation. I thought I had already attained it because I had decided for Jesus, you know, and gave my heart to him, taught his sons to do class, played a little basketball, you know. Went on camping trips, doing all kinds, you know, stuff. And I thought I was doing something for the Lord. I was just really, you know. This woman right here, she stretcheth out her hands to the poor. She reacheth her hands to the needy. Now, she reaches her hands to the poor and to the needy. How many in this world are poor and needy? Everybody, every, there's none that doeth good, not one, not one.

So when I come here to preach the gospel, Charles Spurgeon said this to somebody. He said, well, if you believe in that election, why don't you just preach to the elect? And Mr. Spurgeon said, well, if you'll point them out to me and tell me who they are, then I'll put an E on their head and I'll just preach to them. I won't preach to anybody, but I don't know who they are. I don't know who they are. I have no earthly idea.

Mr. Spurgeon told his class one day, he was teaching, he said, when he comes in to teach young boys, I've told you this before, he said, I salute them all. Greetings to you men. Greetings to you men. Because I don't know if one of these young fellas is coming up, sitting around, just wondering whether or not he's hearing anything, that God might raise him up one day to preach the gospel.

I don't know who they are. I don't know. I know God's got an elect. I just don't know who they are. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to preach to everybody. And I'm going to tell everybody, hear the word of the Lord. And if God gives them ears to hear, they'll hear. And if he doesn't, they won't. If he gives them a heart to believe, they'll come back, they'll listen. If he doesn't, they won't. But it's not my responsibility to decide who's the elect. I don't know who they are.

What does this woman do? She stretches out her hand to the poor, yet she reaches forth her hands to the needy. The poor spiritually and the needy spiritually need to hear, but she doesn't know who they are. So she preaches to them. She reaches her hands out to them.

And whoever the Lord has been pleased to say, they're going to hear. They're going to hear. My sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. So I don't know who the Lord's going to call. But you know what I say? I say just exactly what the Spirit of God says. Whosoever will. Let him come. Somebody will say, well, now wait a minute, you're offering that, you know, that making free will to be. No, I tell you what I'm doing. I'm quoting what the Spirit of God said. Whosoever will. Every man by nature won't. But if God gives a man, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. So whosoever will.

If God given your heart to come, come. I tell everybody, whoever hears this word, hears my voice, come to Christ. Okay, concerning this woman, these first two verses I read, and I'll try to be quick here. She's not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet She maketh herself coverings of tapestry. Her clothing is silk and purple. Now, the heart of understanding, and I honestly, I promise you this, I've told you, she's not afraid of the snow for her household.

So now, to get that understanding, I want you to take your Bibles, and turn to Psalm 68. Psalm 68. Psalm 68. I'd like to read, I think the first, I'm gonna read 14 verses, but I'm gonna just break it down in a little section, make a couple of comments, and we're gonna go on.

What I wanna know is what is being said when the bride is not afraid of the snow. I've thought on that, and I can think of all kinds of things. Well, you know, she's not afraid of the snow. She's not afraid of slipping down. She's not afraid of the cold. She's not afraid, but that's not what it means. So what do we do? What do you do when you don't know what it means?

Look it up. Look it up. Now look at verses one to eight. in Psalm 68. Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered. Let them also that hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad, Let them rejoice before God, yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. Sing unto God, sing praises to his name. Extol him that writeth upon the heavens by him, by his name. And that word right there is pronounced Yah. It just has a kind of Hebrew sound, doesn't it? Yah. and rejoice before him. A father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows is God in his holy habitation. God said, the solitary in families, he bringeth out those which are bound with chains, but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

Oh God, When thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness, Selah, the earth shook. The heavens also dropped at the presence of God. Even Sinai was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. So can we read these words that we just read and fail to see the immeasurable power and glory of the Lord Jesus to conquer all of the enemies of his people, spiritual enemies, physical enemies that are the world, death, Satan, false religion, as smoke is dispelled by the movement of the hand and wax is melted under the heat of fire. God Almighty, by the word of his power, is gonna just cast him away.

So let us be glad that he'd been pleased to show mercy to some frail creatures of the dust, being a father to all who have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, those that were orphaned by transgression against him, even when his people knew him not. Triumphantly, he went before his people as they were in the wilderness of sin and unbelief, very shaking of the foundations of this world, this world of rebellion. God shook them, that this world Satan's not going to stand against God or his people. Now I know that. Now knowing what I just said, knowing that God is marvelously powerful, indescribably powerful, and he's going to shake this world in the calling out of his people.

He's going to have his own. Let everybody fear him. Listen, listen, now that I've told you what it said, I just want to read it again. Let God arise. Let his enemies be scattered. Let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive away. As wax melted before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

But let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God. Let them exceedingly rejoice. Sing unto God sing praises unto his name, extol him, writeth upon the heavens by his name, Yah, and rejoice before him. A father of the fatherless, a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. God setteth solitary in families. He bringeth out those which are bound with chains. But the rebellious dwell under dry land. O God, when thou winneth forth, before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness, see law, or stop and meditate on what we just heard.

The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God, even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. And then in the next few verses, verses nine to 12, I'm gonna tell you what it means, and then I'm gonna read it to you. I'll tell you what I'm about to read, verses 9 to 12. Here's what I'm about to read.

It's that he was pleased to send the plentiful rain of the blessing of the showers of his glorious gospel. He was pleased, you know, let there be showers of blessing. Let the Lord send the showers of his blessing, the truth of the gospel. Let it be preached. through God's messengers, the messengers of his choosing. That's what I'm about to read. Now, now that you know what I'm going to read and what it means, look at verses 9 to 12.

Thou, O God, didst send plentiful rain. Thereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance when it was wearied. Thy congregation hath dwelt therein. Thou, O God, hast prepared thy goodness for the poor. The Lord gave a word. Great was the company of those that published it. Kings of armies did flee apace, or they spaced themselves out, what that word means. And she that tarried at home divided the spoils.

So God, he's God of people. He's going to call them. He's going to call them out of darkness. He's going to call them by preaching of the gospel. He's going to shower His people with the showers of blessings. And then in the next two verses, verse 13, 14, this is what, again, I'm going to tell you what it's saying. I'll give you the description. Then we'll read it. Verse 13, 14. Here's what it says. It says, and though all of God's elect were found to be, whenever they were born in Adam, though all of God's people were found to be foolishly Relaxing is what there's a word that I'm going to read in just a minute.

They were just lounging. They were just spiritually, they just didn't care. They just didn't care. It just didn't matter. They were relaxing among the pots. I'm going to use that word in just a minute. And that word pots, right, means, it means the doubtful. Those that just doubt. Can these things truly be so?

Those that are covered with the rubbish of idolatry, living with no love for Christ, they shall all be brought to themselves, those of God's elect, they're going to be brought to themselves in regenerating grace. And they're not going to be afraid of being cast off or wiped as you would wipe away snow. They're not gonna be afraid of that. They're not gonna be afraid of being wiped away by the hand of God. They're not gonna be fearful of that.

Now that I've just told you what it means, listen to what God says. Verse 13, 14. It says, thou, no, though, though we have lain among the pots, though we have just lounged among the doubtful, That's what an unbeliever does. He just goes to church and he just lounges and he just, you know, it's just a club. It's just a game. I've been there. I know what it is. It's just, you know, he's laying among the pots. He's just relaxed among the doubtful.

Though we have lain among the pots, yet shall you be as wings of a dove covered with silver and your feathers with yellow gold. When the Almighty scattered kings in it, God's going to scatter those that think themselves to be kings, that think themselves to be something. When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Samaria, in Salmon. When God Almighty is pleased to execute justice and judgment, he's gonna be wiping clean, just like you just brush off snow.

I kept looking at that, trying to figure out what was it about the bride that she had, and this is where I'll have to go back to, turn with me back to Proverbs, Proverbs again. And we'll get the meaning of this and I'm done. God's gonna wipe away. He's just gonna wipe away. He's just gonna be like those that are seated high and mighty, just lounging and just laying around. They don't really care. Here's what's gonna happen. 13, 14, I'm sorry, Proverbs 31, 21.

She's not afraid of the snow for her household. For her household is clothed with scarlet. She's not afraid. She maketh herself a covering of tapestry. Her clothing is silk and purple. Back in 68, here's what it says. Verse 13, you've lain among the pots. You'll be as wings of a dove covered with silver, her feathers yellow gold. When the Almighty scattereth kings, It shall be white as snow. That's back in Psalm 68. Well, that was the meaning of it. God's gonna just wipe it.

All those that have lain in rebellion against God, been as the pox, just the doubtful, God's gonna wipe them out. But for the bride, back in Proverbs 31, but for the bride, she's not afraid of the snow. She's not afraid of the snow that's going to be wiped away. She's not going to be afraid. She knows what's going to happen to the pots, to the doubters, to the despisers of His Word. She knows what's going to happen. And whenever God Almighty wipes them, they're going to be wiped clean. He's going to wipe them out.

But the scripture says that for this bride, she's not afraid of the snow. Why? Well, because, verse 22, In Proverbs 31, she maketh herself, not that she made it, she was the recipient of it. She was the recipient of this clothing. She maketh herself clothings of tapestry. Her clothing is silk and purple. You know why? The bride of Christ knows herself to be what she is by nature. She knows the scripture says that when God comes through, he's going to wipe away. He's going to, like you'd wipe away snow. God's going to wipe them out in judgment. He's going to cast them into everlasting hell. But for the bride, the one that knows that she's just exactly like everybody was is by nature.

But because God was pleased to show mercy to her and knows that he rescued her, out of the bondage of sin and death and rebellion gave her a new heart. She's not afraid of the snow. She's not afraid of God's judgment. Her judgment has already been executed and born by the Lord Jesus Christ when he put away her guilt at Calvary. And now here she is. She's clothed in the royal robes of majesty. purple, linen, beauty. She's robed in the righteousness of Christ, and there she rests. I pray that God blesses to our hearts for Christ's sake.