Tonight, our text is found in
Proverbs chapter three, if you'd like to turn there. I just want to read three verses
tonight. This isn't the entirety of the thought here as it is
continued, but There's enough in this particular passage to
declare the gospel, and that's where the Lord stopped me. So
Proverbs 3, verse 13 through 15 says this. Happy is the man
that findeth wisdom and the man that geteth understanding. For
the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver
and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than
rubies and all the things thou canst desire. are not to be compared
unto her. One of the most glorious truths
about the Lord's word, one of the most happy things for the believer
to see is that it's a mystery that's been revealed to the Lord's
people. It's secret. It's a secret. It's hidden in
plain sight. When he talks about wisdom, when he talks about the
value of it, it's hidden in plain sight. What is the wisdom he's
talking about? Well, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it?
That's not knowledge that we gain because of studying more
and more. That's not because of what we
do or do not do. This is Christ he's talking about.
But God must reveal that, and that's what makes it glorious
when you see that. When you see that the mystery,
the secret of the Lord, the scripture says, is with the righteous.
The Lord gives that mystery revealed, but the Lord only has one revelation. I heard people recently saying
that Lord really showed me something. And they were elaborating on
what the Lord showed them. I said, the Lord didn't show you that,
the devil showed you that. How do I know? Because the Lord has
one revelation. It's Jesus Christ. If a man says, I've seen something
in Scripture, I've seen a revelation other than Christ, he's lying.
Jesus Christ is the revelation of all of Scripture, from Genesis
to Revelation. Every word is about him. In the
volume of the book it is written of me. He is our wisdom, he is
our righteousness, he is our sanctification, and he is our
redemption. Therefore, happy is the man that
findeth wisdom. The reason that this secret is
so precious and priceless is because of who it's about. Because
of who the secret is, it's a person. It's a person. What the revelation
of God reveals is wisdom itself, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, I
need the wisdom of God. If you're ever made to be a sinner,
to see yourself as a sinner, First realization you come to
is I know nothing. I know nothing. Save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. I'm just a sinner. I have no
understanding of, I have no need of more understanding of the
Bible. I just need Him. I've got to have Him. Think about
everyone that came to Christ seeking Him. Did they come to
Him? Some of them did. You remember
in, And I was gonna talk about this maybe Friday night with
the group that's here, but Nicodemus came to the Lord asking questions,
didn't he? He said, we know, actually, he really didn't ask
a question. He said, we know that thou art
God, a man from God, because the way you speak and do all
these miracles. And the Lord looked at him and said, you must
be born again. You must be born again. That's your problem. You
think that it's all a head knowledge. You think that it's all what
you're wearing and what you're doing and you have to be born
again, Nicodemus. That's the problem. That's wisdom
speaking to him. That's wisdom telling him, but
something he can't do is to be born again. That's of the Lord,
isn't it? There can be no doubt that the pinnacle of happiness,
the pinnacle, very tip-top of happiness, the very peak. The reason for all joy and peace
is because you have Jesus Christ as your wisdom, because you have
Jesus Christ as your righteousness, because you have Jesus Christ
as your sanctification and your redemption. Without that, you
have no happiness. You may have temporary happiness,
things that make you happy, but the pinnacle of happiness, all
joy and all peace comes from one place, Jesus Christ, who
is our wisdom. Not just in part, Because if
you don't have him at all, if you don't have him completely,
you don't have him at all. The Lord never did anything halfway,
did he? He never, can you imagine blind Bartimaeus walking away
with one eyeball blind and the other one, he could see out of
that one, he halfway healed him. The Lord didn't do that. No,
he gives a complete healing, doesn't he? He gives the fullness
of himself to his people. Someone may say, well, I understand
that Christ is our wisdom, I understand I must be born again, I get all
that, but what about theology? What about the life you live
and the walk that you walk? Those things are important. A
man was talking to me about that recently. You know, if you have
Christ, he is all. He is all, there is no arguing.
There is no debating. There is no worrying about walking
right, because you walk in Him. It's in Him we live, we move,
and we have our being. We walk in Him in love. That's the motivation, isn't
it? If you have Christ, you do walk
in Him. Walk looking to Him. We understand
that every good gift comes down from the Father of lights. This
is His wisdom given unto us. Here's the rest, brethren. Christ
is all. We don't know anything save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. We don't declare anything but
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Without Christ, there is no hope.
So why are we so, why are we so sold out to Christ? Sold for Him. Why are we so wrapped up in Him?
Why is He all? Well, look at verse 15. She is
more precious than rubies and all the things that thou canst
desire. are not to be compared unto her.
Nothing compares to Christ. I notice it says her there. It
says her there, and I wanna elaborate on that. The her that it's mentioning
is the church. The church has to be. The Lord,
we had a wedding here, and I think I mentioned this to some of you
all today. We had a wedding here Saturday, and at the very end
of it, I pronounced them, I didn't give the woman's name anymore. It was Mr. and Mrs., it was his
name. Well, in the Old Testament, you can read that the Lord's
name is called Jehovah Sitkin, you the Lord, our righteousness.
But then a couple of chapters later, it gives the name of the
bride of Christ. You know what her name is? Jehovah
Sitkin, you the Lord, our righteousness. So what is he saying here? She.
There's only one place that the Lord promised to meet with his
people, and that was under the sound of the gospel when it goes
forth. That's the place where he said, I will meet with you
there. That's where the mercy seat will be revealed as in the
face of Christ. That's where he promised to meet
with his people. And that's what he's saying here. It's the preaching
of the gospel. This is the place that it's done
as his church, his bride. Now the bride, we have no light. No light of our own, do we? It's
his light given. I'm reminded of, this is wisdom. This is what the Lord teaches
his people. We have no light in and of ourself, but just like
the moon, you're familiar with the moon. It doesn't have any
light of his own, does it? Reflects the sun. What glory does the moon have
in and of itself? Well, if the sun's not shining
upon it, we would never even know it was there, would we?
The sun shines on it. And that's all that, who gets
the glory for that? The Lord does. And so it is with
the Lord and his church. Without him, all we would do
is walk in darkness. And that's why he calls wisdom
her. It's another one of those mysteries
hidden in plain sight. It's hidden in plain sight. Men
have debated, and they've come to the conclusion, well, you
can get more wisdom by reading more scripture, by praying harder,
by attending more services, by doing this, by doing that. Wisdom
is a person. Wisdom is a person, and his name's
the Lord Jesus Christ. If I have not him, I have not
wisdom. I know nothing. I know nothing. So what must we do? Well, look
in verse 13. Happy is the man that findeth
wisdom and the man that getteth understanding. So I have to find
it. I have to get it. So that means I need to search
the scriptures more, right? Is that what that means? It means
I need to pray harder? Again, this is how the Lord hides
his wisdom in plain sight. Not in deceit, but to reveal
to his people that you would have never came to me. What did
he tell the Pharisees and Sadducees? You will not come to me. that
you have eternal life, you will not. And he tells them why, because
you're of your father, the devil. You're not of the Lord. Salvation is his work by grace
alone, otherwise we would make faith a work. Did you know that?
We would make faith a work if we could. I have decided to exercise
my faith, that's a work. I have chose to be more active
in my faith, that's a work. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word. Who is the word? The Lord Jesus
Christ. Who causes you to hear? The Lord
Jesus Christ. Faith is not a work, faith is
from the Lord unto the Lord's people to believe him. It is his revelation. I've already
said that, but it's the Lord's revelation, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the revelation, you know, in the book of revelations. I
don't know about you all and in Ontario particularly, but
I know here and they call, you go anywhere as religious. I mean,
everybody knows something about, and I say everybody loosely.
I understand everybody. It doesn't mean everybody. but
they'll say they know something about Jesus. They know something
about this or that. A lot of them, a lot of people
will get hung up on the book of Revelation, talking about
the end times and talking about prophecies and what's gonna happen. And I don't know if that's the
same up there for you all, but you do know if you read the book
of Revelation, the very first part of that, you know what it
says? The revelation of Jesus Christ, he's the only revelation. The whole book's written of him,
everything, and even in Revelation, what you find, well, this is
gonna happen, and this is gonna happen, but it points to Christ,
or we've missed the reason of every word that was written in
this book. Turn with me to John chapter one. John chapter one, verses 43 through
the end of the chapter says this. The day following, Jesus would
go forth into Galilee and findeth Philip. And he said to him, follow
me. Now notice, it doesn't say anything
else other than that, that the Lord Jesus Christ said to him,
two words, follow me, follow me. Now Philip was of Bethesda,
the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael and
said unto him, we have found him of whom Moses in the law
and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. All the Lord said to him was
follow me. That's all he said to him. Follow me. Nathanael,
we found him. We found the one, the Messiah,
the one that the law and the prophets spoke about. Well, how
do you know? Because he said, follow me. That's
the only reason. The Lord must give faith to believed,
mustn't he? Philip findeth Nathanael and
said unto him, we have found him of whom Moses and the law
and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
And Nathanael said unto him, can there anything, can any good
thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, come and
see, come and see. Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? Can any good thing come out?
See, that's the unbelief. That's our flesh, isn't it? That's
immediately what we believe when we hear of the good news of the
gospel for the first time. That can't be right. That's not
good news. Come and see. That's the pattern
of every one of the Lord's people. We continually say, come and
see. That's what the woman at the well said. Come see a man
that showed me all things ever I did. Is this not the Christ?
The maniac at Gadara said, Lord, let me follow you. He said, no,
go and tell what good things the Lord hath done for thee.
Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to
him and said of him, behold, an Israelite indeed in whom is
no guile. Nathanael said unto him, whence
knowest thou me? I love this right here. Jesus
answered and said unto him, before that Philip called thee, when
thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. When I was under
the fig tree, he's not talking about seeing him a long way off,
physically speaking. See, he knew this man. He knew this was a sheep. This
was a sheep to be made a disciple. Nathaniel answered and said to
him, Rabbi, thou art the son of God, thou art the king of
Israel. Now, how did he know that? What made him decide that? Because the way Jesus looked?
Because of the way that Jesus conducted himself, the way that
he acted? He hadn't seen any miracles yet, other than the
Lord knew that he was under the fig tree. That's the only thing.
So why did he believe? God gave him faith to believe. That's what it takes. The Lord
must give us faith. Think about all the people that
the Lord passed by so many times that did not believe upon him.
How many miracles did the Lord perform? John said at the end
of it, and if I was to write that which has been done, he
said there wouldn't be, the whole world couldn't contain it. The
whole world, all the miracles he'd done. But how many times
do we see that someone looked at the Lord Jesus Christ and
did not believe him, could not see him? He said, and he passed
through their midst. He passed by them, they couldn't
harm him. They couldn't see that he was
God, why? Wisdom must be revealed. Wisdom must be revealed. Jesus answered and said unto
him, verse 50, because I said unto thee, I saw the end of the
fig tree, thou believe? Thou shalt see greater things
than these. And he said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto
you, hereafter you shall see heaven open. and the angels of
God ascending and descending upon the son of man. All the
Lord told him was follow me. That's all he said, follow me.
And did you know that all he says to his sheep is live, live,
that's it. And you become alive. I gave
this analogy earlier and I wanna give it to the rest of you but
we were talking here a while back and I've given it to our
congregation before but When a baby is born, is that baby
alive because it breathes, or does it breathe because it's
alive? The answer is, is it breathes
because it's alive. The baby comes forth from the
womb, it's not breathing, does it? It's not breathing. My daughter
had to be popped on the behind once before she took her first
breath, and I'm not gonna tell you which one, don't ask me.
I don't wanna embarrass her. As soon as the doctor popped
her, she took that first breath. That was evidence of life, not
the cause. Faith is not the cause of salvation. Faith is the evidence of it.
Faith is the evidence of it. If you believe God, it's because
he's given you faith to believe him. But a dead man can't believe
anything. He has to say, live first. Salvation's
of the Lord. Salvation's of the Lord. You
saw what he told him here. He said, Follow me. Follow me. Philip, follow me. That's all he said. All he said
to Nathaniel was, I saw you under the fig tree. How is it that Philip found wisdom? How is it that Nathanael found
wisdom? Remember our text, happy is the
man that findeth wisdom and that getteth understanding. How is
it that Nathanael found wisdom? How is it that Philip found wisdom?
Because wisdom came directly where they were and said, follow
me, live. That's how, that's how. Nathan
even doubted, said, can anything good come from Nazareth? He didn't
believe that that was Christ. Didn't believe when he first
saw him. It took the Lord's word at the command of the Lord's
voice. The Lord commanded him to live, didn't he? See, unless
God reveals himself, makes himself known, you and I will remain
in utter darkness until the day we die. You and I will remain
in utter darkness until the day we die, unless God says live. I want to tell us something that's
very important, and I don't want us to forget this. If you come
seeking something from the Bible, no matter what it is, if you
come seeking it because you want to find it, no matter what it
is, you can find it. You can make the Bible say anything
you want to say, but believing in something does not make it
true. Believing in something does not make it true. The revelation
of Jesus Christ is not because you came to the Bible and decided
you were gonna believe. The revelation of Jesus Christ
is because God decided before the foundation of the world to
elect you, Christ decided to redeem you, and the Spirit comes
to you in time and says, live. That's the only hope of God's
people, that's it, our only hope. Not because of what we have done.
I can make the Bible say anything I want to, but if you come to
the Bible looking for Christ, you'll find him too. He said,
seek and ye shall find. Seek and ye shall find. If you
come looking for him, you'll find him. Nobody that ever came
to Christ as a mercy beggar was turned away, not one, not one. If you've been made a mercy beggar,
come to him begging with the heart, with the heart. The Lord only reveals his Christ
to his people. You remember the Ethiopian eunuch? Whenever Philip came to him,
He was reading Isaiah 53, and the Ethiopian, Philip asked him,
he said, knowest thou, understandest thou what thou readest? And he
says, how can I, except a man show me? Boy, that's the truth,
isn't it? How can they hear? How can they believe on whom
they have not heard? And how can they hear without a preacher?
And how can he preach without being sent? And Philip began
to preach Christ to him, didn't he? The Lord Jesus Christ and
him crucified, the finished work, the blood of Christ alone for
salvation. And what was the Ethiopian eunuch's response? Well, here's
water, why can't I be baptized? And he baptized him right there,
didn't he? Unless God chooses to cause you to believe, you
and I will die in our sins. This is why the merchandise,
the merchandise of wisdom is beyond measure. Merchandise means
profit or gain. It's gain. Paul said, I counted
all things for loss that I may win Christ. He called it dung,
didn't he? He said, all things, everything
that I thought, that I believed before, everything that I thought
was okay, I counted it but dung. That I may win Christ. Why? Christ is all. Christ is all. More precious than anything.
This is life and death. This is life and death. This
is eternity we're talking about here. Go back to our text in
Proverbs chapter three. This is life and death, this
is why it says in verse 15, she is more precious than rubies
and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared
to her. Scripture says this, if a man
gains the whole world, and loses his own soul. What shall he give
in exchange for his soul? Gain the whole world. You can
have all the knowledge of anybody that's ever lived. Be the smartest
person. You can have all the money that anybody's ever had.
Be the richest person. You can be the healthiest person
that's ever lived. You know, I went to the doctor
recently and the nurse, I was talking to her about how I'm
on some vitamins and supplements because, well, it's good for
you. That's what they tell me. I think it's a good idea. And
she said, well, you need to read this book. It's called How Not
to Die. How Not to Die. And I thought,
okay, I'll read a book called How Not to Die. That's interesting.
I didn't do it. But that's what men want to do. They want to
live. They think they're gonna live forever until death staring them right
in the face. And when that moment comes, they don't have an advocate.
They never face reality. Time is not eternity. The moment we're born, we're
born dying. Every second that ticks by is closer to the grave.
We're going to meet our maker. We're going to stand in judgment.
And if we don't have the blood of Christ, we have nothing. He'll
say, depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you.
Doesn't matter how good we've lived. Doesn't matter what good
we've done. What matters is, is Christ all to you? Is he your wisdom? Is he your
righteousness? Is he your sanctification? Is
he your redemption? Because if he's not, you have
no hope. If he's not mine, I have no hope. All the things that
thou canst desire cannot be compared to him. If you do not have the merchandise
of wisdom, the one thing needful, the gain by grace, the Lord Jesus
Christ, you have nothing. Do you remember the story of
Lazarus and the rich man? The scripture says that Lazarus,
a rich man, fared sumptuously. He clothed and fine. purple linen
and ate very well. He's a rich man. Moreover, Lazarus
had sores. He sat at his gate and the dogs
came and licked his sores. And it's just a picture of him
being poor, having nothing. He desired the crumbs, didn't
he? He desired what the rich man had. He didn't have them.
One day they both died, the scripture says. And the rich man, being
in hell, lifted up his eyes, seeing Lazarus and Abraham's
bosom afar off. And he says these words, now
listen to this, listen to what he said. This man's in hell that's
saying this. He's already died, he's already
in the flames, and this is what he says. Father Abraham, send
Lazarus, that he may dip his finger in water and cool my tongue,
for I am tormented in this flame. That's what he says. He doesn't
say, Father Abraham, I repent, give me the fountain of living
water. Why? Because repentance is a gift
of God. It's not something you and I can do on our own. It's
a gift. Faith is not something we do
on our own. It's something that God gives. He wanted one more
drop of water. You know what that tells me?
Hell itself will not be enough to cause me or you, either one,
to believe God. It won't. It takes God to make
us believe. It takes the work of God in the
heart to say unto you and I live. Otherwise, we won't believe the riches here. And we read
this before, but the riches here represent not the riches of wealth,
not the riches of this life and the riches of money. This is
the riches of self-righteousness is what he's talking about here.
This rich man had self-righteousness. Lazarus saw himself as a beggar.
He saw himself as nothing. He saw it full of sores that
represents leprosy. He was a sinner. But the rich
man had a righteousness. He had a purple robe. He thought
he was royalty. He was sitting on the first seat every Sunday
morning. He had a nice suit on. He was
an elder in the church. This is the rich man. That's
who he is. He believed he had a righteousness that was outside
of Christ. You wouldn't have known it by
talking to him. But he added one thing or he took one thing
away from the finished work of Christ. And you know what he
wanted when he went to hell? He wanted water. It's a picture
of you and I and what our flesh desires. That which can only
please the flesh. James 1.11, we read this in our
call to worship. For the sun is no sooner risen
with the burning heat, but it withereth the grass and the flower
thereof falleth. And the grace of the fashion
of it perisheth. So also shall the rich man fade
away in his ways. This is the riches of self-righteousness. They fade away. They fade away. See, either we believe in ourself
that we are wretched, that we are vile sinners, or we believe
that there's a little bit of good in everybody. There's a
little bit of good in me. There's a little bit of good
in you. Can't be both. Can't be both. Either you're
rich in your own self-righteousness or you're wretched and vile. You're a sinner needing a savior.
You're a leper from the top of your head to the bottom of your
feet. Either you believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ or you believe in something that you have done.
God did not become a man to give you a decision to make. And He
did not become a man to give me a decision to make. God decided
to become a man to save His people from their sin. And you know
what He said on the cross of Calvary? And now either He's,
now only two possibilities to this statement. When He said,
it is finished, either He is not God and a liar, or it is
finished. And if God gives you faith, you
will believe it is finished. Either way, it's the truth. No
matter what you believe, it's the truth. It is finished. He
successfully redeemed his people. He didn't become a man to become
Lord. He became a man because he was
and is Lord. He didn't die in order to become
God. He died as the God-man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he successfully redeemed
his people. Christ did not shed his blood
in vain. He did not offer himself up to
any man. He never has offered himself
up to any man. He offered himself up unto the
Father once. And what does the scripture say?
He by himself purged our sin. He purged our sin. God was satisfied
with his offering and justified everyone that he died for. Every
single person he died for. Now either we're looking to ourself
or by grace he's given us the revelation of Jesus Christ. Either
we are We must have the merchandise of wisdom, the gain of Christ,
or we are wise in our own deceit, thinking we know something that
we don't. What did Paul say? In me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth
no good thing. That was the Apostle Paul. In
me, that is, he didn't say in me, that is in my flesh, used
to dwell no good thing. He didn't say in me that was
in my flesh. He said in me that is in my flesh
right now dwelleth no good thing. And I would say the same to you
and to me. There's nothing good about us in the sight of God.
The flesh is enmity against God. The closing question I have is
do you want the merchandise of wisdom? Do you want it? If you
do, it'll cost you everything. You won't be rich in your own
mind anymore about yourself. You won't have a righteousness
of your own anymore. You won't have a false sense
of peace about a decision that you've made or a prayer that
you've prayed. You won't have any work that you can cling to
any longer. You will see yourself as a dead dog sinner, the chief,
and only the Lord saves dead dog sinners. If the Lord gives you the merchandise
of wisdom, you will spend every day begging God for mercy. Isn't
that true? Have you, some of you older ones,
are you begging God more now? Or have you stopped begging Him
as much because you're closer to the grave? No, you're begging
Him more now, aren't you? That's how it works. You don't
get less and less needy of Him. It's save me now, Lord, and it's
save me now, Lord. That's the message. It's not
your life that you're living that's going to please God. It's
the life that Christ gave. Lord, I need Christ. I need him,
the merchandise of wisdom. If you want the merchandise of
wisdom, you will have no confidence in your choices. You'll have
confidence in his choice to elect, his choice to redeem. You'll
have confidence in his choice to call you out of darkness into
his marvelous light. Matter of fact, it'll be your
only hope, your only hope. If you want the merchandise of
wisdom, your confidence will only be in him alone. You will
have no glory. You will have no glory that outside
of him, outside of him, You want the merchandise of wisdom.
You no longer have the ability to have joy about what you do,
but your joy can only be found in the finished work of Christ. The only joy, only rejoicing
the believer really has is in Christ, isn't that true? The
only rejoicing we have. I mean, we go day to day, there's
things that make us happy for a moment, but as soon as you
all leave here, when you drive off the road, if you've rejoiced
at all in anything that I've said, first time somebody cuts
you off, that joy's gone, just like that. That's the adversary
just trying to snatch it from you. That's how it works. Our only joy is found in the
Lord Jesus Christ. If you want the merchandise of
wisdom, you will never be able to open, you'll never be able
to hope in any word that you speak, any thought that you think,
any action that you do, none of that will be your hope. Your
hope will be in Jesus Christ and his righteousness and nothing
else. That will be your hope. You'll be made to confess he
is all. The scripture tells us this. Somebody says, well, I
have some good works that I'm proud of. I'm proud of some things
that I've done. Scripture says it's not by works
of righteousness that you and I have done, but according to
his mercy, according to his mercy. Matter of fact, he says that
if it's of works, it can't be of grace. And if it's a grace,
it can't be a works. It can't, can't be both. If you
want the merchandise of wisdom, it's got to be all of grace,
all of grace. If you are looking to yourself,
you have not the merchandise of wisdom, you have not Christ,
but if God has given you the merchandise of wisdom, he's given
you Christ, the revelation of Christ, he's revealed the secret
to you, the mystery, and he has made Christ unto you, all of
your wisdom, all of your righteousness, all of your sanctification, and
all of your redemption. Do you know what that means?
You're as holy as God is right now in Christ Jesus. You're saying
my flesh is holy? No. No, the new man created in
Christ Jesus, just as holy as God is right now. That's how
God sees it. That's my hope. You have the merchandise of wisdom.
Christ is everything to you. Let's pray. Father, we confess
that we know nothing save Christ and him crucified. We have not
wisdom of ourself, but need it from you. Give us Christ, who
is the merchandise, the gain, your gain of wisdom. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen. In closing, let's turn