Here we have a preface, or a
preface I should say, of what's going to be. He's not saying
anything new or anything different than he's already said. He's
continuing the same instruction as he has started all throughout
Proverbs. It's not changed, not changed
a bit. When you hear people changing the message, the message doesn't
change. The message is Christ is all. If we start preaching
something other than that, we fail to preach the gospel. We
fail to preach the gospel. But this is for instruction that's
going to follow. This is to prepare our hearts
for whatever instruction Solomon, whatever the Lord's laid upon
Solomon to write. These words are inspired by the
Lord. So we know that they're his words. Whatever instruction,
whatever command that we're going to be receiving, the Lord must
prepare our heart. And he does so by the first two words he
says is my son. He's talking to him in a, which
could be Solomon's natural son, sure. But this is the Lord talking
to his people. This is the Lord talking to his sheep. It's not
a new set of commandments, but he's just reiterating the same
thing over and over. And somebody said, well, that
kind of gets old. Well, we kind of need that a
lot because we're so soon to forget. Prone to wonder, Lord,
I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.
It's true, isn't it? Prone to wonder away, prone to
be distracted, even sitting. I could be distracted while preaching.
There's so many things can happen that just your mind will wonder
and then you lose a thought. two years ago doing something
in a garden. You know, it's just, that's how
our minds work. We have to be, we have to be reminded. We have to be brought to the
place where only the Lord can bring us. And that's at the feet
of Christ and calls us to worship him, calls us to enter in. Brethren,
what this is not is it is not a message of health, wealth and
prosperity. We must always be careful when we read scripture,
when we're studying scripture, whenever the message is preached,
have the singular focus of the message. The singular focus of
the scripture is Christ and Christ alone. If we fail to see that
one specific object, the object of our faith. If we fail to see
him, then we're going to miss the point entirely. We're going
to make it a humanitarian issue at best rather than a spiritual
matter. But only whenever he's the central point will his truth
be revealed. This is a confirmation that if
faith is given to the Lord's people, and it is, if the Lord
gives us faith to believe it, it's unto eternal life. It's
not for health, wealth, and prosperity. Yes, you'll live a better life
if you follow the precepts of what the Lord has commanded,
things to stay away from, things not to do. I mean, you could
shorten Uh, if you're going to drive recklessly, you have a
higher chance of wrecking. I mean, you're going to drive
faster than the speed limits. You have a chance of getting ticket. There's
consequences for our actions. You know, we know the Lord purposes
all things, but that doesn't excuse us to be frivolous. We have to have faith to believe
this. We have to have faith to understand it, faith to comprehend
it. And I pray he'll give us that tonight. Chapter seven, verse one says,
my son, keep my words and lay up my commandments with thee.
Keep my commandments and live my law as the apple of thine
eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of
thine heart. Say into wisdom, thou art my sister, and call
understanding thy kinswoman, that they may keep thee from
the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
I've titled this message, All in All. All in all, that's what
Christ has made into his people. Listen to 1 Corinthians chapter
15. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall
the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things
under him, that God may be all in all. The Lord Jesus Christ
is made all to his people by God. He's made all of our wisdom,
he's made all of our righteousness, all of our sanctification, all
of our redemption, all of our justification. He is all to us. We've already established that
these words that he's saying here previously in keeping the
commandments, keeping the ordinances or the law, it's not for justification
nor for salvation. That's not what this is for.
This is a warning to look unto the Lord and his word. to not
look to self, not look to circumstance, not look to the strange woman
and the one that flatters. We know that strange woman is
mixing law and grace. And we know the one that flatters
is the one that lies on God. The one that says things that's
contrary to what the Lord says. Those whom God elected, he's
caused to look to his son, who is the end of the law for righteousness.
We can, we know that for sure. And they that are in the flesh
cannot please God. So this is not, instruction, uh, to do something
to obtain eternal life. No, we do this. How do we fulfill
the law? We look to Christ who's the fulfillment
of the law. We don't look to self. How do
we keep the law? Well, we can't keep the law, but he did. So
we looked to him. That's how we keep it. He kept it. We keep
it in him. That's the good news of the gospel. The good news
of the gospel is that whenever he. died for his people, he united
us back to him and unto the Father. And this is, I'm getting ahead
of myself a little bit, that's later on, but in this union that
we have with him, now we have fulfilled the law's demands in
Christ. Now we have satisfied all the demands of God for us
to be perfectly righteous. We've been made the righteousness
of God in Christ. Christ is the one that did all of it. We don't
get any glory for it, but that's what happened. That's why he's
all to us. That's why he's all to us. Only way to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ is by his grace through his freely bestowed faith.
Won't believe it otherwise. Won't look to him otherwise.
Now notice here, he gives us one of the most blunt remedies
for the strange woman and the one that has the flattering tongue.
Look at it, verse five. That's what it says. They may
keep thee from the strange woman and from the stranger with fighters
with her words. But look at the verse four. Say unto wisdom thou
art my sister and call unto understanding thy kin's woman. He's telling
you that's the remedy. Wisdom is the remedy. Understanding
is the remedy. And neither of those can we acquire
in and of ourself. Neither of those can we get by
doing. Neither of those can we search
out and find. Those are gifts by God, by his
grace, given freely to his people. That's what wisdom is. We have
to understand the subject of wisdom. Christ is wisdom. That's what wisdom is. It's him.
And if he doesn't reveal himself to us, we won't have any wisdom.
And same with understanding. The Lord has to reveal understanding. Proverbs 3 says, happy is the
man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding. The source and substance of both
wisdom and understanding is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what
I was trying to say a second ago. The sum and substance, the source
of it, and the substance of it is the Lord Jesus Christ. Can't
have wisdom without having Christ. Can't have understanding without
having Christ. The Lord revealing it. That's the good, the good
news of the gospel is that's exactly what he does. Whenever
he saved his people on the cross of Calvary from their sin, that
was the full satisfaction of the Father equals us coming to
the understanding that he's God and we're not, that he's the
Savior and we're not, that we can't do anything to save ourself,
but he saved us from our sin. That's our hope. That's what
the understanding that we come to. Here he calls these two, something
else, he calls these two sister. Call wisdom sister and kin's
woman. Call understanding kin's woman.
Well, what does that mean? Well, I'm reminded over in Song of Solomon chapter four,
our Lord calls his church, his sister, calls his church, his
sister, my beloved. He calls his spouse too, but
he calls the church his sister as well. Remember in Matthew
chapter 12, he says, for whosoever shall do the will of my father,
which is in heaven, the same is my brother and my sister and
mother. That's what the Lord said. What
does he mean? Well, what he's telling us, what we're being,
What we're being taught is he's all to his people. He condescended
to be a faithful high priest in so much that he was tempted
at all points as we are in order for you and I to have everything
we need in Christ alone. Father, mother, brother, sister,
what did the Lord say? I came to set at variance. Father,
son, father, daughter, and mother. That word variance is to cut
in two with a sword. It's to sever. What did he mean
by that? Well, he's simply saying you
can't have. Your love for them get in the way of your love for
me. He says anybody that doesn't hate their father, their mother,
their sister, their brother, they're not worthy of me. What
is he talking about? He's saying we can't have two
masters. We cannot love man. We cannot love family over our
Lord. That's the whole point. And he
gives us that love where we don't. We love him. We love him. Christ condescended to put himself
in all relations with us. All relations with us. When you
see Christ, he is all. Whatever need that you have,
he's all. He's literally whatever you may need, he is it. And it
doesn't get any better than having him. You have him, you have everything.
He took not on the nature of angels, but he took on the form
of a man, a servant, didn't he? He was robed in the likeness
of sinful flesh, the scripture tells us. Yet without sin, he
was tempted at all point as we were, as we are, yet he remained
the sinless lamb of God. In order to become all for his
people, the amount of condescension, it's unfathomable. We can't comprehend
God becoming a man. because we can't comprehend God
at all. I mean, truthfully, he's other
than we are in every way. Hebrews 2.17 said, wherefore
in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. There never has been nor will
there ever be a substitute for the Lord Jesus Christ. Never. Never be a substitute for Him.
He alone reconciled His people. He alone put away the sin of
His people. He alone could satisfy God and death. He alone is our
Savior, our surety, and our substitute. But there'll never be a substitute
for Him. Nothing else, nothing else will save us from our sin. Just Him, Him alone. Consider
the magnitude, in order to become all for us, In order to become
all for his people, what had to be accomplished, the condescension
in so much, it's Psalm chapter 22, David prophetically speaking
of Christ on the cross, the Lord says, I'm a worm and I am no
man. I'm a worm and I am no man. This
is what he became in order for us to be made the righteousness
of God and him, he had to become the worm that we are. He had
to become the cursed thing that we are. Scripture says, cursed
is everyone that hangs on the tree. This is what our Lord had
to do in order to become all to us in salvation. He's called a man of sorrows
acquainted with grief. Can you imagine the King of Kings
and Lord of Lords, the God that created this universe, this,
uh, the sovereign sustainer of life. being acquainted with grief
to save sinners like us. Think about that. Our iniquity
was laid upon him. Scripture says his soul was made
an offering for sin, the agony and the suffering. Scripture
in Psalms, the Lord says that the terrors of the Lord come
past him about. Terrors. Why? Because he was
bearing our sin in his own body. He was bearing our sin to put
it away. We don't understand how that transaction happened,
but we know that God was satisfied by the resurrection of Christ.
We know that everyone that Christ died for, he redeemed that day
because he resurrected him three days later. It's amazing to me that the holy
spotless lamb of God was despised and rejected of men. The very
ones that he was dying for crucified him. And you and I would have
done the same thing. You and I would have done the same thing.
And yet, He did it to become all to us. He did it to become
all to His people. All that the Lord requires and
all that we require. We don't need anything else.
That Samaritan woman, you remember whenever the Lord told her, He
that speaketh to you, I am. He told her, I am. She left her
water pot. She didn't have a need for that
water pot anymore. She said, come see a man that told me all
things ever I did. Is this not Christ? When the Lord comes to
us, he shuts us up to him completely so that there's nothing left.
It's not that we're holding on to this and holding on to that.
No, we have him. We have to have him. He's everything
to the Lord's people. He's made everything. It's past finding out that it
pleased the Lord to bruise him, to make his soul an offering
for sin to be satisfied. And the reason he did that is
so that his righteousness could be fulfilled in his people. His
righteousness could be fulfilled in his people. This is why he
is all in all. Let's read this again. My son,
keep my words and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments
and live in my laws as the apple of thine eye. bind them upon
thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart, say
into wisdom thou art my sister, and call understanding thy kinswoman,
that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger
which flattereth with her words. This is written to a specific
people. Verse one tells us my son. This
is to the adopted sons and daughters of God, the ones that Jesus Christ
died for. This is who this is written to.
And it's an admonition and it's encouragement to the Lord's people
to see this because whenever we see the word commandment,
we see the word law and we see the word, he says, keep my words. We see all these things and we
say to ourself, Lord, I can't keep your commandments, but he
did. The Lord Jesus Christ did. And
I believe him. I'm looking to him as everything
required, you're gonna have to provide it. And he provided everything
in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why he is all in all
to the Lord's people. When Christ endured the full
wrath of God on the cross of Calvary, he satisfied justice,
he satisfied the law, he satisfied the Father. Our sin was paid
for, it was put away by the sacrifice of himself. And in doing so,
he's become all. All that God requires for our
salvation, Christ accomplished. All that God requires. All that
God requires for your salvation, Christ accomplished on the cross.
That's why he's all to us. A lot of people believe that he,
was trying to do something or he didn't fulfill everything
and they leave some things open-ended that man has to do. But no, he
actually accomplished all the salvation of his people. We don't
look to law-keeping anymore. We don't look to how we live
our lives and what we do and don't do. We look to him. We
look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about this. He didn't just
Save us from hell for those, the father elected that Christ
redeemed. He didn't just save us. He didn't come to save us
from hell. A lot of preachers preach that way. He came to save
us from ourself. I'm the problem. Hell's not the
problem. I'm the problem. Okay. I need, I need to be saved
from myself, from my sin, from what I am. And that's what he
accomplished. He saved us from ourself. Well,
in doing so, he unites us back to God in complete and perfect
union, complete and perfect harmony. Whenever Romans says, there is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
that means that the law doesn't say anything to the child of
God. The father doesn't have anything negative to say towards
his people because their sin is gone. There's no condemnation. How glorious is that? You're
not condemned any longer. He didn't leave it at that. He
made us the righteousness of God in him. Perfectly righteous
before his throne. The Lord has but one throne,
but how But I'm gonna say this right. The Lord has but one throne,
but it can be a throne of mercy and grace or a throne of wrath. He doesn't change seats, he's
God. But if we don't have the blood
applied, we're gonna meet him at his throne of wrath, not mercy
and grace. This is why Christ is all. If
the blood is applied, he promised he would pass by us. If the blood's
applied, that means Christ has made us righteous and perfect
and holy. If the blood's applied, then we're gonna have, we'll
find out one day that we're gonna be made in the image likened
to him. He's gonna see us as beautiful as his son. That's
how he sees us now. That's how he sees us now. All of this that he's saying,
only the Lord can reveal his wisdom to save us from the strange
woman. You who are in past false religion, we were all dabbling
with the strange woman. That's what we were doing, mixing
law and grace. Didn't even know we were doing it. Thought we
were doing all grace, didn't we? And yet the Lord in mercy
taught us his wisdom. And in that wisdom, we see that
there's now a strange woman. No, we don't have nothing to
do with that. No, it's Christ is all. And we hear the flattery
of men's tongues now from pulpits that are not speaking the truth.
And we say, I can't have that. That don't sound right. That's
like an orchestra with one person playing a really sour note. It
just doesn't sound right. Or fingernails on a chalkboard. You understand what I'm saying?
Can't have that. Can't have that. I got to have
Him. I got to have Him. Our great God and Savior can
make us have understanding. What understanding? He's God
and I'm not. We're born thinking we're God
by nature, every one of us. Every person that's ever existed
is born thinking that they're God. They want what they want
for themselves. Unless the Lord gives us understanding
that he is God and I am not, then we'll remain that way. He's
sovereign over all. This is how he keeps his people. He gives us wisdom. He gives
us understanding of who he is. This is why he's all, because
he is our wisdom. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
four. Look in verse three. Oh, verse four, I'm sorry. There
is one body, this is what the Lord did for his people. There
is one body and one spirit, even as you are called in one hope
of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
father of all who is above all and through all and in you all.
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure
of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended
up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.
Now he that ascended, what is, What is it but that he also descended
first to the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the
same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might
feel all things. And he gave some apostles and
some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, some teachers,
for the perfecting of the saints and the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come in
the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ." That's what he accomplished for his people,
perfection, the full stature of the Lord Jesus Christ. When
the Lord sees his son, he's the only one that ever said, this
is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. When he sees his
people, He says, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.
This is the unity. This is why Christ is all is
because we have perfect oneness, perfect unity with our savior
and with his father, with the father as well. Wisdom teaches
his people that he's on his throne. He's still seated, both judge
and king, both Lord and savior. This is why he's all to us. Before time ever began, he purchased,
purposed to save his people from their sin. And that's what the
Lord Jesus Christ came to do, and that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ did. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 says, when he had by himself
purged our sin, he sat down. He said, the work's finished.
If you find yourself a sinner, the Lord reveals to you your
sin, you will need a savior. Christ will become all to you.
He's the only one that can do the saving. The only one that
could do the saving. He's the one that does the saving,
the calling, and the keeping. He's the one that brought peace
between us and God. We could not have had peace with
God any other way. There was no other way. Matter
of fact, in Revelation, it says that they were looking for the
one to be worthy to loose the seals that open the book thereof.
Seven seals, perfect seals. Nobody, we didn't find any. So
we looked in heaven and earth and under the earth, none was
found. And I began to weep much, John said. One of the elders
touched me and said, weep not John for behold, The lion of
the tribe of Judah, the root of Jesse, hath prevailed and
is worthy to open the book and loose the seals thereof. He was
the only one that could have done it. And he did it. He did
it. Those seals represent the wrath
of God. That's what he endured on the cross for his people.
That every name written in that book would have everlasting life. Everlasting life. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life, Romans 5.10. He didn't make reconciliation
possible. He, by himself, reconciled us
back to God. I love the thought, you and I,
we were born enmity against God. The scripture says the flesh
is enmity against God. But now, since there's no condemnation
because of what Christ did for his people, we're able to not
only approach the throne, but we get to approach the throne
of grace that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help
in the time of need. That's what, that's why Christ is all to us.
Somebody said, why do you go to church so much? And why do
you talk about the Lord so much? And why do you do this? Because
he's all point blank. That's it. Why do you listen
to preaching all the time? Why do you go? Cause he's all, I
want to hear about him. I need to hear more about him.
Well, don't you get tired of that? No, actually, I don't.
I need it more the older I get, because I see myself getting
worse and worse. The more I see my sin, the more I know I need
a savior. And he's the only one that can save. He by himself purged our sin,
that we would be reconciled back to God, that Christ would be
made into us all in all. He'd be made into all, because
we are in him, and he is in the Father. That's what his death
accomplished because of this. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? That's what Paul asked over in
Romans chapter eight. Shall persecution, shall famine,
shall distress? And he goes on to say that he's
persuaded that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. He
said that angels, principalities, powers, things present, things
to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature can separate
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. That's what
he accomplished. In closing, turn with me to John 17. I keep
quoting this, but I want you to see it because it... John 17, verse 20. This is where our Lord clearly
declares that we are in him and he is in the Father. Look at
this. Verse 20, neither pray I for these alone, but for them,
which shall believe on me through their word that they all may
appear. They all may be one as thou father
are in me and I in thee. that they also may be one in
us, and the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and the
glory which thou gavest me I have given them, and they may be one,
even as we are one. I in them, thou in me, that they
may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou lovest me. Father,
I will that they also whom thou givest me be with me where I
am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for
thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father,
the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these
have known that thou hast sent me, and I have declared unto
them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. What is your hope? My hope is Christ in me. The
hope of glory. That's my hope. My hope is not
in my filthy rags that men call righteousness. It's not in my
deeds. It's not in my works. It's in his deeds. It's in his
works. It's in his righteousness. He's all. He's all in all. We're no longer aliens from God
because of him. No longer outcasts. No longer
the cursed thing. We're no longer lepers. No longer
lepers. We've been declared clean by
the blood of the lamb. When he sees me, he sees the
blood. He doesn't see the sin that we are, the sin that we
do, the sin that we think. We don't even know how much sin.
I mean, that's all we can produce. That's all we can produce. And
yet, he don't see it. What sin? It's gone. And God
cannot lie. God cannot lie. Now we have perfect
righteousness, perfect union, perfect peace with God, and we
have the command, not a request, the command that says, come to
the throne of grace and obtain mercy. Come, whosoever will,
let him take of the water of life freely. Come unto me, all
you that are labored and are heavy laden, I will give you
rest. This is why he's all. He's the only one that can give
us rest. He's the only one that can give us peace. He's the only
one that could reconcile us back to God. He's the only one that
could save us from our sin. That is exactly, exactly what
he did. This is why Christ is all in
all to his people. Let's pray. Father, we ask that
you would take these words and bless them for our understanding,
our good, and for your glory. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen. In closing, let's turn to