We'll be looking in the book
of Proverbs, if you would like to turn there tonight. Proverbs chapter two. If there is a theme, and we know
there's a theme, but if there's a theme in Proverbs, it would
be wisdom. The word wisdom. The word wisdom's
written 53 times in Proverbs. That's more than double than
any other book of the Bible. But may we never think that the
wisdom of God is attainable by something that we do. We, in
the flesh, oftentimes think doing. Our flesh thinks doing means
we gain something. And when it comes to spiritual
matters, that's not the case. Doing to attain godly wisdom
is impossible. Wisdom's a person. Wisdom must
be given, and it's given freely by the Lord's grace. A lot of
men will spend their lives gaining more information. They'll study
theology, they'll study different doctrines, they'll have all these
beliefs. I've met someone that reads,
he read a book every day, and they were thick books, and he
was really trying to approach God, to understand God through
intellect. May we never get trapped into,
well, that's what it is, is a trap. Maybe we never get caught in
that trap of being away from the simplicity that Christ is
all. Christ is all. He is our wisdom.
He is our knowledge. Those that read more and study
more, we should read more, we should study more, but not in
order to attain godliness, not in order to attain spiritual
growth, if you want to put it that way, where we become more
pious or become more religious or self-righteous. That's what
knowledge puffeth up, the scripture says. That's the whole point.
The more we do, it doesn't make us more humble. The more we learn,
that doesn't make us more reverential to the Lord, what that actually
does, it puffs us up. If you talk to someone that really
thinks they know something and you don't know what they know,
they'll talk condescending to you a lot of times, won't they?
Oh, you don't know that. I remember several times people
will talk to me and your age is typically a factor in conversations
that you have. There's no way that a 30, however
old I am, guy is a pastor of a church. There's just not, You
understand what I'm saying. Someone was mentioning something
along those lines to me and they were asking how old am I. I said
I'm old enough to be the pastor. I don't know what to tell you.
It's not about what we know. It doesn't matter how long we've
spent time on the earth. It's who we know. Christ is our
wisdom. Christ is the knowledge we seek
after. Christ is the desire that we have. You can't live to be
500 years and ever come to the knowledge of Christ. It's not
possible. Not in of yourself. It has to
be the Lord that does that. And he does that for his people,
doesn't he? He reveals the Lord. It's the hidden truth of the
gospel. If God doesn't reveal, look at verse six in chapter
two. The Lord giveth wisdom. Out of
his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. If the Lord doesn't
do that, If the Lord doesn't give wisdom, we'll never have
it. He's the one that gives it. He's
the source of it. He's the sum and the substance
of wisdom. If he doesn't give it, we'll
never have it. We'll remain lost. Romans 11, 33 says, oh, the depth
of the riches, both of wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable
are his judgments and his ways past finding out. How unsearchable
are His judgments and His ways past finding out the depth of
both the wisdom of God and the knowledge of God. In mercy, He
must reveal this truth. He's too deep for us. He's too
high for us. We can't, what did the prophet
say? Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. I can't attain to it. It's overwhelming. I can't process the information.
There's no way of finding out God. He's past finding out. And yet he chose to save some
centers and give them Christ as their wisdom to give them
understanding that he is God that he is God. So when people
start treating you a certain way because you don't know what
they know, remember you have the one thing needful, the wisdom
of God. That's the one thing needful.
Somebody says, well, you don't know what I know. I wouldn't
trade what I know for what you know, and you wouldn't either.
If the Lord revealed himself to you, that's what we desire
to know, isn't it? I don't need to know how to build
a rocket ship. It doesn't do me any good in glory. I don't
need to know how to, you understand what I'm saying, to know Him. That's what Paul said. I determined
to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
There's our rest. Him being our wisdom, that's
simple, isn't it? Well, what do you know? I know that Jesus
Christ is the successful Redeemer of His elected people. We know
that, don't we? We know that. And that has to be revealed of
the Lord for us to believe it. We have to be given the gift
of life and understanding. We have to be given the gift
of wisdom. Did you know we're born lost? We don't have to do
anything. Nobody has to do anything to become lost. We're born that
way. God's not lost. We're lost. And if he doesn't
come to where we are, revealing his wisdom to us, revealing his
knowledge to us, revealing Christ to us, we'll remain in that state. We don't have to do anything.
All that we have to do in order for us to end up in hell is be
left to ourself. We would choose self. We would
choose the way of our flesh. That's why David prayed and said,
so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts
unto wisdom. If you start seeing, we don't
preach a morbid gospel. We don't preach gloom and doom. We have the best news in the
world, the good news of Christ's being successful, redeeming his
people back to the Father. But what we do talk about is
us being sinners. What we do talk about is our
total depravity, how that we're going to die soon. The clock's
ticking. Everybody that's in here, the
clock is ticking. We do talk about that. Why? Because it teaches
us to seek after Christ. That's how the Lord does it.
He gives repentance, I thought, Think about the people in the
world that believe they have no thought of death. That's what
David was saying, that he was envious of the oppressor. He
was envious of the wicked because they have no pains of death in
their bands. They don't think of death. They
don't think. Look at all the people around you, how many people
An example, I go to the gym, and the men that are in there,
a lot of times, they're older men, and they'll be talking about
everything that they're doing. One's taking cancer treatments,
and another's having to have a knee replacement, and they
keep talking like they're gonna just keep on living forever.
Well, once I get in with this treatment, I'll be fine, we'll
be good to go. And he's like 85 years old. And men don't think
of death. They don't think of death. In
the truth of it, the truth of it, that there's a God that we
must face. What is our hope that the Lord
gives us his wisdom, that the Lord teaches us his ways, that
he teaches us to number our days is what he said. Teach us to
number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. The Lord
must reveal our expected end, our complete entire dependency
on him. He must reveal that. God must
make known unto us that he must do all the saving or we don't
have any hope. He does that for his people. God teaches us making
this known by his spirit. He's the one, the only one. This
is what he teaches us. He's the only one that has the
power to save sinners. He's the only one. You and I
don't have the power. We don't have the power to make
anything he does effectual. Everything that he's purposed
comes to pass. What his wisdom teaches us is that he is the
only one that has the power to save sinners. Let's read our
text here in Proverbs chapter two. This is a whole thought
that he gives us from verse 10 down to 22. So we're going to
read it and then touch on several points. I don't know if we'll
revisit this or not, but for tonight I've titled the message,
wisdom of the heart, wisdom of the heart. And he says those
words in verse 10, When wisdom entereth into thine heart and
knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve
thee, understanding shall keep thee, to deliver thee from the
way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh forward things,
who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,
who rejoice to do evil and delight in the forwardness of the wicked,
whose ways are crooked and they froward in their paths, to deliver
thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which
flattereth with her words, which forsaketh the guide of her youth
and forgetteth the covenant of her God, for her house inclineth
unto death and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her
return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life, that
they mayest walk in the way of good men and keep the paths of
righteousness. For the upright shall dwell in
the land and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked
shall be cut off from the earth and the transgressors shall be
rooted out of it. Here we see the work of God by
grace in the heart of his people. When wisdom entereth into thine
heart. We've already found out from verse six that wisdom is
from the Lord. Wisdom comes through him, comes
by him because he is our wisdom. This is the work of grace in
the heart of his people, he gives Christ, he gives Christ, and
if Christ is indeed formed in the heart, if Christ is indeed
formed in the heart of a believer, what springs of eternal joy abound
for that believer? What hope for eternal life do
we have if Christ has been made manifest? What does Paul say?
Christ in you, the hope of glory. If he has been If he has been
formed in the heart, what glory shall be revealed in us whenever
we see him face to face? This is what wisdom teaches us,
that it is Christ in us. Otherwise, we have no hope. Now, contrary to false religion,
wisdom in the heart doesn't look super religious. Wisdom in the
heart doesn't look super religious. It doesn't look Pious, like a Pharisee, walking
around, look at me. Wisdom doesn't say, look at me.
Wisdom in the heart, when Christ is revealed, there's no boasting
of the flesh. It's the opposite of that. It
doesn't say, look at me. It says, look at Christ. Wisdom
and faith go hand in hand, don't they? Wisdom teaches us that
we are sinners in need of a Savior. Faith reveals the Savior. For by grace are you saved through
faith. So we see Christ and that is our rejoicing. We no longer
rejoice in our choices or ourself or boasting of what we know and
what we have done. Wisdom doesn't draw attention
to itself. When the Lord reveals Christ,
there is only the wretchedness of ourself revealed. Wisdom teaches
us that we are vanity. Wisdom never says, look at me,
it says, I'm vanity. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? Wisdom teaches us to look to
Christ. Turn with me to Ecclesiastes chapter one. It's right after
Proverbs. Let's read verses 12 through
18. Solomon being the preacher that's
mentioned here, same one that wrote Proverbs is declaring all
of the things that he has pursued. And let's just read this verse
12 through 18 says, I, the preacher, was king over Israel and Jerusalem,
and I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning
all things that are done under heaven. This sore travail hath
God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. I
have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold,
all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked
cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot
be numbered. I commune with my own heart, saying, Lo, I am come
to great estate and have gotten more wisdom than all they that
have been before me in Jerusalem. Yea, my heart had great experience
of wisdom and knowledge, and I gave my heart to know wisdom
and to know madness and folly. I perceive that this also is
vexation of spirit, for in much wisdom is much grief, and he
that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. Why is it that much wisdom
brings grief and much knowledge increases sorrow? Because the
more you see of Christ, the more you see of the sin that you are.
The more we see how wretched we are, that grieves us. That
grieves us. When we look around in this world
and you know Day to day, there's things that happen that trouble
you, that grieve you. Remember in the scripture says
that Lot was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked daily
when he was living in Sodom and Gomorrah. I find that interesting
and we understand those words because are we not vexed when
people talk about our Lord in a way that it's contrary to what
the scripture says. It grieves us, doesn't it? But
we're never grieved as much As when we look inside of our own
heart and see our depravity, when we examine our own unbelief
and see our sin, when we see that, then we're grieved the
most. When God gives wisdom in the
heart, there's nothing more grievous than our own sin, our own belief,
knowing that it had to be nailed to the cross of Calvary for you
and I to be made the righteousness of God in Christ. Knowing that
all the unbelief that we had, Christ had to take that unto
himself so that you and I could be seen as perfectly righteous.
When wisdom enters into the heart, it teaches us that we need a
substitute. Everything is vanity around us,
and that's all that we are. Nothing good will come of us
doing anything, but I need your wisdom. I need to know you. We see the truth of ourself.
That's why with much wisdom comes sorrow. We see the beauty of
God's lamb. We see Christ high and lifted
up like Isaiah saw him. We see him as Job saw him. I'll
put my hands over my mouth not to speak anymore. We see him
as Peter saw him. Thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. We see him as the lamb that John the Baptist
saw. Behold the lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. This is what happens when God
gives his wisdom in the heart. We see Christ as all. He's the
substitute for his elect. Wisdom in the heart teaches us
we must have the Redeemer. We must have Christ as our wisdom
before God. When you stand before the Lord,
what would you say? What would you say to him in
order to convince him to let you into his heaven? There is
nothing that we could say. Nothing. But if Christ is our
wisdom, then on that day, we'll be seen in Christ, we'll have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous,
we'll have a representative, we'll have one that became our
substitute surety on the cross of Calvary. When he sees us,
then he'll see the blood and he'll say, enter in thou good
and faithful servant. That's what wisdom teaches his
people. We must have this truth on the inward parts. He must
put it there all by grace. Turn with me to Psalm 51 again. We read that for our call to
worship, but I want us to look at what David was saying again.
Psalm 51. Verse one, have mercy upon me,
O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the
multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgression. Wash
me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for
I acknowledge my transgression and my sin as ever before me.
Against thee, the only, have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest
and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity
and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth
in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. If this is what he requires,
truth in the inward parts, then he's gonna have to be the one
to put it there. He's gonna have to give what he requires, because
you and I, we can't gather truth in the inward parts to present
to him. No, he has to put that there.
What is truth? That's what Pilate asked the
Lord, didn't he? He said, I've told you the truth. He said,
what is truth? He was talking to the truth, wasn't he? He was
talking to the Lord Jesus Christ. He couldn't see that. That's
who we have to have in us, the Lord Jesus Christ. We must have
his spirit. We must be born from above. This
is what wisdom in the heart reveals. If he requires us to have this
truth, he'll have to put it there. Scripture says, can the Ethiopian
change his skin or the leopard his spots? This is what wisdom
reveals. This is what wisdom declares.
You're a sinner. I'm a sinner. You can't do anything
about it. And I can't do anything about
it. God hates sinners. He hates them. All the workers
of iniquity, he hates them. Our only hope is that he took
our sin and nailed them to the cross. So when he sees us, he
doesn't see a sinner anymore. He sees the perfect righteousness
of his darling son. You and I can't fix our sin problem
or even do one thing about it to improve our position, but
we have hope. Look what he says in Psalm 51
verse seven. Purge me with hyssop and I shall
be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. David didn't say, Lord, I'm gonna let you purge
me with hyssop. David didn't say, Lord, I'm gonna let you
wash me. No, he's begging. Lord, purge me with hyssop and
I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be made whiter
than snow. Make me. Let God, that's not what he said.
He said make me to hear. Make me to hear joy and gladness
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy
face from my sin and blot out all mine iniquity. Create in
me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence and take not the Holy Spirit
from me. Here's the cry given by grace in the heart when the
Lord gives wisdom in the heart. The cry is purge me, Lord, wash
me. Cleanse me, make me, blot out
mine iniquities, create in me that which you desire. Cause
it to be found in me, cause Christ to be found in me. Cast me not
away, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. David didn't
say restore unto me the joy of my salvation. He knew that salvation
was of the Lord. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. He's the only one that has the
power to do these things. And whenever wisdom enters the
heart, draws the same confession unto him, Lord, do this for me.
Have mercy on me, the sinner. Go back to our texts in Proverbs
chapter two. What David is praying for, what
David was praying for in Psalm 51 is exactly what Christ accomplished
on the cross of Calvary. For you and I to be clean, Christ
had to put away our sin. For you and I to be made right,
he had to shed his precious blood. For you and I to be made the
sons and daughters of God, Lord Jesus Christ had to bear our
iniquity in his body, and he did just that. He did just that. All for his people. Now in chapter
two of Proverbs, look at verse 10 and 11. When wisdom entereth
into thine heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion
shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee. Wisdom preserves
the Lord's people. Wisdom keeps the Lord's people.
Christ is our wisdom. He's the one that keeps us. We
look unto the only source of wisdom, the Lord Jesus Christ.
James chapter one, verse five says, if any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God who giveth all men liberally and upbraideth
not and it shall be given him. Seeing that, knowing that the
Lord has a storehouse, infinite wisdom for his people who is
Christ, infinite love, infinite mercy, infinite grace, can't
deplete it, can't diminish it at all. We come to him like Paul
saying, I'm determined to know nothing among you say Jesus Christ
and crucified. I'm not going to tell you how.
how good I'm living or how bad I'm living. I'm going to tell
you about the one who lived perfectly. That's what we want to hear,
isn't it? I'm not going to tell you about what I haven't done
and what I do and all this. I'm going to tell you what he
has done. That's what we want to hear. That's the good news.
This is how the Lord leads us to Christ, gives us repentance
and then faith. And in doing so, he saves his
people from the wicked man. Look in verse 12 through 15.
He breaks this up here and talks about the evil man first, and
then talks about the strange woman. So let's just take this,
the first four verses here, and then we'll do the last portion.
To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man
that speaketh forward things, who leave the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice to do evil and delight
in the forwardness of the wicked, whose ways are crooked and they
forward in their paths." Now, forward means perverse. That's
the same word as perverse. They're perverse in their paths
that they walk. They're perverse in the things
that they speak. And this is us by nature. This
is us by nature. We are the evil man. We're perverse
in our thoughts. We don't have clear thoughts.
We don't have right thoughts. They're wrong when it comes to
God. But this is what the Lord does. He creates a clean heart
in his people. He creates a right spirit in
his people all by grace. He does this. This is the work
of the spirit. It's not something that we choose or something we
allow or something we prevent. He does it according to his will.
After He has saved us from the evil man, He also delivers us
from the strange woman. Look at verse 16. To deliver
thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which
flattereth with her words, which forsaketh the guide of her youth
and forget the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth
unto death and her paths unto the dead. None that goeth unto
her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life,
that thou mayest walk in the way of good men and keep the
paths of righteousness, or keep the paths of the righteous. Now,
you have the wicked man by nature, the evil man by nature that we
are. We're born in sin, we're shaping into iniquity. When we
hear that there is a God that we have to do with, then rather
than seeking after the Lord and of ourself, we go after the strange
woman. What is the strange woman? It's
false religion. It's all false religion. That's exactly what
it is. They flatter with their lips and they say, do this and
God will be pleased with you. Or they say, don't do this and
God will be pleased with you. And that's the strange woman.
And once we go into that realm, once we enter into that house,
so to speak, he's saying, you won't return from that. You'll
find a righteousness in and of yourself where you will not need
the Lord anymore. And this is exactly the case
in our society and all over the world as it always has been from
the Garden of Eden up. Men want to find righteousness
in and of their self. They don't want wisdom in their
heart. They don't want Christ. They said away with this man.
Let his blood be upon us and on our children. Notice that there's no return
from this, verse 19. None that goeth unto her return
again, neither take they hold the paths of life. They're in
darkness, they're dead, in trespasses and in sin. They love the wages
of darkness. What did the scripture say in
John chapter one? Men love darkness rather than
light because their deeds are evil. They love the ways of darkness. And this doesn't look like, There's
wickedness all over the world in different places. There's
dark places and very corrupt things, but there's none that's
more evil than on Sunday morning when everybody's standing up
preaching a Jesus that can't save anybody unless you let him.
That's wicked. That's evil. That's not true.
That's lying on God. That's the strange woman where
men and women are deceived thereby all the way to hell. Oh, the
Lord successfully redeemed everyone that he died for on the cross.
It wasn't an attempt made unto man, it was an attempt unto the
Father. An offering, I should have said, unto the Father, and
the Father was well pleased with that sacrifice. We, by nature, want self-praise,
and that's what this strange woman's all about. Look what
I have done. Look at me. Pride. You want to find the root
of our sin, it comes down to pride. Every time. It's all about
self, pride. It's what it's all about. In
the very beginning, it was about pride, and in the very end, it's
pride. Why won't men come to Christ? Pride. They want to have
some glory, some praise, some recognition, something. I mean,
it's all about pride, but wisdom from above, given to the heart
of God's people, causes us to say, not unto us, O Lord, not
unto us, unto thy name be glory and honor and praise. Now in closing, I want to turn
to first Corinthians 18. That's the two that's in this
chapter, the evil man, that's us by nature and the wicked,
the strange woman are the ones that flatter. They're the ones
that Uh, it's false religion. It's all false religion. The
Lord saves his people from both. He saves us from ourself and
he saves us from the lie, the lie of false religion. First
Corinthians one Let's look in verse 18, and we'll
read through the end of the chapter, but we'll elaborate as we go
here. He says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that
perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the
power of God. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise, and I will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. That's everyone that's ever claimed
to be wise or even is wise as far as naturally seeking. But
by their wisdom, he says, the world by wisdom knew not God.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. For the Jews require a sign.
And the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified
under the Jews, a stumbling block and under the Greeks foolishness.
There's the same to the wicked man, the religious and the irreligious. That's exactly what this is.
The Greeks and the Jews, that's those, the Jews would be the
ones that are the religious. The Greeks would be the ones
that are irreligious. They're the ones. Uh, the Jews want to see something
physically in their religion. They want to see a miraculous,
uh, some kind of miracle, something externally in the Greeks here,
which is everybody else. They believe that it's what you
attain in your mind, or it's what you do in your heart. It's
what's done on the inside. It's not what's done on the outside.
It's the two from our text in Proverbs chapter two, it's the
evil man. And it's the strange woman. So we preach Christ to the Jews,
a stumbling block. He's the chief cornerstone that
was rejected by the Jews. They thought he would come down.
They thought, and that's the problem. They thought that's
our problem, isn't it? And that's pride. That's exactly
what it is. I thought, well, what entitled
us to think, you know, I mean, They thought Christ would come
down as a king, drawing a sword and smiting all their enemies
and setting up an earthly kingdom and they would have peace and
they would have prosperity like they did under David or Solomon.
It said, my kingdom is not of this world. My kingdom, I came
to save the lost house of Israel. I came to seek and save that
which was lost. My sheep hear my voice. I give
unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. You're not
of my sheep. You're of your father, the devil.
That's what he told the Pharisees, that you're not of my father.
You're of your father, the devil. I didn't come to save you. They didn't have an offer. They
didn't have a choice. I mean, we don't have a choice
in this. God does all the saving. That's good news if you've ever
seen yourself as a sinner, knowing that you can't do anything right.
He did all the saving. That's what wisdom in the heart
teaches us. He's a stumbling block. He's too simple. No, he's
supposed to be this, or he's supposed to, I want to see something.
Boy, we, I remember going, I've told you all this before. I've
seen people run on top of the pews and they've danced around
and hooped and hollered and carried on. It was like a circus inside
of a church. and they called it worship, and they called it,
the Holy Spirit was there. Did you know the Holy Spirit
doesn't draw attention to himself? He speaks in a still, small voice,
and who does he point to? The Lord Jesus Christ. That's
not worship, what they're doing. Worship's in the heart. Worship's
in the heart, and these Jews that's mentioned, the religious
here, they wanted to see something, just as today, men want to see
something. There'll be no sign given except that of the prophet
Jonah, the resurrection of Christ. That's it. That's the only one.
And then on the other hand, you have the Greeks here. They have
the knowledge that they've gathered throughout the universe they've
seen with their eyes and they have arrived. And we think as
we would be under the category of Greeks, cause we're not Jews,
but in and of ourself, we would, really have what we think would
be understanding, we would gain more and more knowledge. We would
believe that we know more and more. And there's such arrogance
that comes with that and such pride that comes with that. It's
not what you know, it's not what I know, it's who we know. And
when we preach Christ and his simplicity, we preach that Christ
Jesus successfully redeemed his people on the cross of Calvary.
Those that seek after knowledge, they say, that's foolishness.
That's too simple. That's too simple. No, I've arrived. I know more than that. I have
to do something. It's not true, is it? It's finished. That's what wisdom in the heart
teaches us, teaches the Lord's people. We preach Christ crucified
under the Jews, a stumbling block, and under the Greeks, foolishness.
Let's read on here, verse 25. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men. That's sarcasm, isn't it? There's
no foolishness with God. Foolishness of God is wiser than
men, and the weakness of God is stronger than man. For you
see your calling, brethren, that not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God hath
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty, and the base things of the world, and the
things which are despised, God hath chosen. Yea, and the things
which are not to bring to naught, things that are. You wanna know
why? Verse 29, that no flesh should
glory in his presence. But of him, of God, are you in
Christ, who is of God, made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. What does wisdom in the heart
teach us? Christ is all my wisdom. Christ
is all my righteousness. Christ is all my sanctification
and all my redemption. If he's not, I don't have any.
I don't have any if he's not. Here we have the sad state of
all men, all men represented, the Jews and the Greeks. We have
the evil men. We have the religious harlots
as it's defined in other places. The strange woman. We have everyone
under the sun. Those who base salvation on what
they see or what they know, but God, and this is our hope, but
God who is rich in mercy, but God interjects and he comes to
us who were undeserving of anything but death and damnation. He comes
in grace and in love and he reveals his darling son teaching us that
Christ has put away the sin that we have, the sin that we are.
He bore our iniquity on the cross of Calvary, making us the very
righteousness of God in him. He puts his spirit into us, breathing
his elect to life. You know, in Genesis, when he
said, God formed man out of the dust of the ground, he breathed
into his nostrils and man became a living soul. We're gonna be
looking at a little bit of creation Sunday. We didn't have a single
part in first creation, did we? And what would we have done if
we would have been there? What could we have done? Could we
have divided the waters from the land? Think about that. Could
we have put the sky above the earth? What could we have actually
done if we were present? So we should not think that it's
any different in salvation more so. We don't have any part in
the second creation either. The life that he gives us, he's
gotta blow his spirit. He's gotta form us. Born after
his seed from above, breathe the breath of life into us. And
in doing so, he puts wisdom in the heart of his people that
looks to Christ by faith. We by grace hear this. We're
like the Samaritan woman, Lord, give us that water that I thirst
not. Give me that water. Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. That's what we
cry out, isn't it? Lord, give me this water that I may not
thirst anymore. Give us wisdom in our heart.
Deliver us from the evil man, ourself. Deliver us from the
strange woman, self-righteousness. Create in me a clean heart, David
said. Renew in me a right spirit. Purge
me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be
made whiter than snow. Give us Christ lest we die. Make
him our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption.
In James chapter one, I've already quoted this once. James chapter
one gives us great news. If you lack wisdom, ask God for
it. If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God for it. He giveth to all men liberally
and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. This is his promise.
Lord, give us Wisdom in the heart. Give us wisdom in the heart.
Let's pray. Father, bless your word according
to your promise. Give us Christ our wisdom. Make
him our wisdom in the heart, we pray.