Proverbs chapter 8. I've entitled
the lesson this morning, Wisdom Speaks. Now the book of Proverbs
and Ecclesiastes are both kind of unique in the way that they're
written. But just like every other book of the Bible, the
subject of the book of Proverbs is Christ. The book of Proverbs
is written to show us Christ our wisdom, to give us instruction
in the wisdom of God, to show us the blessing of faith in Christ
our wisdom. Now, the book of Proverbs is
not a compilation of cute sayings that we can live by. It's written
just like all the Bible to reveal Christ. The book of Proverbs
is instruction from our Father in Christ our wisdom. You notice
how often through the book of Proverbs, Solomon speaks to his
son. He said, my son, listen to my
instruction. My son, do this. My son, hear
this. This is instruction from our father, Christ our wisdom. So in chapter eight, I thought
it's about two different texts to preach from. I thought, well,
we'll look at what wisdom has to say. Wisdom himself speaks
in chapter eight. And you know, a person is always
someone who speaks. Well, that person is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And first I want us to see this.
Wisdom does indeed speak. Look at verse one. Does not wisdom
cry and understanding put forth her voice? Now this is good news. Wisdom speaks. Christ speaks
to somebody. Now in his grace, God doesn't
leave all men in their ignorance. You know, we're born in ignorance,
but God doesn't leave all men in their ignorance. Christ speaks
to them. In His grace, God doesn't leave men to their own devices.
If we were left on our own devices to do what we think is best,
we'd all end up in hell. But Christ, in His mercy and
in His grace, speaks to men. And that's my prayer this morning.
It's my prayer every time we meet, that you not hear the words
of a man, but that Christ Himself will speak to His people. There's
an article in the Bulletin by Rolf Barnard. I'd encourage you
to read it. Has God spoken to you? He's going to speak to somebody. You know, we have the whole Bible. All of the Word of God is given
to men. This is God speaking to men.
And look in Hebrews chapter 1. And when we say it's God speaking
to men, God's Word is Christ speaking to men. Hebrews chapter
1, verse 1. God who at sundry times and in
divers and different manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the world. God has in these last days, in
all these days after the death and resurrection of our Lord,
spoken unto us by his Son. When we read God's word, this
is Christ speaking. Now God has spoken. He's spoken
to men by his prophets. He's spoken unto men by his apostles
who wrote the New Testament. He speaks unto men through his
preachers today. God has spoken to men in creation.
Look at Romans chapter one. God's spoken to men in creation.
He's spoken to men in their conscience. So we don't have any excuse to
not know that God is because God has spoken. In Romans one
verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them. God's put it in them in their
conscience. For God has showed it unto them.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Where without excuse, Not to
know that God is. And men show themselves to be
fools. They show the foolishness of
our nature when they refuse to listen to Christ. He's spoken. And it's our foolishness that
refuses to listen to him speak and do things our way instead
of God's way. And I tell you the problem. Isn't
that God speaks in such language we can't understand it. God could
speak in such a way. He's so high above us. He could
speak in such a way. We never understand it, but he
hadn't done that. He's spoken to us clearly, simply
in language that we can understand. You can take the King James version
and you can change all of these and the vows you want to. That's
not the problem. Men understand the Bible exactly
the way it's written in the King James version. The problem is
not that they don't understand it. The problem is, by nature,
men don't believe what God has to say about His Son and from
His Son in His Word. And if we don't understand, it's
because we're willingly ignorant. That's what God's Word says.
Now, men refuse to hear, but Christ speaks anyway. Wisdom
does indeed speak to men, and I'm thankful. Here's the second
point I want us to see. Men cannot say they've never
heard. Christ, the wisdom of God, has
spoken in very public places. Look at verse two of Proverbs
chapter eight. She standeth in the top of high places, by the
way, in the places of the paths. She cried at the gates, at the
entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Christ speaks
in very public places. He speaks from high places because
he's high and lifted up. So he's going to have to speak
from high places. There have been times in Solomon's time,
the time of the Old Testament, God spoke from heaven. Before
the scriptures were completed, he spoke to men from heaven.
He spoke to Moses. He spoke to Abraham. But God
brought his gospel. He brought the word of salvation
a whole lot closer to us than that. He brought it so close,
he sent his son into this world, made of flesh to live as a man
for this purpose, to reveal God to us. Christ came to reveal
God's way of salvation. He came to reveal, to speak,
and to reveal the righteousness to the lost, the way of righteousness.
He came to speak and reveal to us the way of forgiveness of
sin for the guilty. And Christ came in a very public
manner. He came to the religious world
of His day. He came to the Jews. He came
unto His own. His own received Him not, but
He came. And He spoke in all their public places, didn't He?
He spoke to them in their high places, on their high holy days. He spoke in the tabernacle or
in the temple and in the synagogues. He spoke in the gates. He spoke
in the places where people gathered. It seemed like everywhere our
Lord was was a public place because people just kept flocking to
him and he spoke to them in a very public manner. And look over
in John chapter nine. He spoke in plain language that
everybody understood. Now they hated him for it, but
they understood what he was saying. Even those who were his most
stout enemies, they understood what he was saying. In John 9
verse 39, and Jesus said, for judgment I've come into this
world that they which see not might see. and that they would
see, who think they see, might be made blind. And some of the
Pharisees which were with him heard these words and said unto
him, are we blind also? They understood what the Lord
was saying about them, that all men, them included, they're spiritually
blind. They understood, they just didn't
believe him. Look at verse 41. Jesus said
unto them, if you were blind, if you knew you were blind, You
should have no sin. But now you say, we see, therefore
your sin remaineth. They understood what he was saying.
They just didn't believe. And so they died in their sin.
And Solomon said that wisdom crieth at the gates. Now, our
Lord scripture records him often crying because he had an important
message. Look at John chapter seven. I
want to look at a few of these places where Scripture tells
us that our Lord cried. He cried so that we would know
some things. He cried so we would know he
was sent of God. John 7 verse 28. Then cried Jesus in the temple
as he taught saying, you both know me and you know whence I
am. I'm not come of myself, but he that sent me is true whom
you know not, but I know him for I'm from him and he has sent
Now he cried that important message so we know he was sent from God
to speak to men. He cried so that the spiritually
thirsty would come to him and drink. Look at verse 37 of John
7. That last day, the great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. He cried so the thirsty would
come drink. Look at John chapter 11. He cried
so that the spiritually dead would hear and live. John 11
verse 43. And when he had thus spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead
came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face
was bound about with a napkin. And Jesus said unto them, Loose
him and let him go. He cried that the dead would
live spiritually. And he cried, look in John chapter
12, he cried so we would know that if we're ever going to see
God, if we're ever going to understand God and believe God, we must
see and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. John 12 verse 44. Jesus cried and said, he that
believeth on me, believeth not on me, not on me only, but on
him that sent me. And he that seeth me, seeth him
that sent me. I am come a light into the world
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. Our Lord cried so we would have
light so that we would see and understand he is from the father. He cried from the cross, I thirst. And he cried that so his people
would know he's suffering as our substitute. He suffered for
his people who hunger and thirst after righteousness, so we'll
never thirst for righteousness again. He cried from the cross,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He cried that so
his people would know, so we'd have the comfort and assurance
and confidence to know He's suffering as a substitute for his people.
He's suffering bearing the sins of his people. And he fully suffered
for those sins. So his people will never suffer
separation from the father. He cried. I'm so thankful Christ
our wisdom cried in such public places. That cry is good news. That cry is the good news of
the gospel that's heard all through the ages. He cried and we still
hear him today. His cry to his people. This Christ speaking of the gospel,
revealing himself to us. Now look back in Proverbs chapter
eight, here's the third thing I want us to see. And this is
very important. Christ our wisdom speaks because
his people couldn't understand any other way. Unless he speaks
and teaches us, we'll never understand. Look at verse four. Unto you,
O man, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple,
understand wisdom, and ye fools be of an understanding heart.
Now Christ speaks to men. He doesn't speak to angels. He
doesn't speak to demons. He speaks to men. And he doesn't
speak to all men, does he? Not in mercy and grace, he doesn't.
In mercy and grace, he speaks to sinful men. Not all men, sinful
men. He doesn't speak to the best
of men. He speaks to the worst of men. He speaks to men who
are lost in sin so they can be found. He speaks to men who are
dead in sin so they can have life. He speaks to men who are
spiritually foolish so that they can understand God. And this
is the power of Christ speaking. All of us by nature, we're nothing
more than simple sinners. We can't understand the most
simple spiritual truth. Not and believe it, we can't.
We can't understand the ABCs of the gospel because our mind
is too simple. It's too simple to be able to
comprehend it. But you know, when Christ speaks, when he speaks
to the heart, that simple sinner suddenly understands wisdom.
He understands Christ, who is the wisdom of God. You can hear
preachers preach all your life long and not really understand
what they're saying. But when Christ speaks, you understand
the great mystery of godliness. You understand not only how God
could be made manifest in the flesh, but why was God made manifest
in the flesh. So he could be the representative
of his people. So he could be the substitute
of his people. That's the only way God could
save someone as sinful as us. If God's manifested in the flesh
and does for us what we can't do for ourselves. When Christ
speaks to you, that's so obvious. Where have I been? Why didn't
I see that before? Christ hadn't spoken yet. But when he speaks
the simple understand wisdom. When Christ speaks, we understand. This is how God saves sinners.
It's the only way God can save sinners. Through the sacrifice
of someone perfect and holy and righteous. And that'll never
happen if all you ever hear is the preacher speaking to the
head. But when Christ speaks to the
heart, the foolish, the simple understand. When Christ speaks
in grace and power, that fool understands. And that's what
we are by nature. We're fools. We're just like
our father, Adam. We're fools. We go the wrong
way. We rebel against God, left ourselves. We always make the wrong choice
because we're foolish. We'd always go the wrong way
because we're fools. I want you to look in Isaiah
chapter 35. When Christ speaks to the heart,
when He speaks in power, suddenly that fool goes the right way
and he can't get off of it. Isaiah 35 verse 8. And a highway
shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of
holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be
for those, the wayfaring men, though fools, even though by
nature they were born fools, they shall not err therein. By nature were the The nature
of Adam, we're fools. But when Christ has made unto
us wisdom, we'll never err in Him. We'll never leave Him the
way of salvation in Him. Now this is a whole lot more
than head knowledge of some facts and figures of the gospel. I
can give you head knowledge. I can teach you to recite back
certain simple tenets of the gospel. But all that is is head
knowledge. That's not going to save anybody.
But when Christ speaks, if our soul is gonna be saved, Christ
must speak to us. And when he speaks, he gives
heart faith. He gives a new heart. He gives
heart understanding, and only Christ can do that. Look here
at the end of verse five. He says, and ye fools, be ye
of an understanding heart. See, salvation's a heart work.
It's not an understanding head. It's understanding heart. Salvation is not knowledge. It's not knowledge of doctrine. It's not knowledge of, you know,
the technical way, you know, God saves sinners. Salvation
is a heart work. Salvation is a new birth. Salvation
is receiving a new heart from God. It's new life. Now with
that new heart comes some knowledge and understanding, doesn't it?
But heart knowledge is not knowing facts. Heart knowledge is knowing
a person. Look in John chapter 17. Heart
knowledge is knowing wisdom, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord tells us this in his
high priestly prayer in John chapter 17 in verse three. This is life eternal, that they
might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent. That's hard knowledge, is knowing
Jesus Christ. And that salvation is to know
Him. Well, fourthly, everything that
Christ says is worth hearing. It's always worth believing.
Christ, our wisdom, speaks excellent things. Look in verse six of
Proverbs chapter eight. Here, for I will speak of excellent
things. Now those two words, excellent
things, It means chief. It means captain, and it means
head. Well, this is Christ. Christ is speaking of himself.
He's the chief. He's the chief cornerstone on
which the whole church is built. When Christ speaks, he speaks
of himself. He's the captain. He's the captain of our salvation.
And when he speaks of these excellent things, he's speaking of himself.
He's the head of the church, and we're the body. What more
excellent subject can you have than Christ our Savior? everything
about him is excellent. When he speaks of excellent things,
he speaks of himself. And Christ, our wisdom speaks
right things. Verse six, he says here, if I'll
speak of excellent things and the opening of my lips shall
be right things. Now these right things, they're
true things. They're straight things. They're
smooth things. But like the scriptures talks
about our Lord coming and making straight the crooked. That's
what he's taught. These are true things. But you know what else
it means? Right things. It means true things. It means straight things. And
it means truth in sweetness. Now that's Christ. If we preach
Christ in such a way that that preaching is not sweet, it's
not sweet to the soul, then we've not preached him right. Because
these right things are sweet to the believer. Christ makes
everything straight. He makes it smooth. He is the
smooth, straight path to God. Now that's sweet. We can preach
that in sweetness to sinners. And when Christ speaks of himself,
he speaks of right things because he is the believer's righteousness. It's Christ who makes his people
righteous. Now, if we want to talk about
righteousness, we want to talk about how a sinner is made righteous,
and we do that in terms that are argumentative and difficult
to understand, then we're not preaching Christ right. You know,
if you're dead set on preaching imputed righteousness, you're
going to do it wrong. You really are. You're going
to preach it in an argumentative, philosophical way. But if you
preach Christ, our righteousness, righteousness imputed. Now you
can preach that message to sinners in a sweet way. It's a true message
that's preached in sweetness. A sinner is made righteous in
Christ, our righteousness. He came to reveal the righteousness
of God, not through our obedience to the law, but through his obedience
to the law for us. Now that message is sweet and
it's a message that's worth listening to. And Christ our wisdom speaks
truth because he is the truth. Look at verse seven. He says,
for my mouth shall speak truth and wickedness is an abomination
to my lips. The gospel of Christ is pure
truth. The gospel declares truth. It declares the truth of God.
And the only way we'll ever see the truth of God is if we see
the Lord Jesus Christ. He declares the truth of God.
People say God is love. Well, that's true. But how do
you know that? The only way you can know that is seeing the father
sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Now therein is
love. We know that God is just and
will by no means clear the guilty. We know that because he told
us that in his word. Can you give me the preeminent
example of that? Look to Christ, to Calvary. The
father made his son to be sin for his people, and in justice
he wouldn't clear him. He put him to death. He will
by no means clear the guilty. We know God is gracious, don't
we? How do you know that? The only way you know God is
gracious is by seeing Christ our substitute suffering what
our sin deserves so God can be gracious to us. God gave His
Son what we deserve so He could give us what His Son deserves.
That's grace. Christ came and revealed the
truth of God. Christ came and declared the
truth about men. All men are lost in sin. All
men are ruined by sin. But I don't care how often I
tell you that, you know what? The only time you'll ever know
it is when you see Christ. When Christ speaks and you see
Him, then When you compare yourself to His sinless perfection, then
you'll know you're ruined in sin. Christ came to reveal the
truth of righteousness. This is what the Pharisees didn't
understand. They thought righteousness was something they did through
the law. Righteousness is not something we do or we earn. Righteousness
is the Lord Jesus Christ. We're made righteous in Him.
And everything that Christ says, everything that's declared in
the gospel, Now it's truth, whether we understand it or not. You
know, whether I understand something doesn't have any impact on whether
it's true or not. Everything Christ declares is
true, whether we understand it or not. So we're just to pray
for faith to believe him because whatever he says is truth. It's worthy to be heard and worthy
to be believed. Now we touched on this earlier.
Christ is worthy to be heard. Because when he speaks, he gives
understanding. You can't understand anything
about this book unless Christ reveals it to you. But when Christ
speaks and reveals himself, suddenly you understand God's word. Look
at verse nine. He says, they're all plain to
him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.
When I was in high school, teacher, he taught government, the name
of Mr. Schrader. I would always tell
Mr. Schrader, your tests are too easy. You're just making
a mockery of this thing. And he'd say, every test is easy
if you know the right answers. Well, every text of this book,
every verse of this book is easy once you know the answer is Christ.
When you know the answer is Christ, God's Word becomes plain. If
He'll just reveal Christ to us, this Word becomes plain and simple
to understand. But it'll only be plain if God
is pleased to reveal Christ to us. I'll give you two examples. Nicodemus. Now there's a student
of the Scriptures, don't you imagine? I mean, it was his job.
He was a student of the Scriptures. And he knew this man Jesus, now
he's something special. He came to talk to him, didn't
he? And he found out he had absolutely no understanding of those Old
Testament scriptures. He had no understanding of the
new birth. He didn't understand all those Old Testament types
and pictures. He didn't understand the serpent
lifted up on a pole. And if Nicodemus ever did get
any understanding of that, you know when he got understanding
of that? When he saw Christ lifted up on a pole. Then he understood,
but God the Holy Spirit hadn't revealed Christ to him or he
never could understand. He was a master in Israel and
didn't understand. Saul of Tarsus is a second example.
Now there's a student of the scripture, wasn't he? Oh, this
man was, he knew the law. He had not just the 10 commandments
memorized, he had the whole thing memorized. He was so zealous
of that law, But Paul told us Saul had no understanding of
the law, didn't he? He had no understanding that
sin was in him. It's not what he did or what
he didn't do that sin was in him. Saul, he knew the law, but
he had no understanding that he was dead in sin. Until when? He saw Christ. When Christ was
pleased to reveal himself to Saul, Saul gained understanding. He gained wisdom. He said, I
was alive without the law once. I thought I was alive because
I had no understanding of the law. But when I saw Christ, the
commandment came, sin revived, and I died. I suddenly realized
I was dead in sin. Paul, when did you realize that?
When Christ spoke. When he unhorsed me and he revealed
himself to me and spoke. And then the law was so plain
to Paul, but it was after he saw Christ. When he got the key,
every text was simple, wasn't it? Christ is worth listening
to. Everything he says is true. It's
right. It's sweet. And everything he
says is worth listening to because everything he says is so valuable. We don't have anything to compare
it to. Look at verse 10. He says, receive my instruction
and not silver and knowledge rather than choice gold. For
wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may be
desired are not to be compared to it. Just everything you can
think you desire, it cannot be compared to Christ our wisdom. Now, it'd be nice to have a big
old bag of gold, wouldn't it? That'd be nice. You know, we'd
have enough to pay the bills and do whatever we want. That'd
be nice. But that bag of gold is nothing. Absolutely worthless. compared to knowing Christ, compared
to having Christ our wisdom. They're gold valuable now, but
they're coming today, it's gonna be worthless. If Revelations
is telling us a true vision, we're gonna make streets out
of it one day. Just walk on it, you won't even think about it,
it's worthless. But Christ will be eternally the glory and light
of heaven. Nothing can be compared to knowing
him, to having him. And we'd all like to have a big
old bag of precious gems, wouldn't we? Well, if I had a bag of rubies,
I could buy anything I wanted. But Christ is so much more valuable. Christ, having Christ, gives
us what silver and gold and precious gems could never buy. You can
buy a lot of things with gold and silver and precious gems,
but the one thing you can't buy is the redemption of your soul.
Christ gives the redemption of your soul. That's how valuable
He is. Well, then what are we to do?
Seek Him. Seek every opportunity to hear
Him speak. Seek every opportunity to know
Him, to be in the place where He may be pleased to reveal Himself
to you, because His words are life itself. He's going to speak. Oh, I pray He'll speak to us
this morning,