Ecclesiastes chapter 10 and verse
12, verse 12. Let's look at that. Let's read
it first. Ecclesiastes 10 and verse 12. The words of a wise man's mouth
are gracious, but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. We're going to look at the first
part of this verse. And if you have a marginal reading,
let's read it as it is written in the margin. The words of a
wise man's mouth, grace. The words of a wise man's mouth,
grace. The word R is in italics, so
it is implied. It's not in the original, it's
implied. And the word gracious in the
Hebrew is actually grace. The words of a wise man, grace. And we're gonna, God assisting,
we will look at this verse in two lights. In two lights. First, as it applies, to those
whom God has made wise by his matchless grace, preachers and
all of God's elect. The words of a wise man's mouth
speak grace. Whether it's the preacher, or
whether it's one who is redeemed and made wise by God's grace,
that we're going to look at it that way first of all, and then
lastly, secondly, as it finds its ultimate fulfillment in the
person of Jesus Christ who is the wisdom of God and is our
wisdom indeed but let's look at it first those called out
by God's marvelous grace they are wise they're made so by the
free and sovereign grace of Christ by his merits and his worth and
his works So these, as it speaks of here, the words of a wise
man's mouth are gracious. Those who are called out by God's
grace will most certainly speak with their mouths of the things
of grace or graciousness. Now we know In the surface of this verse,
the surface interpretation, or the common interpretation of
this verse in Ecclesiastes 10 and verse 12, the common interpretation
is, and the obvious interpretation is, those whom the Lord deals
with, if He's been gracious to us, we will be gracious. Paul
speaks of this throughout his writings and his letters in the
New Testament. that let not evil communications
proceed out of your mouth, and so on and so forth. And if God
has touched our heart, He touches our mouth also. And so, as I
said, we're going to look at this verse in two different lights. The first as those whom He has
called by His grace, who are made wise, maybe not wise in
the ways of the world, maybe not wise in the ways of men,
but have been made wise by God's super bounding grace. And they
will speak with their tongues, with their lips, with their mouths,
they will speak of things of the grace of God. So again, reading
the first part of Ecclesiastes 10 verse 12, the words of a wise
man, the words of one of God's elect, their mouth, the words
from their mouth are gracious and as I said in the Hebrew that
word is grace they speak grace so I ask you this question as
I was looking this over how can you tell if a person a preacher
a Bible class instructor is wise or if they are just a babbling
fool how can you tell? Well, does that person to those
people, do we speak grace or do we speak about works? I'm just taking a straight line
on this passage. I'm taking, you know, the quickest,
the quickest line, the straightest line. When we are asked. Or when we proclaim the glory
of God, we're going to speak of three things. Those whom God
has called out by His grace. We're going to speak words of
grace, words of graciousness. We're going to speak of, firstly,
the grace of God the Father. When someone asks us, and we're
talking about when someone speaks to us, when someone asks us of
the hope that lies within, Where do you go worship? What do you
worship? Who do you worship? Why do you
worship? All these different things. We're
going to speak because this passage here, the words of a wise man's
mouth are gracious. They speak of grace. We're going
to speak of the grace of God, the Father. We're going to speak
about how he chose a people before the time began. That's grace. That has nothing to do with works. That has nothing to do with our
ability. That has nothing to do with our
decisions. It has everything to do with
the grace of God. Grace of God in the Father. The first person in the Trinity.
We speak of the Father in choosing a people. We speak of the grace
of God In the Father, in choosing a sacrifice for Lord Jesus Christ,
one and only one, to redeem a people, we speak of the grace of God
the Father in deriving the perfect covenant, whereby we can find
and know hope and peace and love in this covenant, in this covenant
God, in this covenant of grace. A wise man, I refer again back
to our text, the words of a wise man's mouth are gracious. They speak of grace and gracious
things. There's no smell or stink of
man-centered doctrine, man-centered religion, man-centered worth.
The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious. We speak of the
grace of God the Father in setting in motion the decree and purpose
in which He, God the Father, will be just and justify His
people. So when we speak gracious things
or speak of grace, we must and we do speak of the grace of God
the Father. Secondly, we speak of the grace
of God the Son in accepting the Father's vision and decree of
becoming His people's surety. That's grace. We had nothing
to do with that. God the Father chose, God the
Son accepted fully to be responsible in our room, in our place, and
in our stead. And where's man at? He's not
in the Bible there. This is a covenant that was thought
about, if I can use these terms, and decreed, and fulfilled before
the world was ever created. We speak of the grace of God
the Son in coming to live and die as our representative and
meteor of that blessed covenant. We speak of the grace of God
in the Son by assuming our nature, being one with us, yet never
leaving the Godhead or compromising God's justice. I was listening
to I listen to quite a few CDs. I listen to Donny Bell and Maurice
and Don Quarters. I don't know who said it. But
what they mentioned was there's no way that this book, this holy
book of grace could have been thought up by man. Because man
would have tried, in here somewhere, he would have tried to get the
glory or put himself in there and elevated, exalted himself.
No one But a thrice holy God, a God
of grace, could have came up with such an uncompromising method
and means and way of salvation other than through an innocent
sacrifice and substitute the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we
see this book and it says the words of a wise man's mouth.
Those who have been made wise have been called by God's grace,
made wise because we were born foolish. We're born unwise in
the ways of God's mercy and grace and covenant. But the words of
a wise man's mouth are gracious, made wise because of what the
father has done, the son has done, the spirit has done for
us. And we speak of the grace of God the Father, the grace
of God the Son, dying in our room and stand interceding for
us and rising on the third day so we would be lifted up with
Him forever. We speak of the grace of God
the Son and thirdly, The words of a wise man are gracious. He says that the words in his
mouth and of his mouth speak of grace, the grace of God, the
Spirit in regenerating us and creating new creatures in Christ
and giving us faith. We cannot produce faith. We cannot
believe on our own or by ourselves or by our own nature. We cannot
produce any of these things that God requires. Be ye perfect as your Heavenly
Father is perfect. How can that be? God the Father, by God the Son,
and quickened by God's Spirit. Those who have been called by
His grace, they speak of grace, not of ourselves. We speak of
sovereign grace, reigning grace, ruling grace through God the
Father, God the Son and God the Spirit in sanctifying us and
causing us to grow in grace, sealing, keeping and helping
us until the day of our final redemption. It's just amazing. We're not in there. We're included
in this covenant, but as far as our abilities and our merits and
where we're at as far as helping God contrive or derive or set
forth this covenant. We're nowhere to be found. Nowhere
to be found. It's all His work. His work. As I mentioned before, brethren,
I say again, we are not wise. As this text in Ecclesiastes
sets forth, the words of a wise man or woman's mouth are gracious. They speak of grace. But we are
not wise in and of ourselves. No books can reveal these things
in us. No works, no free will, no religion
can create faith and or save us. Only the wisdom of God in
the person of Jesus Christ can and does give us this wisdom
or salvation. And then we can apply this verse
to ourselves. Verse 12, the words of a wise
man, the elect. Their mouth speaks the things
of grace, graciousness. But once the sinner is touched
By grace in the heart and soul, words of wisdom and grace come
forth. We are born speaking lies, foolishness,
falseness. But through the super abounding
regenerative work, the Father, the Son, the Spirit, we speak
wise words. Well, what's the difference?
Of grace. Well, what happened? It's the
same thing that happened to those two thieves on the cross. You've
got both of them on either side of Christ at one moment agreeing,
casting the same... unto Christ, casting the same
form of hatred and vileness and corruption and cursing and bitterness
and then you've got one of them turns and says and rebukes the
other wise words of grace and then he looks at Christ and I'll
guarantee you anytime in this book in every place where there's
a heart cry for mercy that's because grace has been applied
to the heart. What made the difference? Something
he did? Something he thought? Something
he said? No. The true wisdom of God made the
difference. That is, Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. That man saw only because he
was shown. That man saw only because it
was revealed. That man had words of a fool,
words not of grace, but of filth and corruption, but then words
fit for a wise man because his words and lips spoke of grace. That's not man's free will. You
know, if there's any place where man's free will was set uninhibited,
it was in the garden. And we fell as quick as we could
in Adam and Eve. Another place, the Lord Jesus
Christ walked perfectly, honorably, humbly, doing good, doing miracles. And when man had his way with
Him, what did they do? Oh, they smote Him, they spit
upon Him. Plucked off face from His beard,
from His face. Cursed Him, hollered at Him,
mocked Him, jeered Him. That's us by nature. Oh, not
wise, but fools. Not words of grace, but of hate
and cruelty and corruption. So how can it be? Grace touches
the heart and makes the lips and the mouth speak of grace.
It's contrary to our nature. It's contrary to our nature.
It must be by divine nature, divine revelation. Well, the
first point was, as we were to look at this passage in two lights,
one, the wise person as those who have been made wise through
the grace of God. And before I go to the second
point, which is truly speaking of the ultimate fulfillment of
this passage, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the wise man,
contrast this first point Only the fool, whether they be a preacher
or anybody else in religion or out of religion, only the fool
speaks of man's wisdom, man's works, and man's ways. I don't
care if it's tradition or if it's not, if it doesn't hold
according to the testimony of this book, it's because the truth
is not in them. That's just all there is to it.
And no matter how eloquent no matter what oratorical ability
they may possess, no matter how many schools they've been to
or seminaries, they are not the words of wise men, they are the
words of fools, and their mouth is not full of gracious things
or grace, but of works, and law, and legality. But oh, secondly,
we reread this verse, the words of a wise man's mouth are gracious
and as it is written in Hebrew the words of a wise man's mouth
grace Christ yes Christ was truly speaking grace and living grace
as it may ever be defined he is the wise man and we've seen
this in Proverbs when we spoke of the wisdom of God in Christ
he is our wisdom Christ spoke as when he walked on this earth.
He spoke and sinners were healed. The words of the wise man's mouth
are gracious. Can you imagine? Can you imagine
just physically in all the miracles that Christ performed? And I
was reading a bunch of them the other night. You just get overwhelmed
and overjoyed And your heart just leaks within you when you're
reading in the New Testament in Christ. He was so exhausted,
but he would always find time to help and to heal and to minister
grace to those here. He would speak. He would say,
rise up and take your pallet. And that person would rise up
and take their pallet and walk off. He would touch someone and
they would be healed. He would touch their eyes and
they would see. He spoke to sinners who were blind and they saw light. He spoke to sinners who could
not walk and they were able to walk. He spoke and sinners who could not pray, prayed. And this is spiritual to our
application because we heal spiritually. We who were blind are now seeing. We who could not walk, walk with
him now. And we who could not pray, we
would not hear our prayers because they were so tied up with self. Oh, he speaks. He's our mediator
and ever intercedes, ever lives to make intercession for us. He speaks to sinners who once
mocked, as we all did. Now, when he speaks to us through
his word, through the preaching of his gospel, now we are bowed
in humble adoration and we worship. That leper came down and said,
Lord, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. And Christ,
look at our text, the words of a wise man's mouth are gracious. He said, I will. He said, I will. Oh, I hope and
pray that you and I never get over the words, the gracious
words of Christ our wise man. Turn to Leviticus chapter 13. I love this passage. We've been
here many times. Leviticus chapter 13. We have
a beautiful picture. A beautiful picture. of a priest, a high priest or
priest and a leper. That's Christ in us. And In verse
1 of Leviticus chapter 13, And the Lord spake unto Moses and
Aaron, saying, When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh
a rising scab, a bright spot, and it shall be in the skin of
his flesh like the plague of leprosy, then shall he be brought
unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priest. Which,
like I said, it's a beautiful picture of salvation. Beautiful
picture of Christ as our high priest. And us, who are full
of leprosy. Verse 3 the priest shall look
on the plague in the skin and the flesh and when the hair of
the plague is turned white and The plague in the sights be deeper
than the skin of his flesh it is a plague of leprosy and the
priest shall look on that sinner that person you and I and Pronounce
him unclean. That's what we are by birth.
We are lepers spiritual lepers by birth It doesn't matter how
how much talcum powder how much? We're sinners by birth. We're
sinners in our representative, Adam. It doesn't take long for
us, once the mouth is opened, to see how deep that stain of
sin has gotten into us. So here's the situation. End
of verse 4. They look at it, and it's still
in the skin, and it's deeper in the skin, and then they set
him away, they shut him out for seven days, and then he comes
back, and they look at him, and he's still got the plague, and
they shut him out for seven days, and he comes back, and back and
forth, back and forth. Verse 9, When the plague of leprosy
is in a man, then he shall be brought to the priest, and the
priest shall see him, and behold, if the rising be white in the
skin, and have turned the hair white, And there be quick raw
flesh in the rising. This is an old leprosy in the
skin of his flesh. And the priest shall pronounce
him unclean, and shall not shut him up, for he is unclean. But
now look at verse 12. This just makes no sense. But
it makes no sense. The gospel of God's grace makes
no sense to us outside, outside looking in. But it has to be
revealed. And if a leprosy break out, Abroad
in the skin and the leprosy cover all the skin And the plague is
from his head to his foot Wheresoever the priest looks now. I would
say that's pretty bad. That's about as bad as you can get It's
not just a rising in the skin. It's not a bump. It's not a scam.
It's from the head to the toe But it's when God by his free
will Words of wisdom and grace causes us to see that we are
completely leprous. Most of our problem is that we're
partial lepers. We're bad, but we're not as bad as this person.
We're OK. We were raised that way. That's
our problem. The problem is usually not our
sin. As one preacher said, the problem
that we have is our righteousness. It's got to all be cast aside.
It's got to be done away with. But so this person, he's got
leprosy. It's from the top of his head
to the bottom of his flesh. Look at verse 13. Then the priest
shall consider, and behold, the leprosy hath covered all his
flesh. He shall pronounce him clean. He shall pronounce him
clean. that had the plague. It is all
turned white. He's clean. It doesn't make any
sense. No. The gospel to natural man
does not make sense. But it's when you and I are convicted
completely and fully of our state before a thrice holy God, we see Him as wise man who can
kill us or save us, condemn us or redeem us. We see him as all
wise, all sovereign and us as all vile and capable of doing
anything if left to ourselves. And then those words of grace
come in. You're clean. You're clean. Pronounce did you notice that
did you notice that in our text? verse 13 the priest shall pronounce
back to our text pronounce the words The pronunciations the
pronouncement of a wise man's mouth in this case the Lord Jesus
Christ our gracious Our fool, what did they say about Christ
full of grace and truth? He has but to speak such wonderful
words of graciousness to your heart and to my heart and we
are clean, we are pardoned, we are redeemed. And we can sing
like that song written so many years ago, redeemed, redeemed,
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. How can a vile rebel like me,
the one standing before you tonight, This preacher, so-called preacher,
so-called husband, so-called... How can I, a vile rebel like
me, say such a thing as this? Because he has spoken. This supreme
wise man spoke to my heart one day and said, Grace. Grace. Where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. He hath lived for me. That's
grace. He hath died for my sins. That's grace. He hath risen from
the dead and let captivity captive. That's grace. And now, right
now, this very moment, seated at the right hand of God for
me, interceding on my behalf, that is grace. Not a lick of works involved,
but his works. He's interceding for us. I close
with this, and I ask, have you heard this wise man's words? Let's re-read the text and close.
The words of a wise man's mouth. Grace. Grace. May he be glorified and honored
in all things.