Things Belonging to the Wise

Q: What does the Bible say about wisdom?

The Bible teaches that wisdom is a person, Jesus Christ, and must be revealed by God. Wisdom, as described in Proverbs 24, is essential to understanding God's ways and is revealed only by divine revelation. As stated in the sermon, wisdom is not merely a collection of knowledge or skills one can attain through effort or learning; instead, it is fundamentally found in Christ, who is the wisdom of God. The carnal mind cannot comprehend spiritual truths, indicating that true wisdom is bestowed by God alone, highlighting our utter dependency on Him for understanding and discernment.

Q: How do we know Christ is our wisdom?

Christ is identified as our wisdom through the Scriptures, demonstrating His role in our salvation and knowledge of God. In the teachings found in Scripture, particularly in 1 Corinthians 1:30, it is clear that Christ is defined as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. This means that all understanding must come through Him—He is not simply a source of wisdom but embodies wisdom itself. The sermon emphasizes that without Christ, one cannot grasp spiritual truths, and true wisdom requires faith and revelation from God, affirming the believer's reliance on Christ for knowledge and understanding.

Q: Why is grace important for Christians?

Grace is vital because it is through grace that Christians are saved, not by their own works. Grace is at the heart of the Christian faith, as outlined in Ephesians 2:8-9, which states that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works. This underscores the belief that salvation is a divine gift from God and cannot be earned through human effort. The sermon elaborates that being wise means recognizing our total dependence on God's grace, including His election, redemption, and ability to bestow wisdom. As Christians, understanding grace frees us from the burden of attempting to earn God's favor and allows us to rest confidently in Christ's completed work.

Q: What does it mean that God is no respecter of persons?

It means God's judgment is impartial; He does not favor individuals based on their status or works. The concept that God is no respecter of persons emphasizes His impartiality in judgment, meaning He evaluates all people equally without bias. This is crucial as it highlights that no amount of human effort, knowledge, or status can earn one favor with God. The sermon references Proverbs 24 to illustrate that God's view does not change based on external appearances or human achievements. Instead, it is faith in Christ that makes one accepted before Him. The notion serves as a humbling reminder that ultimately, it is God’s grace that distinguishes His elect.

Q: How does Christ fulfill the requirements of salvation?

Christ fulfills the requirements of salvation through His atoning death, serving as the only sufficient sacrifice for sin. According to Scripture, Christ's death on the cross serves as the full and complete payment for sin, satisfying divine justice and fulfilling God's demands for righteousness. This act of love demonstrated that salvation could not be achieved by human effort but wholly through Christ's sacrificial work. The sermon asserts that true believers recognize that their standing before God does not depend on personal merit but entirely on what Christ has accomplished for them. This central truth is foundational to understanding historic Reformed theology and the concept of justification by faith alone.

Q: What is the role of faith in understanding God's wisdom?

Faith is essential as it is through faith that individuals are able to grasp and receive God's wisdom. Faith plays a pivotal role in the reception of wisdom, as highlighted in the sermon from Proverbs 24. It asserts that understanding spiritual wisdom requires the illumination of the Holy Spirit, granted to believers through faith in Christ. The Scriptures emphasize that wisdom is viewed as a gift from God, and faith opens the heart and mind to this revelation. Without faith, individuals remain blinded to spiritual truths, confirming that wisdom is not merely intellectual but a divinely granted understanding that must be received with a believing heart.

Tonight I have a message for us found in the book of Proverbs chapter 24. Proverbs chapter 24, and although it may be called simple, like everything else in the living word of God, it has to be revealed by divine revelation of the Lord. If he does not reveal it, no one will see it. If he doesn't give ears to hear, no one will hear. If he doesn't give faith to believe, no one will believe.

Don't you love the utter dependency that the Lord has created for his people to have for him? And I mean, utter dependency. We don't have a little bit of dependency where we need him here and we need him there. We need him every second of every day. We need him for all time and we need him for all eternity. Thankfully, he said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I'll go with you all the way, even to the end. Proverbs chapter 24 tonight.

It's talking to us, the Lord speaking to us as he always does as to his. Children, he says these words in the beginning, verse 23, these things also belong to the wise. And I've titled this message, The Things, Things Belonging to the Wise, Things Belonging to the Wise.

When we are made to see that every good and perfect gift cometh down from the father of lights in whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, We're made to realize that if I am going to receive anything good, if I'm going to receive any knowledge, any wisdom, any understanding of who God is and who and what I am, he's the one that's going to have to do it. The carnal mind can't comprehend the fact that we are but sinners in need of a savior. Most people believe and hang their salvation upon what they do or what they do not do. whereas the Lord's people hang our entire salvation upon what he has done, what he has accomplished in salvation. Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge are not things to be attained by works.

Although we are encouraged to strive for wisdom, to strive for understanding, to seek knowledge of the Lord, we find that Christ is the wisdom of God. and therefore the knowledge and the understanding of the Lord must come through and by him alone, all by his grace. I can read the Bible from front to back a thousand times and still miss Christ. How do I know that to be true? The Lord told the Pharisees, search the scriptures, for in them you think that you have eternal life, but they are they which speak of me.

Understand something, wisdom is not something attained. Wisdom's a person, it's the Lord Jesus Christ, and he must choose to bestow his glorious gifts or no one will understand. If we are looking to what these three are, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, as something that can be taught, something that can be learned, and I've said this before, if a man can talk you into something, or a man can talk me into something, or a woman can talk you into something, or me into something, then we can be talked out of it, can't we?

If I have my mind set on a particular vehicle, and I'm liking that vehicle pretty good, and I see the price, and I think, okay, I'm gonna buy this vehicle, and yet, Fella down the road says, hey, this vehicle's better. It has this feature, it has that feature. Well, I just got talked out of the one I was about to buy, and I'm gonna go buy another one. But we're talking about spiritual matters here.

So the only one that can be our teacher is God, or we haven't learned anything. Some might say, well, we need a preacher. Well, that's God ordained, God ordained. We see the scripture says, how shall they hear without a preacher? How shall he preach? except he be sent. This is the Lord's work, and he has to choose to bless it according to his will.

If we are trying to acquire these three things, and I guess I could have titled this the same as two weeks ago, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, and these are the hidden things that belong to the wise. If we are trying to get them by what we do or don't do, we're missing the simplicity that's found in Christ, that he is the wisdom of God.

What I'm trying to say is if we're going to seek after knowledge that's found in this book, if I can take this book and I can memorize a lot of biblical history, I can memorize a lot of world history in the Bible. I can understand where Paul's whole geographical movement was. I can understand everything about where Christ walked. I can understand about different places that's described and still miss him.

I can gain knowledge, but knowledge without faith is useless. Useless. How many of us had our heads puffed up because we thought we were something? We knew something about something. We had understand, I knew more than you do, and I knew more than you do, so I'm somebody. God's gonna notice me, because I can sit higher than you can, because I've arrived, I've figured out something. It's foolishness, isn't it, now?

It's not what you and I know, it's whom I have believed. Whom the Lord hath revealed unto his people, that's the hope. Christ is the wisdom of God. He bestows his knowledge and understanding freely by his grace and only to his elected people. Let's read this together. Proverbs 24. We're gonna go verse 23 all the way through the end of the chapter. And this ties together pretty well. There's three things in here that he mentions that are things belonging to the wise. Verse 23, these things also belong to the wise.

It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. He that saith unto the wicked, thou art righteous. Him shall the people curse. Nations shall abhor him. But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. Every man shall kiss his lips.

That giveth a right answer. Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field, and afterwards build thine house. Be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause, and deceive not with thy lips. Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me. I will render to the man according to his work.

I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding. And lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw and considered it well. I looked upon it and received instruction. Now who am I going to receive instruction from? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall thy poverty come as one that travaileth in thy want as an unarmed man. As an armed man, I'm sorry. Thy want as an armed man.

Things belonging to the wise. Simply put, those that are deemed wise are the ones found in Christ. Not having their own righteousness, which is of the law, not having their own righteousness based upon what they do or say, not having their own righteousness based upon their works or their good deeds, whether it be towards God, the church, or their fellow man. The ones that are deemed wise are the ones that God says are wise, and there's only one that is the wisdom of God, and his name is Jesus Christ. Therefore, I must be found in him, not having my own righteousness. The wise are those taught of God, those whom God loved before the world began.

The scripture says, when the Lord was speaking to Abraham, I've made with you an everlasting covenant. That word everlasting means it doesn't have a beginning. It doesn't have an end. It means if God loves me right now, he'd love me before time, and he's gonna love me after time, he's gonna love me forever. God does not stop loving because he is sovereign and cannot change. The scripture says, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not stop loving his people.

God chose in the covenant of grace, that everlasting covenant I just mentioned, to save those people that he chose, that he elected. He said, I'm going to set my affection upon you and save you, not because we are pretty, not because we're handsome or smart, not because we do good things or don't do bad things, because of grace. That's the word, grace. For by grace are you saved through faith in that not of yourself.

What does that mean? That it's not of works, otherwise you'll boast, and I would too. That's what we're talking about here, about this wisdom and knowledge that we began with, is saying, okay, I have learned this and I have learned that. My works have proven that I know this and I know that, and you don't know that. Isn't that boasting? Certainly. Certainly, look at me.

The worst thing that anyone can do pertaining to spiritual things is say, I, at the beginning of the sentence, I have decided, I have done this, I don't do that, I. That's the worst thing you can do. Second thing is for us to say that, let's see, first thing was I, the second thing is that, anything to do with salvation dependent upon you and I. In any way, that what God has done for us was determined by us.

God chose to save his people by grace. These are the whys, these are the ones that are in Christ alone, because Christ is our wisdom. Now there's three simple truths, as I mentioned in our text here, that separate God's elect from the world, those that are left to themselves. The Lord didn't choose to save his people because they were this or they were that. He chose to set his affection upon them whenever they were dead in trespasses and sins. He chose to redeem them whenever they were...

Scripture talks about in Ezekiel, he says, you were naked. You were naked and polluted in your own blood and no one swaddled you, no one washed you, no one cleansed you from your impurities, your imperfections and your sin. He said, but I, Set my affection upon you and ours was a time of love. I spread my skirt over you.

I gave you a robe I cleaned you up That's God's salvation do we see that that's how it works that God has to be the first and the last in salvation He's not looking to me as any part or evidence of my salvation everything he requires. He must provide These three simple truths Separate God's elect from the world and all those who are left for themselves and I pray this hour the Lord enables us to look at these and rejoice in our Savior and what a glorious revelation He is anytime we get to see him He is the revelation, isn't he? Somebody was talking to me the other day and I've said this to you all before but I'll repeat it They said well, what about in the book of Revelation? it says this and it says that and they were talking about the end times how that they're Times coming to the end. When Christ left the earth, he said, these are the end times.

Then nothing's changed. And we know prophecy says you'll hear wars and rumors of wars. That's just prophecy. It's going to happen. But everybody seems somehow overlooked the most important part about the book of Revelation. Look at chapter 1, verse 1. The book, the revelation of Jesus Christ. De-revelation, that's the whole book. The revelation of Jesus Christ. It's not about things, and it's not about events. It's about Him. And yet left to our carnal self, we'll just gather this knowledge and we'll think, I have saw something I never saw before. My 22nd day of next month, because the moon's going to do this and this is going to happen there.

You know what the Lord said to the Pharisees, you can discern the times by the sky. Or he said, you can determine the seasons by the sky. You can determine the weather, but you can't see the signs. What's the signs? You know what? They even said to him, well, show us a sign. Well, we'd like to see a sign.

He said, there will be no sign given except that of the prophet Jonah, who was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. So shall the son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. And like everything else that the Lord did to anyone that was not one of his chosen people, it went right over their head. Pilate was talking to Christ face to face. Pilate didn't have a clue who he was talking to. All the other people that talked to him in judgment or in condemnation didn't have a clue who he was. It's impossible, isn't it? It's impossible.

So our first truth that separates God's people, God's people from those left to themselves, is found in verse 23. These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. Ephesians 6, 9, we heard earlier, it says God is no respecter of persons.

Why is this so important? Because if you boil this all the way down to the nothing, the plain and simple truth of it, that means it doesn't matter what you know, it doesn't matter what I know, it doesn't matter what you have learned of man or by your own knowledge, or it doesn't matter what I think I've learned.

What matters is have I been taught of God? Have I been taught of God? Because if I see myself as higher up than someone else based upon what I know or what I do or what I don't do, I'm saying I can make myself be respected by God. Do we see the lie there? He says God is no respecter of person. If I do this and I don't do that, God'll notice me sitting a little bit higher than my fellow man. He'll notice that I have a couple more understandings than somebody in the back. How about somebody that can't read? Maybe I'm, I'm better off than they are.

Cause I can read all of this and have some understanding when in reality, you know what Christ said, father, I thank thee that thou has hid this from the wise and prudent and revealed it unto babes. Why did the Lord hide it from the wise and prudent? Well, it certainly wasn't the wise in Christ. It was the wise according to the things of man. They thought themselves to be wise. And just as the scripture says in Romans chapter one, in thinking themselves to be wise, they became fools, fools. We see that God is no respecter of person in the clearest form of all of scripture on the cross of Calvary. On the cross of Calvary, when God dealt with sin upon his darling son, we see that God had no respect, didn't hold anything back.

Have you ever entered into that? How many of us would have unjustly punished our children if it was for the salvation of someone else? We would have held back, wouldn't we? We would have tried to do the bare minimum. The bare minimum was everything that he had, all the wrath, all the hell that you and I deserve, all the suffering do us. His very soul was made an offering for sin. Everything about what God did on the cross was not in part. He poured out his entire wrath upon his son. He did not hold back, not even a little bit. Scripture says it pleased the Lord to bruise him. What does that word pleased mean? It satisfied him. See, justice had to be satisfied.

God will not acquit the guilty. And if you and I are going to be changed from the sinful creatures we are into the new creatures in Christ, Christ had to die. A sacrifice had to be made. And he is that sacrifice. God demands justice for guilt. God demands, you know what the scripture says, the soul that sinneth shall surely die.

Then it says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That means everyone that I'm talking to, every ear that can hear, including myself, we're sinners by nature. We're sinners by practice. We're sinners by choice. Sin's not what we do. Men believe that sin is a thing that needs to be corrected. Sin, we are the essence of sin. I know this is a sensitive subject, but this is very relatable, especially for some that's had this particular illness. I got to thinking about cancer.

If I have cancer, I don't need the I need treatment for the cancer. I don't need the symptoms to be corrected, do I? You know, when you get the flu, they say, okay, you're gonna be fine, but we're gonna treat the symptoms. You're gonna have a fever, so we're gonna give you this to lower your fever. You're gonna have aches and pains, we're gonna give you this to lower your aches and pains. You're gonna have a stuffy nose, you're gonna have this and that, we're gonna give you this to lower that and this to lower that, and it's gonna pass in time, and that's what we do, we take it.

Somehow along the way, people were lied to so much by Satan and the world that they have decided that that's how they're gonna deal with their sin too. Let me go ahead and change my life morally and start correcting the symptoms of sin. And now since I can't see the symptoms, I must be getting better, right? Wrong. It's called iniquity. And God said, I hate the workers of iniquity. Think about that. God said, I hate the workers of iniquity. Psalm chapter five, verse five.

He doesn't expect you and I to treat the symptom We don't need a, same thing with cancer. All the things that go on with cancer. You don't need the symptoms to be fixed. We need the problem to be gone. When you're made to see that you're the problem, then you're desperately needing a savior. You're desperately needing the wisdom of God, which is manifest in Christ Jesus. You desperately need him to do all the saving. Don't treat my symptoms. Save my soul, have mercy on me, the sinner. Because if he doesn't, those symptoms are gonna remain, and the issue, the issue will remain. Now we know whenever the Lord brings us out of darkness into light, we still have the symptoms, because he didn't come to save the flesh.

We're still sinners in our own eyes, aren't we? Paul said, the sin that doth so easily beset me. What was he talking about, unbelief? How many times we take our eyes off of Christ? That's just facts, isn't it? We wish, Paul said, that which I would do, I do not, but that which I would not do, that's what I do. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? That's what we are, is a body of death. I need to be saved from death. And you know that's why Christ came, to save his people from their sin. Call his name Jesus, Matthew chapter one, for he shall save his people from their sin. Somebody said, well, I'm really not that bad. Well, David said in Psalm 51, five, behold, I was shaped in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.

God doesn't see little sins and big sins. God sees the sinner and God sees the savior. Do we see that? It's that simple. God sees the sinner, and God sees the Savior, and the only way that He can love the sinner is if the sinner is in the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody said, well, the Lord loves sinners. The Lord does not love sinners. He loves His people that are in Christ because He put away their sin. Do we see that? He no longer sees us as sinners. He no longer sees us as wretched and vile and unclean, as we see ourself. I love the fact that the scripture does say yet while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.

I Googled something and I love doing this, even though sometimes it's really annoying because you get some really funny answers because Google's it's just manmade. And so they try to base what they know off of God based upon something else that they have learned. And it's just manmade knowledge, but I typed in. how to overcome my sinful nature. Can you imagine what I got as a response?

It says, it's a lifelong process. First of all, it's a lifelong process. I thought, well, yeah, I guess that's, That's kind of true. I'm never going to be able to overcome it. I'm just going to get worse and worse and die. So that's, that's kind of accurate. It's going to be a lifelong process. I'm still not going to accomplish anything, but that's what I'm trying to do. It's definitely going to be a lifelong process. Second thing it says, it's a lifelong process that is a dedication that emphasizes my responsibility to turn back to God when I make mistakes.

We used to call that rededication. Anybody relate to that? They used to say from the pulpit, somebody here tonight needs to rededicate their life. I see you smiling. They couldn't get somebody to get out of the seat and come up and get saved. They would try to get them to rededicate their life anyways. You know, at least something happened.

The Lord's not in either of those. The Lord didn't say come to an altar. The Lord didn't say come to a person. It said come to Christ in the heart. You want to rededicate to something, beg him that he might show you his face more. Come to Christ. Don't move a muscle. Come to Christ. This is a message of do better and God will accept me.

But I'm going to remind us of a very simple allegory that was found in the book of Genesis shortly after the garden. They were thrown out of the garden, Adam and Eve, whenever they had sinned. They had two sons, Cain and Abel. And you've heard this story many times.

They knew what God required. They knew what God demanded. Adam would have taught them that. Adam, by example, would have taught his children, just as we teach our children. So in the fullness of time, it came time for them to bring their own offering, which leads me to believe that the father had been offering up sacrifice for the sons up until this point. But now it's their turn. It's their time. They're old enough now. They need to do it themselves. They're answering for themselves now. What happened?

Abel brings forth a lamb of the first year without spot, without blemish unto God. He sheds its blood. He kills it. He gives it unto the Lord as an offering, a burnt offering. And God, what does the scripture say verbatim? God had respect to Abel and Abel's sacrifice. Why? because Abel believed God by faith bestowed. Abel knew that God was going to, what God required, he had to provide, and that was the lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now his brother, he's the one left to himself.

He said, okay, well, if God will, God likes the lamb, he's going to really love this. these fruits of my hand that I bring, which is a picture of false works, isn't it? It's a picture of man-made religion. It's a picture of my own works. I'm gonna present that to God. I'm gonna let God take my works. He's gonna be pleased with me. What does the Lord say whenever, at the end of time, whenever judgment day happens? They said they're gonna, they're going to approach me, and they're gonna say, Lord, we've done these good deeds in thy name.

We've cast out demons. We've done all these wonderful miracles. We've given to the poor. We've established this work and that work, and I get, Calls and emails often that say, what kind of works do you guys have in the community? I said, we preach the gospel. What do you have for the children? We preach the gospel. Well, we need more than that. That's what they say.

That's why they didn't like Christ. What did he do? He came preaching the kingdom of heaven. He didn't come preaching Humanitarian efforts, somebody said that they're going to do a missionary work in the area, they're gonna help fix up houses. Brethren, that's a humanitarian effort with the name of Jesus Christ on it, that's all that it is. It's not glorifying and honoring him, just humanitarian.

Am I against that? In no way am I against that, but let's not pretend that that's of the Lord. You wanna help your neighbor paint their house? I say go for it, that's fantastic, but don't say I'm doing this for Jesus. Nope, don't do that. Do it looking to him in the heart without opening your mouth. That's the best way. I think that's what the Lord says. Oh, Cain brought his fruit, didn't he? He said, I'm going to show God what I can do. What does it say?

Now, we understand that Cain wouldn't have brought bruised up stuff. He wouldn't have brought smushed stuff. He wouldn't have brought bad stuff. And I've had some bad fruit. I've had some bad vegetables. And I know everybody here has too. No, he brought the best, the very best. He didn't bring the $1.99 carrots. We have no idea where they came from. He bought the $6.99 organic carrots that they sell for triple the price, but you get two sticks.

He brought the very best that he had. Do we see what I'm saying here? What does it say? Unto Cain. And unto his sacrifice, God had no respect. Why? Paul says it clearly, they that are in the flesh cannot, cannot, can, that's an impossibility, isn't it? Cannot please God, cannot.

God only respects what he provides. God only looks to the Lamb of God for the salvation of his people. God only looks for the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Abel's sacrifice represents, is he was looking to Christ. That's why God had respect unto him. Abel wasn't looking for praise. Abel wasn't looking for admonition. Abel wasn't looking for a pat on the back. Good job, Abel, you did the right thing.

No, He was looking to the lamb. So the very first difference that the Lord's people have is we have understanding that God is not a respecter of persons. He demands the blood of the lamb. He demands the lamb to be our sacrifice, not our sacrifice personally. He demands that the Lord Jesus Christ is our sacrifice by his own will, begat he us, the scripture says.

Brethren, sin is not just a symptom. Sin is not a symptom. It's the root problem. It's the root cause. What does he say about our heart? You ever heard the expression, give Jesus your heart? You won't find that in scripture. That's man-made as well. God don't want your heart. Don't want mine either. You know why?

Scripture tells us it's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Now what would God do with a deceitful and wicked heart? What is that going to do for him? Nothing. Now he said, I'm going to take out your stony heart. This is God speaking. He said, I'm going to take out your stony heart and I'm going to put in a heart of flesh. One that looks to Christ. There's the hope. He's not looking at me. Isn't that good news? He's not looking at me. He's not looking at my heart. He's not looking at my works. He's not looking at my thoughts. Why?

Because my thoughts are on evil and that continually and so are yours. Nothing's changed since the book of Genesis chapter six. Whenever Noah, it said every imagination of the heart of man was evil and that continually. That's us by nature, period. We're polluted, we're corrupt. We need a Savior. We need a Savior. And there's only one, the Lord Jesus Christ.

David said it clearly, the remedy for sin is this, purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be made whiter than snow. Have mercy upon me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgression. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.

Don't you love how it's, Lord, you're gonna have to do it. You're gonna have to do it. You're gonna have, it was never about, I have done this, Lord, now do this. I've obligated you. I've done this, now you can't do that, Lord. No, we can't constrain Him or restrain Him. He's absolutely sovereign. Men preach God as if He's just a puppet, just a little figurine or something. No, He's God.

He created all things for His glory and honor, for His will and purpose, and that purpose was the salvation of His people. When you look around this world, you see the sky, you see the clouds, the trees, everything around you. Realize that the one reason this was spoken into existence, God chose to save His people. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. What's his word?

All that the Father giveth me, I shall lose none, not one. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them to me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.

John chapter 10, verse 28 through 31. If He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up to the full wrath necessary for our salvation on behalf of His chosen elected people, what could I do to add to or take away from that? What could I do? If the blood of Christ is fully sufficient, and it is, what can I do to add to it? Nothing.

We're all the time trying to improve on things in this life, aren't we? I don't know how you all are, but anybody ever had a garden, you can understand this, it's frustrating. Try to improve this year on last year by putting down certain things, maybe some compost, maybe some fertilizer, maybe it'll be better this year. Wait on the Lord, see what happens. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it makes it worse. You know why? Because we touch it, that's why. What else we try to improve on? Well, we try to improve on our Vehicles getting better gas mileage. We try to improve on safety ratings. Are those things good? I think so.

It's not a problem. But the point I'm making is when it comes to the salvation that God hath wrought on the cross of Calvary, there is no improving it. It is finished. It's absolutely perfect the way that it is. And nothing that I can do can change it in any way. I didn't say it's finished. God did on the cross of Calvary when he hung his, he bowed his mighty head and said, it is finished. Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. That was the end of it. Salvation accomplished. How do we know? He was raised because we have been justified. The resurrection of Christ was the final exclamation point that it is finished. God raised, his son couldn't see corruption. Second part is look here at verse 23. These things also belong to the wise. It's not good to have respective persons in judgment. He that saith unto the wicked, thou art righteous. Him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him.

That's what men are doing. Oh, you're righteous. No, you're doing good. You've done a good job. You've been coming to church for 10 years now. Yeah, you tithe, you do this and that. That's what the publican, or that's what the Pharisee said. Lord, I thank thee that I'm not like other men. I tithe, I fast, I pray, I give to the poor. I thank you that I'm not even like this publican back here. And it said the publican wouldn't so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven. He's looking down at the ground, why? Because he was ashamed of his sin. He saw God as high and lifted up. He saw himself as unworthy. He smote upon his breast, saying, have mercy on me, the sinner.

Verse 24, he that saith unto the wicked, thou art righteous, him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him. But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. Every man shall kiss his lips, that giveth the right answer.

Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field, and afterwards build thine house. Be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause, and receive not with thy lips. Say not, I will do so to him that, as he hath done to me, I will render to the man according to his work.

I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding. And notice those words are very important. I went by the field of the slothful, the lazy, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding. And lo, it was all grown over with thorns and nettles. had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down."

The second thing that belongs to the wise is God only sees his people as righteous, not because of what they do, but because what Christ has done. Look at the sad state as we just read. Notice the sad state of this individual, these people in general, that believe that they have hope in the works of their hands.

Do we realize that every time the scripture talks about thorns, it's talking about the curse found in Genesis chapter three, when the Lord told Adam and Eve, Adam's curse was this, man shall eat bread by the sweat of his face. And the earth shall no longer give its increase, but thorns and thistles shall it bring forth. When they hung Christ upon the cross, what did they put upon his head? Thorns. It's a picture of our curse. And the scripture says that he was made a curse for his people because cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree.

This individual, all the work that they're doing for their vineyard, the, the, The husband's going to come, the Lord Jesus Christ, the husband, our God, our great God and savior is going to come and look into the vineyard for fruit and there's not going to be any there.

Why? Because they're confident in what they have done in themselves. But the scripture calls our righteousness filthy rags. So both can't be right. Lord's not gonna see anything good in you and I. It's gonna be Christ that must be the true vine and we the branches.

It must be Christ's fruit in his people if he's going to be satisfied. It must be Christ that builds the house or they labor in vain that build it. It must be Christ that builds up the wall which is our hedge from our adversary, from ourself, from the world. It must be the Lord that got rid of the curse so that the fruit can come forth, the fruit of the spirit that the Lord gives to his people inwardly. God doesn't see everyone as having some good.

And he says to those who try to produce works as evidence or part of their salvation as you're doing okay, keep it up. No, he said, you're a thief and a robber. You're trying to steal my glory. You're trying to climb up another way. You're trying to get to God by your own works. And God says, I'm going to disannoy your covenant. I'm gonna take your covenant and destroy it. And when the overwhelming scourge comes, the wrath of God that comes, he says, you will not be able to stand in that day. You'll be judged according to your works.

The good news is, is something that belongs to the wise, things that belong to the wise, the ones found in Christ is this. The ones that are in Christ, he's going to do the same exact thing for you and I. But our works are what has been given to us freely by his grace. Our works are what Christ accomplished for his people. The Lord took out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. It was contrary to us, nailed it to his cross. and gave us His record, gave us His good works, gave us His faith, gave us His wisdom and knowledge and understanding, and presented us to the Father as perfectly righteous, as perfectly holy.

This is why only the Lord's people are seen righteous, because it's not what we have done, but it's entirely based 100% on what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished. Oh, when you see the Lord is sovereign and just, it says, shall not the judge of the earth do right? Shall God not get his glory? All the glory.

And he says here in verse 30, I went by the field of the slothful and by the vineyards of the man, void of understanding. They don't know. They don't have a concept of who God is. They think they do. And the people that I'm talking about are in churches all over the area. It's people that are religious. It's not just the irreligious. It's people who believe they've done something for God or they let God, you ever heard somebody say, let God have his way. May that never escape our mouth. God's going to do what he wants to do.

None can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? That's scripture. None can stay his hand. You can't stop him or even ask him, what doest thou? Romans chapter 9, "'Who art thou, O men, to reply against God? Shall the thing formed say the thing that made it? Why hast thou made me thus?' He's talking about the potter. He says, "'Hath not potter over the clay to make one lump of honor and another dishonor?'

Well, we think really highly of ourself when in all actuality we're just a bunch of dust walking around. You ever thought of that? How much will How much strength does dust have over you? Might make you sneeze. That's pretty much it. You can't make the Lord sneeze. We're less than that, aren't we? Can't make him do anything. We're just creatures of dust. From dust thou art, and dust thou shall return.

Now, why would the Lord have chosen to save dust? Why would the Lord chose to save sinners that can't do anything right, that's literally walking dead men? We're dying every second of every day. From the time that we were born to the time that we die, the clock keeps ticking, the death toll keeps sounding the bell every time it ticks one second closer. Why would he choose to save me? Why would he choose to save you?

Grace. For by grace are you saved through faith, not faith that you have mustered up, not faith that you have chosen to do, the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, very clear in all of scripture, freely bestowed by his grace. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. These are things, these are things that belong unto the wise. Yet men sadly look at their life and believe God will have respect unto them, based upon what they have done.

I don't do this anymore. You ever heard somebody say that? I don't do that anymore. Ever since I cleaned up my life, I turned over a new leaf. I got a new chapter going. I quit this. I stopped going there. Everything's so much better now. Me and God, they made a song called Me and God Have a Good Thing Going. You ever heard that song? Don't listen to that. That's dumb. Don't do that.

Now, if I have anything good to do with God, it's because I'm found in Christ. I'm found in Christ. It's never me and God. It's always God, period. Paul said that I have to be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness, which is by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Now, lastly, look at the demise of these Self-will workers, these man-made religionists, those that believe themselves to be something when they are nothing, that have no knowledge, that have not Christ the wisdom, that have the thing, they don't have the things that belong to the wise. Look at verse 32. Then I saw and considered well and looked upon it and received instruction. Now stop right there a second. I said this when we read it the first time.

Who are you gonna receive instruction from? If a man or a woman talks you into it, another man or woman could talk you out of it. Who are you going to receive instruction from? You know what the Lord said? Talking about his people, he said, they all shall be taught of me. Paul said a few times, I am persuaded. I am persuaded. Persuaded of whom? Persuaded of God, I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor life, nor death, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Why?

God's the one that put you there. God's the one that gave you the love. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Brethren, the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. But he said, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be made like him, for we shall see him as he is. That's the good news, isn't it? Scripture says that sufferings this present time is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. One of these days we're going to be just like him. We're going to see that we're just like him. We're just like him now inwardly for his. One day we're going to get to see it in the fullness of it. Then I saw and considered it well and looked upon it and received instruction from the Lord.

Of course, he had a little sleep and slumber. Little folding of the hands to sleep, show shall thy poverty come as one that travaileth in thy want as an armed man. One that travaileth, that's speaking of a female that's in labor. And ladies, you know better than I do for sure, maybe you got to choose whenever you labored and maybe you didn't. But during that labor process, you definitely didn't get to choose whenever those contractions were coming. They just happened by nature. That's the travail he's talking about. This is going to happen whether you want it to or not.

He says, thou won't as an armed man, you won't be able, we. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him? There is no escape outside of the blood of Christ, period. Period. He said, when I see the blood, I'll pass by you. Not your life, not your knowledge, not your understanding, not what you do, not what you don't do. When I see the blood, I'll pass by you. You know what that means?

That means if the blood is sufficient, and it is 100% completely sufficient to save every person Christ died for, it's never gonna lose its power, it's never gonna lose any credibility, it's always gonna be the same because of the source, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. That means I can't mess it up.

It's not based on me. Because if I can get saved, I can get unsaved. Plain and simple. I don't get saved. God hath saved us and called us not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to his elect before the world ever began. Second Timothy, second Timothy one nine.

The unwise are resting here in their works. They have thorns, they have thistles, they have needles, nettles, and they are sleeping. They're resting in what they have done. Do we see that? These are the things that belong to the wise, because they can't see that. They're resting in their own power. They're resting in their own glory. They're resting in their own works.

And the Lord said, there's no rest there, because as he says at the very end, their poverty shall come as one that travaileth. They're going to be with nothing. It's going to all burn up as wood, hay and stubble. The covenant man breaks with God will always be broken. Our heart by nature would deceive us to the very pit, thinking that we have favor with God and we do not.

So what's the Lord's people's hope? Verse 32 is. Then I saw and considered it well. I looked upon it and received instruction. Things that belong to the wise are instruction from the Lord. Father, I thank thee that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes.

God, people have been made to see that if God did not spare his own son when he saw sin upon him, how is he gonna spare me? Because I can't get rid of any of my sin. Furthermore, if God didn't spare his son and he was completely satisfied with the work that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished and I was in him, how am I going to do anything to change that? I can't.

We are made to say, by his grace, everything God requires without exception. Everything God requires without exception, he must provide because he only accepts what he provides. These are the things that belong to the wise. Means if I'm going to be saved, God must be the doer of an election before time and redemption and in. Regeneration. The glorious things that belong to God's elect is our hope in Christ, not that God would respect me. but that God has placed me in Christ.

He doesn't give us works to fix our curse. He bore our curse on the tree and put it away. He didn't give us the ability to put away our sin or to get better and better. Christ is our sanctification. He put away the sin of his people on the cross of Calvary. These are the things belonging to the wise. He broke the curse. by the sacrifice of himself.

No longer do we rest in our good deeds. No longer do we look at ourself. No longer do we go to the law. All the law can do is just show us what we are. We look to Christ as all of our wisdom, all of our righteousness, all of our sanctification, all of our redemption as our only hope and assurance of salvation. We rest not in our works and our I'll say pathetic garden of weeds and thorns. No, we rest on the Sabbath, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he's called, the Sabbath. We rest where God rested, on the Sabbath, the Lord Jesus Christ. We say not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be all glory and honor and praise forever.

We've been made to say salvation is of the Lord. Christ has accomplished everything in salvation. God was successful in salvations all by grace. This This is the things that belong to the wise that are found in Jesus Christ, all by his purpose, according to his will.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would take this and that you would bless it according to your will, that we may understand. Thank you for revealing these things unto babes and hiding them from the wise and prudent. In Christ's name, amen.

Things Belonging to the Wise

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about wisdom?

How do we know Christ is our wisdom?

Why is grace important for Christians?

What does it mean that God is no respecter of persons?

How does Christ fulfill the requirements of salvation?

What is the role of faith in understanding God's wisdom?

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Things Belonging to the Wise

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