Wisdom, Instruction, and Understanding

Q: What does the Bible say about wisdom and understanding?

The Bible emphasizes that wisdom, instruction, and understanding are gifts from God that His people must seek. In Proverbs 23, we see an urgent call for wisdom and understanding, which are presented as precious and vital for believers. The text instructs us to 'buy the truth and sell it not,' emphasizing the importance of valuing and clinging to divine wisdom. This wisdom is not something we obtain through our own efforts or intellect; it is given by God to His people. Solomon illustrates that true wisdom enables us to see God in His sovereignty and holiness, while helping us understand our sinful nature. The contrast drawn between the righteous and the wicked reinforces the idea that wisdom is a distinguishing mark of God's elect, and it glorifies Him as the source of all truth.

Q: How do we know that God's choice to save is true?

We know that God's choice to save is true as it reveals His mercy and grace, as taught throughout Scripture. The doctrine of God's sovereign choice in salvation is thoroughly rooted in Scripture, with numerous passages affirming that it is for God's glory and purpose that some are chosen and others are passed by. For instance, Romans 9 emphasizes God's sovereignty in election, stating that He chooses whom to have mercy upon based on His will, not on human will or efforts. This truth reassures believers that their salvation rests entirely on God's grace and that it is not dependent on their merit. Moreover, the contrast presented in Proverbs shows that those who are saved have received this grace, showcasing God's mercy in making them differ from others.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to seek wisdom and instruction?

Seeking wisdom and instruction is crucial for Christians as it leads to spiritual growth and understanding of God's truth. For Christians, wisdom and instruction serve as divine tools that illuminate the path of faith and sanctification. Proverbs teaches that acquiring wisdom leads to a deeper understanding of God's character and our standing before Him. This understanding fosters humility and directs our hearts towards Christ rather than self-reliance, a key tenet of false religion. Furthermore, spiritual instruction guides believers in recognizing their sinful nature and reliance on God's redemptive work through Jesus Christ. Therefore, the pursuit of wisdom is not optional; it is essential for living a life that glorifies God and is consistent with biblical truth.

Q: What does Proverbs 23 teach us about false religion?

Proverbs 23 warns against false religion, likening it to the intoxication of wine and the seduction of a strange woman. In Proverbs 23, Solomon draws vivid metaphors to illustrate the dangers of engaging with false religion. He compares false teachings to intoxication, which results in a lack of spiritual clarity and self-control. Just as wine can deceive and lead to destruction, so too can false religious practices lead believers away from the truth and into spiritual bondage. The reference to 'the strange woman' symbolizes the allure of false religion that promises fulfillment but ultimately leads to emptiness and grief. The text invites believers to remain vigilant against such threats, calling them to seek the true wisdom that comes from God alone.

Text is found in the book of Proverbs. If you'd like to turn to Proverbs 23. Proverbs 23. I believe our Lord has given me a message for us tonight. But as I always say, if he doesn't bless it, it's in vain. But I have hope in one thing, the Lord used a donkey one time to declare his truth. That makes me feel a lot better. Even though I feel less than, I know that God is capable and able, so. Proverbs 23.

Here in our text, we have yet another contrast of the righteous and the wicked, the elect of God and those that are left to themselves. We have a contrast of those who are not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life and those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And anytime we say those things, we must always repeat afterwards, we must say, who maketh thee to differ? Because it's not you and I, that made any of this possible.

We didn't, not by our choice or our works or our prayer or anything that we have done, it was God who chose. It was God who chose to save a people. And the contrast means that God gets all the glory for those who believe. For those who believe, God gets all the glory. Unless God chooses us to give us justice, he gave Solomon wisdom, instruction, and understanding. Right now, we'll be lost. We'll be lost. Is there his to give? But thank God he is full of grace and full of mercy. And that's written how many times in scripture? He's a God. He's the God of mercy. He delights in showing mercy unto his people.

Let's read this Proverbs 23. I'm going to read 22 through the end of the chapter because it all goes together. Verse 22, nope, that's not it. Give me just a moment. I wrote it down wrong. Verse 19, hear thou my son and be wise. and guide thine heart in the way.

Be not among winebippers, among riotous eaters of flesh, for the drunkards and the gluttons shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. Hearken unto thy father that beget thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. Buy the truth and sell it not, also wisdom and instruction and understanding. Now did you see that right there? by the truth, and sell it not, also wisdom and instruction and understanding. The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.

Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bear thee shall rejoice. My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. For a whore is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pit. She also lieth in weight as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.

Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine, look not upon the wine when it is red, When it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold a strange woman, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of the mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick. They have beaten me, and I felt it not. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. Here is what I hope tonight.

If the Lord would be our teacher and the Lord would be our help, that we would see the physical side of this briefly, because there's a physical, there's physical truth to this. But I want to see the spiritual side. That's my desire tonight, that the Lord would allow us, cause us, make us. David in Psalm 119 said, teach me, O Lord, the ways of thy statutes. Cause me, make me. And that's our prayer. If he would be our teacher, I pray that he would show us the spiritual aspect of this and that we would go away rejoicing in the finished work of Christ.

He gives us our title in verse 23, by the truth and sell it not, also wisdom and instruction and understanding. I've titled the message Wisdom, Instruction, and Understanding. And this is the three reasons that God maketh his people to differ. Wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

Because we can't get wisdom, it has to be given. We can't get understanding, it has to be given. We can't get instruction because it comes from him. It all comes from Him, and He gets all the glory. First, I want us to notice the contrast of the physical, the physical application of the spiritual. But first, I want to look at the physical, and it's easy to be understood. Look at verse 26. My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

For a whore is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pit. She also lieth and waiteth for prey, and increases the transgressors among men. Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause, who hath redness of eyes, they that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine.

Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, and at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, Where is he that lieth upon the top of a mast? They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick. They have beaten me. I felt it not. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. The physical is pretty simple.

Keep away from the lust of the strange woman. and stay away from winebibbers and gluttonous people. People that have no self-control. That's what he's referring to there. I remember in false religion, if you were to even touch alcohol, it was the devil.

The alcohol is not the problem. We're the problem. What we do, it's just like a tool like anything else. What you do with it, that can be a problem. And that's what he's trying to warn his son about. And this is the physical we're talking about. He's warning, he's saying, they don't have any self-control. And this is gonna be the, it'll be the cause of your grief. Verse 35, they have stricken me. And I, I was, I was not sick. They have beaten me and I felt it not. Why? Because you've, you've spent time with these individuals and you reflected these individuals in that way.

And all it's going to do is cost us. It's going to feel, empty. He said, when will I wake up? As if it's a, um, the man's alive, but he's, he's, uh, unconscious, but he's a zombie, so to speak. And I got good points to make tonight on this. And I pray the Lord will bless it, but I gotta, we gotta really look into the first, the physical in order to really appreciate the spiritual. So just bear with me a moment. And we understand about alcohol. We understand about lust. We understand about, uh, glut, gluttony. We understand all those things.

He's telling us something that's, it's sad of those that are left to themselves because spiritually they have no hope. It's like being asleep in reality. They're dead and trespasses in sin and they don't know it. And that's why a lot of these things A lot of these things that he's mentioning here are costly to the flesh. And it's just like anything else.

If we talk about breaking a law, if I talk about speeding, and you get pulled over, you're going to get a ticket. We have a police officer here today. Going to give you a ticket if we speed. It's his job. He has to uphold the law. And so it is with whatever else Solomon is instructing us on here, in here. Then we have the spiritual aspect of it. And this is where I hope the Lord will help us see because the title of our message answers why the Lord's people are not spiritually what he's describing here. So first we have the strange woman. And second, we have the drunkard. And thirdly, we have the glutton.

But he's not just talking about lust and wine and excess and overeating and excess. That's the physical. That's the physical. If that's all he's talking about, then that's the message. We can go home. I mean, that'd be right, wouldn't it? But that's not the message.

God's word is spiritual and must be spiritually discerned. And guess who has to be the discerner of it? It's not Caleb. The Lord is the discerner of it. He's the one that gives and takes away. He's the one that teaches his people. through the foolishness of preaching. So what does he mean? What's he talking about the strange woman? And use language that some may even think offensive. I'll tell you why.

Because in the book of Revelation, Babylon is called the great whore. It represents all false religion. All false religion. Not just the Catholics. Not just this group. Not the Muslims. It represents all false religion. Completely and totally. And the Lord calls it in Revelation, the great whore, because they go after whatever their flesh desires rather than seeking after God. It represents that which is the most enticing thing unto the flesh, pleasure, popularity, and power. And the first in religion Men love religion because what it does for the flesh.

Does it not boister up pride? Does it not make us, some of us were like that. We understand what it was like in false religion. Makes us feel good about ourself for what we do. It doesn't exalt Christ. It comes with the false gospel. It points to self. It exalts and glorifies the flesh alone. The strange woman is the lie. the lie, the woman that flatters with her lips, the woman that bats her eyes, the woman that draws attention to herself away from Christ, away from Christ. It's false religion. It's false religion.

Second of all, the wine here was interesting, because I was, well, I don't have to tell you I was struggling. I mean, it's, I guess it doesn't matter. The Lord gave me the message, but the point I was making Well, what does wine have to do spiritually? Have you ever seen a charismatic church on TV?

People running around, hollering, jumping up and down, all confusion. You ever seen that before? Just complete chaos, confusion. I came out of some of that stuff. One time in service, back in false religion, I was sitting about three rows back, and I watched a man come out from the pews where the man was preaching. He walked around the entire podium, But the man came out from where he was sitting and crawled all the way to that man and started hitting him on the foot. Now what did that have to do with the Gospel? What did that have to do with Christ?

It was all just stirring of the flesh. It was all just stirring of motion. Then you have Pentecostals who say a bunch of gibberish and they call it speaking in tongues. It's not. The gift of tongues was in the ear brethren. The men could speak and the interpreter was the Spirit and men heard in their own language. They didn't speak. The men didn't speak every language the Lord did the interpreting. Do we see that? It was the gift that was given to the Apostles. What's my point?

Well, my point is, is wine makes people look and act intoxicated, does it not? Wine makes people act silly, out of their mind, crazy. Well, that's what false religion does too. People act like they don't have any sense. People will run up and down aisles. Donnie Bell said one time he jumped pews whenever he was in false religion.

That's what alcohol will do. It'll make you do things you never thought you would do before. That's what the warning is here. There's nothing more intoxicating to the flesh than whenever our pride and our eco are heightened and lifted because of what we do, the wine of the false gospel. And that's what it does. It's intoxicating to the flesh. And lastly, lastly, well first let me say this. Do you know why they act drunk? Because self-worship is demonic. Do you think the maniac at Gedera acted like he was sober? Or do you think he acted crazy? out of his mind. Is that not the same thing? It represents being intoxicated. It represents what false religion brings. How about on the mountain of Carmel, whenever Elijah told the prophets of Baal, you call upon your God, I'll call upon mine. And the one that answers by fire, he's God. Well, they called upon Baal. And what did they start doing? They cried louder and cried louder. And then they begin to cut themselves, didn't they? They acted like heathens. Why is that?

That's what false religion does. It draws attention to the flesh every time. That's what the wine represents here. That's what the rind represents here. There's nothing more addicting, nothing more enticing than the lie that you have the power to choose God.

But here's something I want to tell you that I was trying to figure out gluttony. I'm like, what are they overeating on? Knowledge. Doesn't knowledge puff up? It doesn't say where it puffs up. But most people that are gluttons, they're big around the midsection, aren't they? Why is that? Well, they eat too much. And I don't exactly know how to describe gluttony and don't think that I believe anybody here is. That's not the point.

The point that I'm making is, is this is a picture of false religion about men getting knowledge and getting knowledge and getting knowledge. And they think they're getting closer and closer to God, but all they're doing is getting farther and farther away. They're no more closer to God today than they were when they were born. And unless God gives us wisdom and knowledge and understanding, we will remain in that state. We'll remain in that state. So what maketh us to differ?

Many of us were in this mentality, weren't we? How many of you remember being this? Well, I'm all in for Jesus. I'm all in, it was all about me, wasn't it? It was all about me. I'm doing this. I'm doing that. That's the false religion that he's talking about here.

What makes us different is because God chose to do something in mercy. God chose to do something by his grace alone. God chose to do something In saving his people, he chose to elect, he chose to save, and he chose to redeem. And in doing, or he chose to regenerate. And in doing so, he gives us three glorious gifts that come through and by his gospel.

He gives us wisdom, and knowledge, and understanding. The first one's wisdom. Knowledge puffeth up, doesn't it? Scripture tells us knowledge puffeth up. But you know what wisdom does? It humbles us. It humbles us because we see Christ as he is. And we see ourself as what we are. We see Christ as high and lifted up. We see God as sovereign. We see God as holy. We see God as just and true. And we realize we have no hope in and of ourself, in and of our false religion, in and of our false God, in and of the lie, because we're hopeless. We're rendered hopeless at that point. Wisdom teaches us, reveals that we know nothing.

And we used to think we knew everything, didn't we? You ever remember that? Some of you are nodding your head. I remember thinking I knew, I had it all figured out. And in reality, I just knew more than the person beside of me or another person. And that was enough for me. As long as I knew more than so-and-so, I really knew a lot.

You know what the Lord said? You know nothing. Paul said, I've determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. See the simplicity? How simple is that? It takes all those other things that we were talking about in Paul's religion, it just makes them silly. Why? Because Christ is simple. Christ is simple.

How many years did you spend just going to church? How many years did you spend just going to church? Where you going? Going to church. Why are you going? Well, I gotta go to church. You're supposed to go to church, right? You're supposed to go. Just went to church. Oh yeah, I go to church.

I made Jesus my Lord. You know what wisdom teaches us? He already is Lord. And we don't come to church, we come to a person. And when we do, we are able to be at this church. We come to hear about a man. We come to hear about a savior. We come to hear about a finished work. Don't tell me about me. Don't tell me what tickles my ears. Don't tell me what feels good to my flesh because I can't trust this flesh.

I can't even, I see, I see God as he is. All powerful, all knowing. He's the alpha and the omega. I can't approach him. This is what the wisdom of God teaches his people. We see him as he's always been the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, not because I let him or made him do something. False religion has him as a puppet, a puny little puppet. No, he's the sovereign creator over all things. He's the sustainer of life.

He can do whatsoever he will. He's called the Ancient of Day in the scripture. He can't change. He can't change. Brethren, we're given repentance and faith to see him as he is and believe him and to see ourself as we are. Which brings us to the second point. Instruction. Instruction teaches us of our sin.

No, you're not a little bit bad. I'm not a little bit bad. And I'm not a lot bad. I'm not just a lot bad. I'm all the way bad. I'm all the way the sinner, the chief sinner. False religion. We were drunk. We were out of our mind. We were drunk on the idea that, well, I'm not as bad as so-and-so. I don't do that anymore. I'm not as bad as he is. I'm not as bad as she is. So I used to be this. I'm not that anymore.

That's the thoughts of false religion. That's all that that is. It's all based upon our, you know what we would do? We would justify ourself based upon our intentions, whether we got it right or not. I intended to do this, so I'm justified. But to others, it didn't matter about their intention. It mattered about what they did. We would judge them for that. We would judge their actions, weren't we? Oh, I would never live like so-and-so and do what so-and-so does. I would never make those choices or go to those places. You ever said something like that? Self-righteousness, that's what the wine of the false religion gives to the people that come there. But God doesn't say, no, you're not just living in sin, you are sin. You're not just committing trespass, you are sin.

And there's nothing you can do about it to fix it, neither can I. That's what God teaches his people. That's what the instruction of God teaches his people, that we're born in sin, shaped in iniquity, that we can't change it no matter what we do, that everything we do to try to change it makes it worse, just makes it worse. False religion is the lie, the lie that we can do something to fix it, the lie that we can get better by what we do or by what we don't do. God says it doesn't matter what you do, you're still false and full of sin. This is what the Lord instructs his people. We are born in sin, we are born cursed, we are born under the law, and in no way can our performance be good in the eyes of God. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. He said, don't look upon the wine when it's red, when it entices the flesh.

Don't look at false religion and think that's the way to go, because all it's gonna do is cause you to find yourself asleep. You're just gonna be lulled to death. You're gonna be lulled to death. And you won't even know who struck you. Isn't that what he said in the last verse? You were struck. You don't even know who struck you. And as soon as you wake up, you say, well, I gotta do that again. False religion, isn't it? That's what it is. He says, no, I'm holy and you're not.

But the good news is Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. So if I'm gonna be saved, God is gonna have to do it, not partly, because I'm not partly bad, not 99% because I'm not 99% a sinner. He's gonna have to 100% save me from the start to the finish, which is the very last thing he teaches his people God has given his people understanding.

Understanding. So we have wisdom give us repentance and faith. We understand who God was and the repentance causes us to see God, but also this instruction causes us to see our sin. And then the final point, we have understanding. You know what we understand?

Do you remember in Walsh religion, were you ever asked, do you know what the gospel is? Could you give a straightforward answer as to what the gospel was? I struggled with that back in Walsh religion. Because I would, I could kind of say it, but not say it. You know, I didn't know exactly.

I'm going to tell you, first of all, this is salvation. And then I'm going to tell you what the gospel is, plain and simple. Salvation's of the Lord. Christ is all in salvation. and salvation is all by grace for the glory of God, period. That's salvation. Gospel is that how Christ Jesus died according to the Scripture. How the Father elected a people. How Christ died according to the Scriptures. How He was buried according to the Scriptures. How He was risen again according to the Scriptures. How our sin was put away. What He actually accomplished on the cross. Not that He did something on the cross, or tried to do something, but He actually accomplished something. He saved His people from their sin.

And then in time He sends His Spirit and regenerates His people. This is the good news that saves men's soul by his spirit. He saved his people on the cross, but this is the good news that enlightens us to that glorious salvation. Do we understand that? Salvation started and ended with God. This is the instruction that God, this is the understanding that God gives his people.

He elected some people unto salvation, and others he passed by. Now the amazing part is, is he talks about hate in scripture, and he says, I hate all workers of iniquity. And he talks about Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. So what made the difference? What made the difference? Because Jacob was a liar, he was a trickster, he's a supplanter, a thief, you know, all kinds of stuff. So what made him to differ from Esau? Because truly, if you look at their lives, Esau don't seem near as bad as Jacob does.

God made the difference, period. That's it. That's all you can say. That's all I can say. We read in our call to worship, 2 Chronicles chapter one, Solomon was talking about David and he said, you've been merciful unto my father. Well, that's an understatement, isn't it? If David would have got what he deserved, we know where he would be. So how can a man that was an adulterer or murderer, a thief, all the things that David was, be called a man after God's own heart?

Well, the Lord gives knowledge that says it's not for your sake, it's for mine own names sake. This is why I'm going to do it. I'm not going to leave you to yourself in false religion. I'm not going to allow you to worship the God of the Philistines and the God of the Amorites and the Amalekites. I'm going to cause you to know that I am the Lord. I am that I am. I'm going to cause you to see who I am. I'm going to cause you to need my son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and show you that the work is finished. There's nothing else to do. There's nothing else to do.

In order for this to take place, the Lord Jesus Christ had to become a man born, the scripture says, in the likeness of sinful flesh. And everything that he did was a work unto the Father. Now, if you and I do a work, it's called iniquity. Everything he did, you know what his work was called?

Righteousness. Righteousness. And why was he working that righteousness? Because we were in him. we were in him as he was reconciling us back to God. God looked upon his son and he said, righteous, righteous, righteous. And because we were in him, he said, righteous, righteous, righteous. Every step he took, every move he made, every prayer he prayed, his people were in him.

Now we have his record. This is the knowledge that the Lord gives his people. This is all and really to separate it and call it wisdom, instruction and knowledge. It's all the same thing, isn't it? It really is. I mean, you could say you could move them around however you want to. We know that Christ, it's all these things, isn't it? Lord said, they all shall be taught of me. This isn't something that we come to the understanding of because we learn. No, this isn't knowledge that we're getting because of gluttony, right? Isn't that false religion?

No, this is the Lord saying, I'm gonna make you lie down in green pastures. I'm gonna lead you beside the still waters. I'm gonna put you at my table. I'm not just gonna feed you the crumbs that fall off of it, but Lord, I'm a dog, all I want is the crumbs. No, you're gonna sit as the king's son.

You're gonna have a covering, covering of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the gospel says. His entire life was a substitutionary work unto the Father on behalf of his people. You know why? Because we can't work the works of God. But you know what the Lord said? I've come to do thy will, O Lord. I've come to do the work. I've finished the work that thou hast given me. John 17, I've finished the work that thou hast given me. Well, that meant he worked, didn't it? And he worked unto the Father.

And everything that he did from walking, talking, his baptism. Did he need to be saved? Did he need to be saved? Did he need to be baptized for the sake of himself? He said, suffer it to be so. Why? Because we were in him. He was baptized perfectly. He was baptized perfectly looking to the Father, looking to that which God is pleased with, so that you and I, when we are baptized, we look to the exact same thing as he is. It represented his life, death, burial, and resurrection. When God was satisfied with his life, and he never was not satisfied, but when the work was finished in life, then he went to the cross. You know, the agony of the cross.

They make movies about that stuff. That's that wine we're talking about. Intoxication of seeing something and emotional stirring and all that. People get crazy whenever they drink. They drink too much. Isn't that true with false religion? People get crazy whenever they get together and they have this emotional stirring that's going on.

You wouldn't do that at Walmart. You're doing that because of the emotional stirring that we're seeing. People have plays and cantatas. We don't do that. We preach the gospel. Why? Because the latter is appealing to the flesh. That's why. All it does is praise men. It doesn't praise God.

Men portray the outward display of the cross as best they can in their imagination, but the reality is, is the suffering was internal. The suffering was the soul of the Lord Jesus Christ when that, excuse me, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, thou shalt be satisfied. And thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall bear our iniquity. in his own body upon the tree. He bore our sin in his own body upon the tree, and his precious blood washed away every bit of the bad filth that we are, every bad thought that we've ever had, everything we did in false religion as iniquity, it's gone, never happened, never happened.

You imagine how relieved Paul was whenever he learned that of the Lord after he had realized, okay, I just met God and now I'm blind, but I've just murdered all these saints that are true brothers and sisters. Talk about guilt. Talk about guilt. I would be. I would wonder if he told the same thing. To Paul that you and I can hear when the gospels preached that he told the death and told David. Fear not Paul. I've put away your sin. You shall not die. That's what he told David, wasn't it? Nathan told David that, when he had sinned with Bathsheba. That's our hope. That's our hope.

That's what this knowledge gives us, the knowledge of God that can only be given through and by him. God was satisfied with his life. God was satisfied with his death. He died in our room instead, endured the full wrath of God, satisfied justice. And when everything required for the salvation of God's elect, and I mean everything, was accomplished, he said, it is finished.

And he bowed his head and he gave up the ghost. Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. He had to let death take him. Did you know that? He gave death permission. And men believe they can do the same thing. I don't know how that's possible, but they do. But they can't, can they? How do they do that? Well, they make an agreement with death.

And with Hale, they're in agreement, the scripture said. But the Lord says, I'm gonna disannul that covenant. There's only one covenant I'm looking to, and that's the covenant of grace. I've got to be found in the covenant of grace. He has to be the doer of it.

He gave death permission to take him so that you and I would never have to die spiritually. He was buried. After that, his body was buried. He was risen again three days later. as a successful redeemer of his people, signifying that we are not going to be justified based upon what we do, but we've been justified freely by his grace. Freely. Now he's seated as a successful redeemer of God's people. He's our intercessor. He's our mediator. He's our prophet, priest, and king. He's our substitute surety. And in time, according to his will, all by his grace, he sends his spirit and power. He calls us by name and he says, fear not, I've redeemed you. I've washed you in my blood. I've sanctified and cleansed you. I've paid the price, I've put away your sin. You're mine. You're mine.

And you know what we say after that? We say fooey to the strange woman. and to the wine of false religion, and to all that poisonous food that they offer. Remember he said it's gonna bite like an asp. It's gonna have, it's gonna like a snake, poison a snake. It's poison. It's poison to the soul, false religion is. That's what it is. No longer do we desire the strange woman. No longer do we desire the lie of the false gospel. We desire Christ, and you know why? Well, no longer do we desire the gluttonous knowledge of false religion. Do you know why?

Because Christ has become our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. God hath made him unto us, our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. God has given us his wisdom, teaching us that he is God and we are not. He showed us our sin by giving us understanding. He's caused us to have his wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. Is that what it says in our text? Verse 23, buy the truth and sell it not. Also, wisdom, instruction, and understanding. That's what God teaches his people.

Now, real quick, in closing, I wanna say this. I was going to say something about buy the truth. But I didn't write it down, because I knew this was going to take a while. This has been a lot of information. And you know, I normally, it's hard to simplify everything sometimes. I pray the Lord has blessed it. But how can you buy the truth? It's not for sale. It's not for sale. Ho, everyone that thirsteth. Come, let him buy. come by without money and without price. Why? Because it's been paid for.

The Lord has given his truth to his people. What is truth? That's what Pilate said when the Lord told him, I came to fulfill the truth. He said, well, what is truth? That's the last time Pilate ever talked to Christ. Didn't have a clue who he's talking to. But if you go back just a little ways, you'd find out who the truth is. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man come to the Father, but by me.

And if we're in him, we have the truth. We have his wisdom. We have his instruction. We have his knowledge. And he gets all the glory. And the Lord's people love it that way. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are so thankful that this is all by your amazing grace. Cause us to believe and understand your truth. Blessed to our understanding for your glory in Christ's name. Amen. Closing, let's turn

Wisdom, Instruction, and Understanding

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about wisdom and understanding?

How do we know that God's choice to save is true?

Why is it important for Christians to seek wisdom and instruction?

What does Proverbs 23 teach us about false religion?

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About Caleb Hickman

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Wisdom, Instruction, and Understanding

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about wisdom and understanding?

How do we know that God's choice to save is true?

Why is it important for Christians to seek wisdom and instruction?

What does Proverbs 23 teach us about false religion?

Sermon Transcript

About Caleb Hickman

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