Tonight, we're going to be in
the book of Proverbs, if you would like to turn their Proverbs chapter two. And we
looked at this text last week as well. Actually, we went all
the way through verse nine tonight, we're just going to go through
verse five and into six. Starts out by saying, my son,
and I mentioned this last week, I believe, but my son denotes
the audience to whom he's speaking. Solomon speaking to his son could
be naturally, but it also, because of the spiritual application
throughout all of scripture, we know that it's the Lord speaking
to his children. It's the Lord speaking to his
people, his elect. Scripture is to a particular
people. Scripture is not written. The
reason it was written as a love letter from the Lord to his people,
it's not. It's written to a particular
people, the declared message to God's elect. It's something
that must be spiritually understood, spiritually discerned. It's not
something that we can just study and find out the hidden mysteries
of God about. It's not just a good book or
a godly book. It's the word of God. It's the
literal Jesus Christ in written form. Now this spiritually revealed,
spiritually discerned book must be revealed by the Lord. He's
the doer of it. It's according to his will. according
to His purpose, not of the will of blood, nor of the will of
man, nor of the will of flesh. It's the Lord's will, the Lord's
purpose, the Lord's choice in revealing this. Otherwise, we'll
just read it as if it was a fairy tale. We'll just read it as a
storybook. We'll just read it as something
that perhaps good morals to live by or good good legal matters
to base your life on so that you can maybe have a good relationship
with God, but that's not why it was written. It's the message. The book is a message and the
message is Jesus Christ. That's the fullness of the message,
Jesus Christ and his salvation for his people. That's the message
throughout all of scripture, every type and every shadow,
every picture points to him in every way. Now, as we heard first hour,
Men will not come to an understanding on their own. Not the first hour,
I'm sorry, the call to worship. We heard that in the call to
worship. In Romans three, I'd remind us says, there is none
righteous, no, not one. When the scripture says none,
let us always make certain that we notice those words. None means none. There is none
righteous. There is none righteous. If that's
true, and it is, then it literally, we take it for face value. We
don't say, yeah, yeah, I understand there's none righteous. And then
some add, there's nothing to add to that. There's none righteous,
but the Lord Jesus Christ, but the, but his father, but the
spirit, those are the righteous ones. The Lord himself, God's
righteous, not us. There's none righteous. And therefore
there's none that understand it. There's none that seeketh
after God. Do we know why that there's none that seeketh after
God? Because they're in the flesh. We're in the flesh. Everything
that we do is in the flesh. This is similar to what we heard
last week, but it's necessary because of what Solomon's doing
is he's literally reiterating everything that he's already
said in the first chapter. He's just saying it over again. The flesh cannot please God.
Now the scripture does not contradict itself. Last week we read these
verses and we're gonna read them here in just a second, but I
wanna remind us that all scripture is given by inspiration of the
spirit. Now, what does that mean? Well,
number one, men were moved to write the scripture, but they
were moved by the spirit. They weren't moved by emotions.
They weren't moved by their vendetta or their objective. They were
moved by the spirit to do so. We believe that. All 66 books
of the Bible were divinely inspired by the Lord himself. This is
his word. This is his words we've already established. Also, scripture being given by
inspiration of the spirit means you and I, in order to receive
The understanding of the scripture must come through and by the
Spirit. We can't come to a knowledge of it without the Spirit. So
just as it's given of the Lord in writing, it's also given to
us according to His will to understand it. It's all of Him, isn't it?
Everything's of Him, for Him to reveal it. Not by our choosing,
but He is. Not by our doing, but He is.
Now with this in mind, I want to read our text in Proverbs
2, verse 1. My son, if thou wilt receive
my words and hide my commandments with thee so that thou incline
thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding,
yea, if thou cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for
understanding, if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for
her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear
of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Only the Lord's people
hear this truth. He says, if, if thou will receive,
verse five says, then shall thou understand. If thou will receive,
now so many would hear that and say, okay, all I have to do is
receive. Well, yes, that's true. That is true, but a dead man
can't receive anything. It wouldn't do him any good if
he, except for life, that's something that we must have is life. Only the Lord's people hear this
truth where he says, if thou wilt, we say, but I'm dead. How
can I attain this knowledge that he's speaking of? How can I come
to an understanding that he's speaking of? How can I, how can
a dead man receive wisdom? Well, with man, it's impossible,
that's the point. With man, it's impossible, but
with God, all things are possible. With God, all things are possible.
If I am to receive of the Lord, he's the one gonna have to be
the giver, the giver of it. Demand or make, I can't cause. He's gonna have to be the doer
of it. The key here is found in verse six. Verse six tells
us, for the Lord giveth wisdom. Out of his mouth cometh knowledge
and understanding. He owns it. He possesses it. He is made unto us wisdom. He is the location of it. He
is the singular source of knowledge, of understanding and wisdom.
He is. knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Without Him, we don't
have any knowledge, we don't have any understanding, and we
don't have any wisdom about who He is or what He's done. He's
the singular source of all these things that leads to eternal
life. We think of things that we've
learned in life, been given understanding, been given insight. We know some
things. The older we get, we know some
things, don't we? We've been taught some things, we've experienced
some things. Can't experience enough to know
God. Can't know enough to know God. This knowledge is his. It belongs
to him. This is his wisdom. This is his
gospel. The glorious news is that he's
willing to show mercy. He's what does the scripture
say? He's his mercy endureth forever. He delights in showing mercy
to his people. There's good news. If I can't
figure out God, if I can't find him out, if I can't do anything
to attain it, to hear him say, I will be thou made whole. That's good news because it's
not what I've done. It's what he's done. So how do
I receive this mercy? How do I receive this wisdom,
this understanding, this knowledge that he's mentioning here? How
do we receive it? Well, it would be foolish and silly of us to
say all Adam had to do was if the Lord said, now, Adam, I formed
you out of the dust of the ground. All you have to do is receive
this breath of life. That's how men use the word receive.
No, Adam just received the breath of life, didn't he? He did. The
Lord breathed into his nostrils. Man became a living soul. Why?
God chose to cause him to receive it. Likewise, if it would have
been up to Lazarus, all you have to do is receive my word, Lazarus,
first. Then I'll say, come forth. That's
that doesn't make any sense, does it? No, the Lord had to
call Lazarus forth. And this is us by nature. We're
dead. Just as Adam was dead, being the dust, we're of dust.
Dust, we shall return. But spiritually is what I'm talking
about being dead. The Lord's going to have to give
life. The Lord's going to have to give breath. The Lord's going
to have to say, come forth. And that's what he's talking
about here. in this particular chapter. To receive anything
of the Lord's hand other than judgment, other than wrath, other
than condemnation, it's all of grace. Because that's all we
deserve is judgment and wrath. That's all we deserve. But everything
received other than that of the Lord, to receive peace with God,
that's grace. To receive understanding of God,
that's grace. To receive wisdom, that's Christ,
that's grace. I was thinking of one time I
was in a fast food restaurant. I don't know which one it was,
so you won't be able to condemn me for my choice that time. But
the person in front of me picked up the bill for us. and paid
for our food. I don't know if it was $20, $30,
what it is. I can't remember. But anyways,
I'm pulling up there, and they hand me the bag of stuff, and
I said, how much is it? And they said, it's paid for. I said,
paid for? They said, yeah. I said, well,
who paid for it? They said, the person in front
of you. I received that meal for free, didn't I? I received
that gift for free. I didn't do anything to deserve
it. I didn't merit it in any way. I didn't do anything to
receive it. It was nothing that I did that
persuaded that individual. And this is a physical matter.
Now, I guess there is somebody out there that would say, well,
I would have paid for it anyways. Well, I'm sure they would. I
didn't. I accepted it gladly. We were
hungry. At the time, we were half broke
anyways. I was very happy to have it. If you think about a
beggar, though, And that's what we are by nature, a dead dog
sinner that's a beggar coming to the master's table begging.
And what you hear from the master is it's already been paid for.
You receive it gladly then, don't you? It's see, it's irresistible.
It's the most beautiful substance. The Lord's blood is the most
glorious substance because it's unto eternal life. When he says,
if you receive, this receiving is not, he didn't say, if you
don't reject my words, that's not what he said. If you receive
my words, only the Lord's sheep hear his voice. Only the Lord's
sheep receive his word. We're enabled to. Everything
God requires, he provides. If that said in this chapter,
you need to do this to receive my words then we would be talking
about a different subject but that's not what it says. It says
if you receive my words then all these other things are going
to follow. That's what he's saying. If you receive of the Lord, grace. You receive understanding, you
receive wisdom, and you receive knowledge of who God is. The
Lord saved you. The Lord's called you. He showed
you who he is, and you know what you're gonna do in return, what
I'm gonna do in return. He tells us here, we're gonna
incline our ear to wisdom, apply our heart to understanding, cry
after knowledge, lift up our voice for understanding. We're
gonna seek it as silver and search it as a hid treasure. Why? Because the Lord has given us
understanding. of the fear of the Lord. We fear
the Lord. We see him as high and lifted
up that we can't attain unto him, that we can't save ourself.
That's why we cry out. See, the cry is not the cause
of salvation as so many preach. The cry is the result of salvation. Unless the Lord saves me first,
I won't be saved and you won't either. But he saved us and then
he calls us. And with this calling, we gladly
receive him, gladly receive him. What part did we do in earning
that free gift and that drive-thru? Nothing. What part did I do in
meriting it? It wasn't a family member. I
didn't know the person, never saw the person. They never saw
me. Maybe they saw me in the rearview mirror and they seen
we were a young couple and they had compassion on us. The Lord
Didn't look at you and I and determined to save us because
of how we look and how good we are and what we do and don't
do. He saved us according to his
own will and pleasure and purpose. And that's good news. If you're
a sinner, that means I can't mess it up. Now whether that
person that paid for that meal was basing it off of maybe they
thought my wife was attractive, I don't know, but it was nothing.
When it comes to salvation, it's nothing to do with attraction.
It's nothing to do with physical anything. It's all about grace.
For by grace are you saved through faith. And that faith, that's
the gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should boast. If
I found out why that person paid for that meal, I'd probably boast
about it. Yeah, they thought I was cute or something. I would
brag about that. No, this is all of grace, salvation
is. We don't brag about it. It's
all about Him. We cannot see, we cannot understand,
we cannot perceive if we're dead, can we? We've gotta be made alive. And whenever we're made alive,
the Lord reveals to us, and you hath he quickened who were dead
and trespasses in sin. Boy, that's good news. He chose
to quicken us. He chose to quicken us. He chose
to say, breathe. God breathed the breath of life
into the nostrils of Adam, and man became a living soul. That's the same thing that the
Spirit does. When the Lord, by his grace,
when the gospel goes forth, he breathes that breath of life
into his people at his appointed time, calling them out of darkness
into his light, causing them to live, causing them to receive
the Lord, causing them to receive a new heart. How am I gonna receive
a new heart? Lord, you're gonna have to do
it. My heart's, he's not gonna receive my heart. He's not gonna
receive anything that I offer. But salvation's not an offer
to us, is it? We're just the benefactors. We
just woke up one day, if I can put it that way, by grace, the
Lord woke us up out of our dead sleep that we were in and revealed
unto us, I've quickened you who were dead in trespasses and in
sin. Why would he do that? For his
own purpose, by his own grace, and for his own glory. Of his
own will begat he us. Now, when Solomon says in verse
five, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find
the knowledge of God. It's clear if you understand
the fear of the Lord, then you understand and I understand salvation
is of the Lord to receive the fear of the Lord, to be given
repentance. We confess openly salvations
of the Lord. I've seen, when the Lord shows
us, there's a article in our bulletin, I believe it's this
Sunday, David Edmondson wrote it. And he said, the Lord showed
me what I am. I have to paraphrase a little
bit, forgive me. The Lord showed me what I am
and showed me who he was. And in doing so, it showed me
that the only way that he would love me is willingly. Willingly,
he's not obligated to love me. There's nothing in me that he
would love. There's no good in me whatsoever. The only way God
would love me is willingly. He's willing, not willing that
any of his sheep should perish, but that all should come to repentance,
not willing that one sheep be lost. All that the father give
me shall come to me and I won't lose one of them. If you've been
given the fear of the Lord, it's clearly understood salvations
of the Lord. Understand. All that the Lord
has to do for you and I to, for us to choose self, for us to
choose pride, for us to choose self-righteousness, for us to
choose hell in the process is just leave us to ourself. It's
all he has to do. Understand something, the Lord,
men talk about accepting and rejecting the Lord. When the
Lord, when the gospel goes forth, There is none that seeketh after
the Lord. There's none that want none.
Christ said, you won't come to me that you might have eternal
life. No man can charge God for not giving them something they
didn't want. They didn't want salvation by
grace. They wanted it by works. Only people that are saved by
grace are the ones where the Lord says, receive thy sight,
receive life. Otherwise we're going to wander
through the darkness and choose self and choose our own pride.
Choose our own sin. But the good news is, in Psalm
27, when thou said, when the Lord said, seek you my face. Then my heart said unto thee,
thy face will I seek. The Lord said, seek you my face.
The Lord said, come unto me. That's when I came unto him.
The Lord said, seek you my face. That's whenever I sought after
him. Otherwise, we would never would never come. What causes
a beggar to beg a need? What causes a hungry person to
eat? They're hungry. They have a need. What causes
someone thirsty that to drink? They're thirsty. What causes a child to come to
their father and mother when they're afraid? Most of us here,
I think several of us here are parents, and I was gonna say
most of us, there's some that's not. But our children, and hopefully
the rest of you will find out one day, when a child's afraid,
where does it run to? You know, mommy and daddy, don't
it? Child runs to mom and dad. What
causes that, a need? A need that only mom and dad
can fix. They're the protector, they're
the provider. And is it not so with our Heavenly
Father whenever the Lord causes us to see our sin, causes us
to be given repentance again, calls us to see that we have
no hope, we flee to Him, causes even our life circumstances,
we're in darkness and we see our circumstances and, oh, we
know where to run to, don't we? He says, seek my face. And we
run to Him. And what does He do? Does He
say, I told you not to do that. Oh, he receives us gladly on
the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ with open arms, with love
and compassion. Aren't you thankful you can't
weary the Lord? Can't weary the Lord. Now only thirsty people drink
and only hungry people eat. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
55. We're gonna read verse one through
three, Isaiah 55. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. The only reason men will not
come to Christ is because they're not thirsty for the Lord Jesus
Christ. When the Lord makes that need
in our heart, he's the only one that can satisfy that need. Everyone that thirsteth, come
ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and
eat. Yea, come, buy wine, and buy
without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto
me, hear, and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sheer mercies of David." You know what
the Lord told disciples and the followers? Blessed, blessed are
they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled. They shall be filled. To understand
is to be made to know. To understand is to be made to
know. To be hungry means you've been
given a need. You've been made hungry. A dead
man's not hungry or thirsty. But shortly after a baby is born,
is it not true that they desire the milk? Don't they? They desire
to be fed. They become hungry shortly after
being born. And it's the same with us. If you're hungry and you're thirsty,
coming to Christ is not a choice. You have to. You have to. I'm gonna die if I don't. It'd be silly to, and it's a
weak analogy, but if you were in a desert, starving to death
and thirsting to death, and there was water right there that was
good water and food right there, would you not eat it? Well, that's
the same, but ever more so with the Lord, spiritually speaking.
We've got to have Him because He's created the need there.
I've got to have his bread, him the fountain of living water.
Coming to Christ is absolutely necessary to the sinner. The only way a sinner will seek
him is if we're made to, made to, and he makes us. What does
he say? He maketh us to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. This is
what our good shepherd does. He feedeth us, leadeth me in
the paths of righteousness for his namesake. Only way we seek him is if we're
made to. And thank God he makes us, makes us willing in the day
of his power. The only way that we forsake
our thoughts and our wicked ways is cleaving unto Christ. We're
about to read that. But he says, forsake your thoughts and your
wicked ways. And men say, OK, I need to start doing this and
stop doing this. The only way to forsake your
thoughts, the only way to forsake your wicked ways, that's all
we are is wickedness. That's all we are is evil thoughts.
Seek Christ, come to him, cleave to him. Lord, I in my hand, no
price I bring. I've got to have you, my good
shepherd, my savior. Otherwise, I'm going to be left
to my wicked ways, my my thoughts. I don't trust my thoughts. You
understand what I'm talking about? You know, some of you do. Your
thoughts are always here and they're full of fear and doubt.
I don't trust my thoughts. I want to forsake them. Look
to Christ. Look to Christ. The only way
to forsake him is to be made to seek Christ. And the good
news, the good news is that you and I are the ones that are lost,
not him. Oh, he's always been seated in
the exact same place. You and I are the one that wander
in our minds throughout our lives. He comes and finds his sheep.
He leaves the 99 and seeks after the one in his appointed time.
Even though we've professed to believe and now we feel like
we're lost all over again. You ever felt that before? He
leaves, he tends to his sheep. He won't lose one. He promised
he won't lose one. Can't, he can't lie. He'll return
us back to the fold in his time. He'll bring us back in and put
the robe on our back and the ring on our finger. Lord, bring
me back in tonight. Cause me to seek your face again
tonight. Give me a new refreshing tonight because I've been wandering
around in this world and my mind and my thoughts are not on you
again. We're found because he sought
us in mercy. Look in verse 6 through 11. He says, Seek you the Lord while
he may be found. Call upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous men his thoughts.
Let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him
and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. The Lord says, For my
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down in
the snow from heaven and returneth not thither, but watereth the
earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed
to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I send it. Just as he sends the
rain, boy, we've had a lot of rain, haven't we? It's been raining,
I think, for three, four days now. And the Lord knew we needed
it, so he sent it. And just as he sends that rain,
he sends his word in his time. Now, I'm not just talking about
a man speaking. The Lord must take even what
we're doing right now, and he must wash it in his precious
blood, or it's just utter sinful. He must give the increase to
the words going forth. He must declare his truth in
the heart of his people. And that's the promise right
here. My word will go forth and accomplish that which I have
purposed, that which I have made it to, that which I please, he
says. He sends forth his word according to his purpose, quickening
his sheep, quickening his sheep, feeding his sheep, clothing his
sheep, anointing their head with oil, I like that analogy of the
anointing with oil. I looked that up whenever I preached
a message to us some time ago, and I always, and I do know that
it's a picture of the Holy Spirit being anointed on the Lord's
people, but sheep literally have to have their head anointed because
There's bugs that get into their ears and can cause, they'll try
to get rid of them by beating their head against the wall.
They'll kill herself to try to get rid of the bugs inside their
head. So he anoints them with oil and it keeps the bugs away.
Isn't it true? We have bugs in our head and all we're hearing
is the buzzing all the time. And all that buzzing is doing
is distracting us from the shepherd. That's what the world does. That's
what temptation does. That's what Our adversary does,
just throwing fiery darts all the time, trying to distract
us. And what will we do to fix it? We're left to ourselves,
we'll just beat our head on the wall to death, wouldn't we? But
the Lord anoints His people's head, anoints His people's head
with the oil of gladness, refreshing us, restoring us, causing us
to see Him once again. That's what He does for His people. My sheep, hear my voice. My sheep
hear my voice and we're begotten by that word of power, by his
word of power. The ability to seek the Lord
as a sheep is evidence of life and not the cause of it. If you
hear his voice, come to him. If you're able to come to him,
that's not so you can be alive. It's because you've been made
alive. Coming to Christ, the ability to seek, the ability
to come to Christ, that's evidence of life. That's not the cause
of it. Men say, come to Jesus and live. Well, that makes no sense. I
can't come to him if he hasn't made me alive already, can I?
He's gotta come to me first. That makes sense. He does, doesn't
he? My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal
life. They shall never perish. And in time, he says, live, live. And we just continually come
to him, don't we? We seek him because he will not
lose one of his sheep. We are kept by his power through
his faith unto his salvation wrought on Calvary's cross. It's
all his salvation. This is what this proverb is
causing us to understand. If I am to seek the Lord, he's
going to have to first say, seek you my face. If I'm going to
purpose in my heart to know Christ, to know wisdom, the Lord's going
to have to introduce himself as wisdom or I'll be prideful
in thinking I know something. If I am to know the knowledge
of God, the secret of the Lord, which is past finding out that
Christ is all, he's the one that's going to have to introduce me
to the Lord Jesus Christ and make him my all. He's going to
have to make me a beggar. He's going to have to make me
a sinner. He's going to have to show me that Christ is the
Savior. And the good news of the gospel is that's exactly
what he does for his sheep. Every single one of them, every
single one of them. By his own will, By His own blood,
by His own power, according to the determinate counsel of God,
He saved His people from their sin, and He caused them in time. Now this is something that offends
most to hear, and God must reveal it. And I say that some of us
would have been offended, or was offended at some point from
hearing it, but boy, if we've been made a sinner, it's the
best news. You've ever heard, you're calling me just an old
dumb sheep, a dead dog sinner? Yes, truth Lord. I need a savior. I need a substitute. I need a
surety. I need one that stood in my stead
because I have nothing to bring. I'm dead. I'm polluted. Save
me. And Lord says, I already have.
I'm the one that put that desire there. I'm the one that made
you cry out. Those that seek the Lord his
way, just as I just described, that's his way, coming to him
with nothing, coming to him with empty, being completely and utterly
empty. They understand the fear of the Lord. Understanding the
fear of the Lord is simply salvations of the Lord. Christ is all. The
Lord's seated and it's finished. That's what the fear of the Lord
teaches us. We never look at our seeking, do we? You think
the sheep that's wandered from the fold, you think he or she
ever has the thought, and this is obviously not sarcasm, ever
had the thought, boy, it was my seeking that got me back to
the shepherd. Or is it just the relief of the
shepherd finding that sheep, that sheep resting again? See,
when we're not with the shepherd, when we're away from the shepherd,
we get, we're cold and we're defenseless and we're lonely
and we're empty and we're afraid and we're vulnerable to all the
elements around us. And all we want is the shepherd.
That's the Lord's people. We just want the shepherd. And
at no point do we look how much effort I put forth in seeking
after the shepherd. Not once do I brag about how
good of a job I did of retracing my steps to find the Lord. No,
but when we see his face, all we want to do is rejoice in the
shepherd. All we want to do is glory in the shepherd because
he's the one that restored our soul. He's the one that rescued
us, that saved us in our despair. We don't look to our knowledge,
we look to Him who is our wisdom. We don't look to our believing,
but we look to His unfailing believing of His Father, His
faithfulness. We don't look to our faithfulness, we look to
His. Matter of fact, there's a man in the Gospel of Mark turned
there. He says, I believe, help thou
mine unbelief. We can relate to that, can't
we? Mark chapter 9 look at verse 20-27. This young man had an evil spirit
the scripture calls it and the disciples couldn't cast out the
evil spirit and as they were gathered around this young man
the Sadducees or the See, I can't remember if it was
the scribes. It was the scribes who were questioning,
asking questions. And the Lord comes up to them
and says, why are you asking these a question? And here in
verse 20, he says this, they brought the man unto him that
had the spirit. And when he saw him straightway,
the spirit tear him and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming.
And he asked his father, how long is it ago since this came
unto him? And he said of a child, and oftentimes
it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy
him, but thou canst do anything. But if thou canst do anything,
have compassion upon us and help us. And we can certainly relate
to this young man's status as oftentimes the things that we
thought we were doing. In religion, we thought we were
helping ourself, but all we're doing is casting ourself into
the fire or casting ourself into the water to drown ourself. I
had no idea, did we? We're out of our mind, he's a
maniac. Look what he says here in verse 23. The Lord speaks
and says unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible
to him that believeth. Now, his wording here struck
me as interesting. If thou canst believe. That tells
me everyone can't believe. If you can believe, all things
are possible. And what does the man say to
him in verse 24? And straightway the father of
the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help, help thou mine unbelief. Is that your prayer? When you
come into the Lord's presence, is that not our prayer? If the Lord says, if you believe,
I'll save you. And we say, Lord, I believe.
I believe, help my unbelief. The Lord says, I've already saved
you. Your belief has nothing to do with it. You believe because
you've been saved. That's the good news of the gospel.
Everything in religion has it backwards. When Jesus saw that
the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit saying
unto him, thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out
of him and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried and
rent him sore and came out of him. And he was as one dead and
so much, many said he is dead, but Jesus took him by the hand
and lifted him up and he arose. There is the gospel picture right
here in this beautiful passage where the Lord, we see ourself
as being possessed out of our mind, unable to heal ourself
from birth, spiritually speaking. And yet the Lord commands, live. And then he picks us up, doesn't
he? Lifts us out of the mire, puts
our feet upon a solid rock, and establishes our going. Can you
relate to this man? I believe, help thou mine unbelief. The moment that we start believing,
when we're worshiping, we're seeing the Lord's face, we believe.
As soon as we step out of this building, go down the road just
a ways, our mind starts wondering again, is that not our prayer?
Lord, I believe. I still believe what I heard, but help my unbelief. Everything around me is causing
me to want me to just beat my head on a rock, like the sheep
whenever you hear the buzzing. Lord, anoint my head with oil
again. Give me a fresh, a renewing. Lift me up, Lord. I'm lost. Save me again. Did you know that
is what it is to receive wisdom? That's what it is to receive
wisdom, just to cry out for the Lord Jesus Christ. We now see
nothing in us can change us. Being lost, we'd remain lost,
wouldn't we? Salvation's truly of the Lord,
but God chose in mercy to reveal his truth. You know the truth
of the gospel that reveals that's so glorious is you were never
lost. You just thought you were. We've
always been exactly where he's purposed us to be. He's always
right on time. He's still seated. He's not waiting
on you and I. He knows exactly where you are
right now. You were really never lost. I
have formed thee, O Jacob. I have created thee. I have redeemed
thee by my own blood. I've called you by name. You're
mine. You're mine. Isn't that what
he tells his sheep? At the appointed time, we receive
life, the free gift of the Lord, bestowed freely by grace. Now
in closing, I wanna go back to our text in Proverbs chapter
two. Let's read this together, one
through five. My son, thou wilt receive my words and hide my
commandments with thee so that thou may incline thine ear unto
wisdom and apply thy heart's understanding. Yea, if thou cryest
after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding,
if thou seeketh her as silver and searchest for her as for
hid treasures, then shall thou understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom. Out
of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. If God has
enabled you and I to hear his word, that's the first thing
he says is receive. If you receive my words, then
we hear the words, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And we
believe. If we've received his words,
we hide his commandments in our heart. What does it mean to hide
his commandments in our heart? Look to Christ who kept all the
commandments of God in our stead. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is his commandment. Well, the Pharisees, they tried
to trick the Lord. What's the greatest commandment?
He said, love the Lord with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength.
Second is like unto the first, love your neighbor as yourself.
And if you looked at the 10 commandments, first five is towards the Lord,
last five is towards man. But is it not true that in Christ
Jesus, he gives us a love for the brethren? Is it not true
in Christ Jesus that we come to Christ and that we have no
other gods before him? How is that? He does that. We hide his commandments in our
heart, we do. We truly do by looking unto Jesus. That's how we do it, looking
unto Christ. If the Lord has caused us to
receive his word, we incline our ear unto wisdom. Christ is our wisdom. We want
to hear his voice, don't we? We don't want to tell him what
we think and what we know. We beg, Lord, save me. We beg, have
mercy, but we don't tell him, well, this is what I think you
should do, and this is what you should be doing. No, we bow,
we say, Lord, Lord, you are wisdom. Lord causes us to apply our heart
to understanding, we just want to. There's a song more about
Jesus, I would know we sing that sometimes we just want to know
more about him, don't we? If the Lord's caused us to receive
his word, we cry after him. We lift up our voice and we beg
for him as our treasure. Don't we? We truly do. And this
is the call to the believer. Cry out to him, lift up the voice
to him, apply the heart to understanding, incline your ear to him. And
we do. We want to hear from him. Not as part of salvation, not
to obtain salvation, but because salvation's been received of
the Lord by grace alone. We want to hear his voice. It's
true that we beg for him as our treasure. Do you know why? Because
God has made us to know God. God's made us to know God. And
only those that know God flee to Christ. Knowing he is God
and he's the only one that can touch God and not be destroyed
and touch man and not be defiled, we flee to Christ. We've been
made to understand fear, the fear of the Lord. That's what
he says in verse five. Then shall thou understand the fear of the
Lord. Why? Because you've received my words. You've received my
words. You understand the fear of the
Lord. You've been made to see Christ is all. That's why you've
got to hear his voice. That's why you have to incline
your heart to him. He's made it to be thus. We desire
him and nothing else. Let's pray. Father, we thank
you that you have. Purposed for us to receive grace. To receive salvation by grace
as a free gift, not of our works, but all by grace. Calls us to
believe. Help our unbelief. In Christ
name, Amen.