Proverbs 1. I mean, I'm sorry, that's not chapter
2. We've gone through chapter 1. We're in chapter 2, verse 6 tonight. We looked at the first five verses
of chapter 2 last week. But look at this verse in chapter
2, verse 6. For the Lord giveth wisdom. You think about what he's been
saying. Wisdom incline your ear to it apply your heart unto it
cry after it. You remember what we talked about
last week and Here he says for God gives it He gives it Out
of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding Do you know
who he gives it to? Those who seek it and ask for
it and apply their heart to it And then climb their ear to it
and cry after it. That's what he gives it to. You
see how each sheds light on the other. We don't cry in vain. We don't
seek in vain. Seek and you'll find, he said. Our Lord said this also in Luke
11. Look at Luke chapter 11, verse
5. Let's look at a few. passages of scripture tonight
Luke 11 5 He said unto you which of you
shall have a friend Shall go unto him at midnight and say
unto him friend lend me three loaves For a friend of mine in
his journey has come to me and I have nothing to set before
him. I And he from within shall answer and say, trouble me not.
It's midnight after all. That's why he's saying that. He may well say that at midnight.
Don't trouble me. The door is now shut. My children
are with me in bed. You're going to wake up my kids.
And I cannot rise and give thee. I can't help you. I say unto
you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his
friend, yet Because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as
many as he needs. And I say unto you, ask, and
it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth. We've talked about this before.
You may not receive what you're asking for, but you receive. You receive better than what
you ask for. You receive what you need. Isn't
that better? I'm glad he don't always give
me what I ask for. I receive from God every good
gift. Everything that's for my good.
Everybody that asks, receives. And he that seeks finds, and
he that knocks. What did he say? Apply your heart,
cry after it. You knock on his door. And what's
he teaching here? That, well, God doesn't really
love you that much, but if you bug him enough, he'll... Because
that's the picture there, you know. That man didn't open the
door because that was his friend. He opened the door because he
was tired of hearing about it. Isn't that what it was? But he's
not saying, he's not comparing that to our Lord. He's contrasting
that to our Lord. He's saying even somebody that
when you cross the bounds of friendship, you'll still get what you seek
if you ask, if it's important to you. But God's not like that. He's going to open the door.
Look at another, look at Luke 18. 1 through 8, just a few pages over.
And this is important now because I've heard that taught that we
should just keep bugging the Lord about it and He'll give
it to us. Well, we should pray earnestly. And Paul sought three
times that the Lord would remove that thorn in the flesh from
him. There's not a thing wrong with continuing to ask for that
that we that we desire and that's important to us, that's vital.
And we see it as something that glorifies Him and something that'll
be good for us and His people, His church, something that honors
Him. And we just seek it and seek
it and seek it. There's nothing wrong with that. But don't get
the idea that that's what He's teaching there, that if you just
bug God enough, He'll give it. No, no, no. Look at Luke 18,
verse 1. He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought
always to pray. Isn't that what Solomon's teaching
now? We're not straying far from our text here. This is exactly
what he said. Seek, ask, incline, apply, cry. And our Lord taught you ought
always to pray. And don't faint. Don't be weary. Don't give up. always pray and he said there
was in a city a judge which feared not God neither regarded man
and there was a widow in that city and she came unto him saying
avenge me of my adversary and he would not for a while but
afterward he said within himself though I fear not God nor regard
man yet because this widow troubleth me she just keeps coming and
bothered me about it I will avenge her lest by her continual coming
she weary me All right. Is the Lord teaching that, that,
you know, he don't really care anything about us, but he just
gets tired of hearing it. So he'll just say, no. We know
better than that. The Lord said, hear what the
unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect,
if a judge that even, he don't even care about her and he'll
still avenge her? Will not God avenge his elect,
which cry day and night, though he bear long with them? I tell
you that he will avenge them speedily, not reluctantly like
the judge, speedily. It's a contrast, not a comparison. You see that? He's not like that
unjust judge. He's saying that even in that
case, he's arguing from the lesser to the greater. How much more
will God give you what you ask for? He loves you. He'll give
you speedily a minute you come. If it's right, if it's good,
he'll, now he'll do it in his time, in his good time. He knows
not only what to give, he knows when to give it. And we don't
know. But it's not reluctance on his
part when he, doesn't immediately give us what we need. Oh no,
it's blessing. It's wisdom. It's good for you
and me. You see that? He'll do it speedily. He's contrasting himself. If
God does not give us what we ask for, it's not because he's
reluctant as this judge or because he's not friend enough to induce
for us to induce him to respond as with the man in chapter eleven
he's saying here that even they will respond even if not for
the right reason but god will speedily help his elect he not only gives us what's good
for us as opposed to sometimes what we ask for but he gives
it at exactly the right time and that's such a blessing he
gives wisdom he gives wisdom. Turn to James 1. Now this is important. We're
somewhat familiar with this scripture, but you know the way the Lord
teaches us things is we see scripture we've seen before, but we see
it in the context of a different passage that we're studying.
And scripture sheds light on scripture. We'll see things we
didn't see before because of the context from which we're
to which we're applying it, rightly dividing his word by his grace.
Now, look at verse five. If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God. Is that what Solomon said? Let him ask God that giveth to
all liberally, generously, freely, and upbraideth not. He's not
gonna make fun of you for not knowing anything. That's what
that is. Now you look it up. He's not
going to shame you. He'll be giving him. I tell you
what, I'm going to have to hang on to that. Aren't you? I'm going
to have to hang on to that promise because I need wisdom. With Paul, I say, who is sufficient
for these things? My sufficiency is going to be
the same as his. It's going to be of God. And he said right
here, you ask and I'll give it to you. It pleased God that Solomon asked
for wisdom. And then Solomon turned right
around and told us, ask for wisdom. Didn't he? Let him ask now in
faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like
a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. Let not
that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
You have to ask believing on his son, trusting his son, believing
his word. Concerning what you are before
him by nature, concerning who he is, concerning what's good
for you, and concerning what's glorifying to him. Don't lean
on your own understanding in those things. James said, if
you don't believe on him, you might as well not, you got no
use asking. an unbeliever that's just asking
for prosperity in this world and things like that, you're
not going to get what you're asking for. You don't believe
God when he said that that's nothing. Riches make themselves
wings and fly away. Don't seek after the bread that
entereth into the body and goeth out of the body and is gone.
Seek that bread that I can give you, that if you eat of it, you'll
never hunger again. Seek that bread. Do you believe
him? Then quit seeking the prosperity
of this world. You ask a miss, James said in
another play. Let not that man think he'll
receive anything. A double-minded man is unstable in all of his
ways. That's exactly what he's talking about. Many ask for wisdom
so they can prosper in this world. To consume it on their own loss,
he said, you ask a miss, you're not going to receive that. You
don't believe God or you wouldn't ask for it. That wouldn't be
the primary thing now. Of course we want to prosper
in what we do in this world for his glory. and not to consume
it on our own lust. May God give us grace to ask,
and not only to ask, not just to learn the mechanics of prayer, but
to truly desire wisdom, to desire it. For that to be the desire
of our heart, to be wise in that which glorifies Him.
and that which is truly good for our soul. And then, first we see that God gives wisdom.
Thank His holy name. He gives wisdom. And then, what
Solomon is saying here too is this. If you're going to have
wisdom, you're going to have to get it from Him. God gives
wisdom. We put the emphasis on the give.
He gives wisdom. Thank God He gives wisdom. But
let's put the emphasis on the first word, too. God gives wisdom. You're not going to have any
without Him. Of God is Christ made unto us
wisdom. Of Him. Now we've said that God
gives wisdom to those who seek Him, but who seeks Him? Psalm
14, two says, the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children
of men to see if there were any that did seek, understand and
seek God. And we know what he saw. He saw
that they were all gone out of the way. There were none that
did good altogether become unprofitable. Nobody's seeking God by nature. They're not ever going to, you
say, well, that's, that's talking about Noah's generation. Do you
think this generation is better than Noah's? Yeah. I mean, either. No man naturally seeks. And so
who are these seekers that Solomon's talking about? That God gives
wisdom to. He gives to those who seek. Well,
who are those who seek? Did not the Lord say in Jeremiah
29, 13, you shall seek me and find me when you shall search
for me with all your heart. Well, when are we going to do
that? Well, we know the answer to that question already, don't
we? The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, because there's foolishness to it. That's not sometimes,
in some cases, that's in every case. The natural man says that
what God says is foolishness. He does all the things that Solomon
said he does. He refuses. He stiffens his neck
against the Word of God. He runs from it. refuses the
counsel, rejects the counsel of God, because they're foolishness,
and neither can he know him, Paul said, because they're spiritually
discerned. He's unwilling and unable to
seek God, to receive his word. And this is why God said to Nicodemus,
why the Lord Jesus said to him, that which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. And
if you're gonna see and enter into the kingdom of God, you're
gonna have to be born of the spirit. You can't see God's kingdom,
much less seek it, unless you're born from above. If you ever
see, you'll seek. But you won't see, Christ said,
until you're born, born again. He said to his disciples, blessed
are your eyes for they see. To you it's given, they don't
see because it's not given to them to know. It's as clear as
it can be now. And so, if we're to seek we're going
to have to have a heart to seek and that comes from God. Paul said to Timothy in 2nd Timothy
3.14, continuing the things which thou hast learned and has been
assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. Knowing that
you didn't figure it out on your own, flesh and blood didn't reveal
it to you. It's like with Peter, it's my father, it's God. You know him because God, and
that from a child thou hast known. You've known it from God and
you've known it from a child. The Holy Scriptures, which are
able to make you wise. There's our word. God gives wisdom. You're not going to get it any
other way. He's going to have to give it. And he gives it through his scriptures,
which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith,
which is in Christ Jesus. That's how a sinner receives
wisdom, right there. He's going to seek it. He's going
to seek it because God gave him a heart to seek it. And he's
going to find it in the gospel, God's word. Christ is going to
be revealed to him by the preaching of the gospel. Christ must open
our understanding that we might understand the scriptures. God
gives wisdom. Those who walked with Christ
on the road to Emmaus, they were aware of the events that had
taken place. They said, don't you know what's happened? Are
you from somewhere else? But they didn't see in the scriptures
why they had taken place or what had been accomplished by those
events, by the one who accomplished them. In other words, they didn't
see Christ or His purpose of grace accomplished in these events.
It was just events to them. And this was pictured by the
fact, and I never had seen this before, this was pictured by
the fact that they were looking right at Him. He's walking with
them and they didn't know who He was. That is a picture of their lack
of understanding of the scriptures. They were looking right there
at the word of God that said that these things would happen
and they didn't know what it was that they were looking at. Our lack of understanding, our
lack of wisdom and understanding always has at the root of it
This very thing, we don't see and know Christ and his purpose,
his finished victorious work of redemption. If you missed
Christ and him crucified, you've missed, plum missed everything
that God has. If you read this book and it
doesn't make sense to you, it's because you cannot recognize
Christ crucified in it like they could not at that time. You're
looking right at him in his word and you don't know him. Just
like they walked with him. They didn't have any idea who
he was. And then when he revealed himself to them, they said, didn't
our hearts burn? And this is exactly what he said
to the Pharisees. You search the scriptures, you
think you have life in the scriptures, but the scriptures testify of
me and you won't come to me. You're looking at the scriptures
which testify of me. You're looking right at me and
you don't know who I am. You're not going to come to me
that you might have life because they couldn't see him. Just like those ones. on that
road. They were looking right at him
and didn't know who they were looking at. The difference between
these Pharisees and those on that road to Emmaus, though,
is that on that road, Christ began with Moses and all the
prophets, and he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the
things concerning himself. And he said unto them, these
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. That's the difference
between them and those Pharisees. Revelation. An understanding
was given. God giveth wisdom. God does that. You see, Solomon
is saying here that God's willing to give wisdom. Thank God he
is. He gives liberally. He upbraideth
not. He gives to all freely who ask. He's also saying here that only
God gives wisdom. When Peter was able to know and
profess who Christ is, thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. The Lord told him where that
came from. That's still where it comes from. If you know him
tonight, that's why that's out. And me too. Solomon has said,
now wisdom is crying in the streets. And we asked the question then,
when we saw that in chapter one, Who or what is this wisdom that's
crying in the streets? Is he just talking about some
illusory principle of some kind? Wisdom? No, we see the answer
here. It's the voice of the Lord. Wisdom's crying in the streets?
Well, what is that? Who is that? God gives wisdom. It's the one who Paul said is
himself, the wisdom and power of God. God gives him. Well, how do we seek the Lord? Well, we know why. If we're going
to seek him, it's going to be by his grace. He's going to have
to draw. If we come, he draws. If we seek,
he gives the heart. If we repent, I believe it was
Jeremiah that said, turn us and we'll be turned. It's because
he turned us. It's His grace and power in us. We already saw last week, and
we read it. This week in Jeremiah 29, 13,
we seek with all of our heart. That's the first answer. How
do you seek the Lord? We know why. How are you going to seek
Him? If you seek Him, you're going to do it with all your
heart. There's going to have to be. You know, those of you who know
Him, you know this. There is going to have to be
a forsaking in there. There's going to be a seeking.
He said, He that will come after me if he forsake not what he
has. If he forsakes not his way. Those ones this morning, what
did they do? They left him and went their way. You're going
to have to forsake your way if you're going to seek him. There's
gonna be a seeking with all the heart if we're gonna find now This is not perfect nothing we
do is perfect we understand that But we read we read this verse
last week in 2nd Chronicles 31 20, let me read it to you again
thus did Hezekiah throughout throughout all Judah and and
wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord
his God and in every work that he began in the service of the
house of God and in the law and in the commandments to seek his
God. He did it with all his heart
and prospered. He sought with all of his heart
and he found. James taught us that we seek
him by faith. That's number two. We seek Him
with all of our heart. There's going to be some commitment
in there. And then we seek Him by faith. We just read that,
didn't we? If you ask and seek the Lord
and inquire of Him and do it not by faith, you're not going
to receive anything from Him. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. If you don't believe on His Son,
if you don't honor His Son, He's not going to give you anything.
but what you deserve. James said don't let that man
think he's going to receive anything from God. You're going to seek
him by faith if you're going to seek him. If you're going
to truly seek him. Believe the record that God has
given concerning his son and seek him. That's why we seek
him. That's true seeking. If you say
you don't You believe the record that God gave or maybe you say
you do and you really don't. But you say, well, I'm just seeking
the Lord. No, you're seeking your own prosperity. You're seeking
a place in heaven. You're seeking a mansion. You're
seeking streets of gold. You're not seeking Him. Me neither. We have to believe. We have to
submit and be committed to Him. And that's why we, if you believe
Him, that's why you seek Him. Because you know your need of
him and you know his glorious grace and his, how wonderful
he is. How would you not seek him if
you ever get a glimpse of him? And I'll tell you this, you can
seek him early. You can seek him early. Does that mean you
wake up early in the morning and pray? That's a good idea,
but that's not what it means. You know what early means? It
means right now. Seek him early. He said in chapter one that you
didn't heed when I called unto you. You refused all of my counsel. But there's gonna come a time
that you're gonna seek me early and you will not find me. That early is too late. It's
this early that you need to seek him. And I do. Now, Now you think about what he said
there in chapter 1 verse 28. You don't have to even look at
it. You remember what he said. He said, I called and you refused. I called and you refused. And
so I'm going to laugh at your calamity. And when you do seek
me, I'm not going to be found of you. So I got a question for
you. Is he calling you now? You think
about that. This ain't a preacher calling
you to come down an aisle. It's God calling you. He says,
I called and you refused. Is he calling you? Refusing him is of eternal consequence. I could scream that if it would
help, but it wouldn't help. You've got to hear God, not me. Verse seven, he layeth up sound
wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler to them that
walk uprightly. He layeth up. You know what that
means? It's just, it's already prepared
and just waiting on you. His wisdom. He's got it laid
up for you until the time, the fullness of time comes. That
time of love. He's going to open your eyes
and you're going to behold his son. And you're never going to be
the same again. He's laid it up for you. He's purposed it
from the foundation of the world for you. If you are his, if you're
righteous in Christ Jesus, that is blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And God says, I got wisdom stored
up for you. Just waiting for the right time.
This thing of God's God's economy of grace, his purposes of grace
towards sinners, this is not a crapshoot that religion talks
about, that he's done all he can do and now it's up to you
and God's waiting. You know, you know what I'm talking
about. This is not God waiting over
in the corner for you to get good and ready. Seek him he has
ordained the exact moment that you will seek him and that you
will find and he's already got wisdom laid up for you He's ordained the exact moment
in time when the light will come on and you'll say I see It's already been ordained of
God and he said he's a buckler he's a defense he's a shield
and to them that walk uprightly. It is at the peril of your own
soul that you refuse him. But once you seek him and find
him, you never have any peril after that. That's what he's
saying. If God gives us wisdom and we
walk in his wisdom, we're safe. Safe. Verse eight, he keeps the
paths of judgment and preserveth the way of his saints. The paths and the way are mentioned
in this verse. Let's look at those two words
first, the paths and the way. This is that way that we talked
about recently, that way spoken of in the book of Acts. Believers
were described as those who are of this way. Wisdom is not words
in a book only. Let me say that again. It's not
science. Though his written word is his
revelation of himself, but wisdom is a way. Faith works. Love does. And we saw how that
love describes the kind of wisdom that God gives. Paul said, if
I understand all mysteries and have all faith, if I believe
everything that God ever wrote and have not love, I'm nothing.
If it's all just here, He'll just puff me up and make me proud
and self-righteous. That's all it'll do. I got to
have the love of God should have brought in my heart. And that's
the kind of wisdom He gives. And the kind of faith that God
gives causes a sinner to not only believe on Christ, but to
fall in love with Him so that we must have Him. That's what
wisdom is. It's when you see Him in so much
that you've got to have Him, that you love Him, that you...
You can't be denied. Cannot let him go and you will
not go away. Wisdom's a way of life. It's
to follow him throughout life. That's what he's talking about,
the paths and the way. God preserves you in those. The
life of faith. We walk his paths. We travel
every day in his way. It's not walking down an aisle,
it's every step you take is for Him from that point on. This
world is crucified to you and you to it. And here are two more key words,
keepeth and preserveth. in those paths and way he keeps
and preserves. While we do walk in his way,
David said, yea, though I walk, though his way leads me through
the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. Why? Because he's with
me. Keeping, preserving, not going
to fear. Peter said in 1 Peter 1 5, we're
kept by the power of God through faith. unto salvation, ready
to be revealed in the last time. And then verse nine, then shalt
thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity, yea,
every good path. He just talked about our paths,
our way. And he said, this is when you're
going to know the way. and have desire to go in the
way and be kept in the way. When is that? Right where we
started. When God gives you wisdom. That's
what he said. God giveth wisdom. And when he
does, you'll understand. God don't give it in vain. If
God has something for you, you're gonna get it. Religion talks about, well, God's
got a wonderful plan for your life, but You, you, you, you. That's not my God. If God has
something for me, I'm going to receive it. If God gives you
wisdom, you're going to understand. He opened their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures, and they never were
the same after that. And then he said, when God gives
wisdom, we'll understand Righteousness. Do you understand righteousness? Those ones that Paul talked about
in Romans chapter 10, they didn't understand righteousness. They
wouldn't have been going about to establish their own righteousness
if they had any idea what righteousness was. They didn't understand it.
How are they going to understand it? God's going to have to give
them wisdom. This isn't complicated, is it? It's just offensive. We're at his mercy now. Ask is what I, that's what I
recommend. Ask. He don't have to give you wisdom.
You must understand righteousness. Because if you don't, you're
going to be like them. You're going to go about establishing your own and
calling that righteousness and you're going to go to hell. Standing
in that righteousness. Bill Davis Shuhite asked in Job
25 for, how then can man be justified? with God. How can he be clean
that is born of a woman? Behold, even to the moon, and
it shineth not, yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man than is a worm,
and the son of man than is a worm. How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? Do you know the answer to that?
Then you understand righteousness. Do you understand anything of
the righteousness that God requires of the sinner? And how man can be that righteous? Do you know how God can be just
and justify you? This is what Solomon says, you'll
know if God gives you wisdom. You'll understand righteousness.
Paul said we're justified freely by His grace, through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. That's how you're going to be
righteous before God. And that's the righteousness God requires.
You've got to be perfect. You've got to be as righteous
as He is. How's that? By His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in His blood. You don't have to believe in
His blood. To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness, that he might be just, that God
might be holy, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Paul just answered Bildad's question right there. How can man be just
with God? By God's grace, through the blood
of his son. Is that complicated? Do you understand that? It seems like it'd be hard to
miss, doesn't it? It's so clear. It's so simple. And yet few there be that find.
Few. Do you see, do you understand
how it is only by the shed blood of God's spotless Lamb that we
can be clean who are born of a woman. In Adam all died, all
whom he represented, but all whom Christ represents are made
alive by his righteousness and shed
blood. It's only because he bore our sins and the judgment of
God against our sins that we can be judged guiltless by God
Almighty, justified. May God give us understanding
in these things. In righteousness. What else did he say? In judgment.
Do you understand judgment? Do you understand that Christ
is the judge of all the earth, of all men? And that we will
be judged of God? And that he's right to judge
us? I understand the word there is
discernment. Do you discern the things of
God? Paul said, we who are spiritual, who have been born of the spirit,
not carnal, but not in our natural self, but born of the spirit,
which are spiritual, we discern all things. We discern the things
of God, the truth of God, how God can be just and justify us.
And equity. Equity. Everything crooked will
be made straight. And we're praising for it in
every good path. Do you understand every good
path? As we said this morning, people
talk about, well, I just want to do God's will. Do you have
any idea what God's doing? What He's up to? We've got to
know what He's doing before we can be in on it, don't we? That's
the good path right there. To be used of God in that which
God is doing. What's he doing? He's glorifying
his son. And he's saving his people from their sin by the
preaching of the gospel. That's why he said to us, go
and preach. Do you know every good path? Do you know what you
should do tomorrow? What path to go down tomorrow?
If God gives you wisdom, you will. Do you know how to make good
decisions on things? Every good path. Which path do I take? Do
you know which one? If God gives you wisdom, you
will. You'll take the one that honors his son. But not until he gives wisdom. May he give us understanding.
that we might cease to go about establishing our own righteousness
and submit to the righteousness of God and desire to follow Him,
to desire the good path, the path of His glory. By His grace. Let's pray together.