isn't he? Tonight we're going
to be in Proverbs chapter 1 if you'd like to turn there. Proverbs chapter 1. I would tell
us by way of introduction the passage that Paul wrote to the
church of Colossae. Colossians chapter 2 verse 3
says this, in Christ our head is all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge. In Christ are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. Not some, not a few of them,
not most, all. In Christ are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man
should beguile you with enticing words. The word hidden means
a secret A secret kept out of sight, something that is concealed. Never make the mistake of thinking
we can find God on our own. Never make the mistake of thinking
that we can discover him. He's past finding out as we read
in Romans 11. His ways are higher than the
heavens. He's past finding out. Romans 1133, as we read earlier,
says, Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom of God and
the knowledge of God. Oh, the depth, the depth. Of
the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable
are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord? What a thought. Who? Who hath known the mind of the
Lord? Do you know who? The Lord's people. The Lord's
people knows the mind of the Lord. What do I mean by that?
Well, we know his purpose in salvation, don't we? That's his
mind. We know that he's infinite in
wisdom. We don't understand it, but we know it's true. His ways
are past finding out. who's known his mind, who has
been his counselor, is the next part. Who's been his counselor?
Have you ever thought about giving counsel unto the Lord? How foolish
that would be to even think about. He don't need our counsel, does
he? As deep as we see him, as high
as we can possibly fathom with our human minds, he is still
infinitely deeper, infinitely higher. He is all wisdom, not
just some, not just some, all. He is all wisdom. He is all righteousness,
not just some, all. He is the sum and substance of
our eternal hope. I wrote down the word, explain
this to me because there's no way we can understand this. I
can tell you and declare and that's what the gospel does is
it's just declared and the Lord does the work. It's not something
we can make each other understand. That's
the work of the Lord. That's the work of the Holy Spirit,
isn't it? The Lord is so vast, so vast that he has the power
to cleanse the deepest stain. He is so vast that there's nothing
that is out of his gaze. He's so vast, he's so awesome,
he's so powerful that he can make the worst leper clean, the
dirtiest sinner, the very righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. That's
how vast our Lord is, yet he's so narrow, he's so narrow that
men will not come to him, that they might have life, it's too
simple. He's so vast and yet he's so narrow. That's a paradox.
That's something we can't understand. It doesn't make sense to our
human mind. We know one plus one equals two. That's what it's
supposed to be. The Lord said, I am. And we say, truth, Lord,
I believe that you're so vast and you're so narrow now calls
me to come to you. Lord, even me, even me have mercy
on me. He's so narrow that no one will
come to him that they may have life. Why? Because no man comes
to the Father but by him. That's his choice. In religion,
it was always that you have to go by Jesus Christ to get to
God, but that's not what he's saying there. He's saying you
can't come to the Father. You cannot come to God unless
I cause you to, unless I enable you to, unless I make you. Aren't you glad that to know,
to know the truth that we don't come to Christ kicking and screaming,
do we? Why? We've been made needy. We've
been made to have a need that only he can fix. We've been made
to see that in Christ are hidden all, all the mysteries of wisdom,
all the blessings of wisdom and all. There's nothing else, no
other place that we could go to but him. No man comes to the
father, but by me, no man comes to God unless drawn of him. This
is what the Lord reveals by his gospel. This is who he reveals
by his gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work.
These are called, as I've titled this message, treasures of wisdom,
treasures of wisdom. Now that was our introduction, I suppose,
if you wanna put it that way. So let's read our text here in
Proverbs 1, verse 20. Wisdom crieth without. She uttereth her voice in the
streets. She crieth in the chief place
of concourse, in the openings of the gates, in the city she
uttereth her words, saying, How long you simple ones, will you
love simplicity? And the scorners in their scorning,
and the foolish hate knowledge, turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit
unto you. I will make known my words unto
you. Now some of you in your Bible,
you'll see in the next verse, verse 24, that there's a little
symbol right beside 24. That indicates that a new paragraph
is about to start. That was the end of that thought,
and so we're gonna stop there tonight and look at these four
verses. Verses 22, 23. Wisdom crieth. What does that
mean? Wisdom crieth. Crieth means to call out. Crieth
means to declare. Crieth means to proclaim. It
does not mean beg. It does not mean beg. You think about us crying out.
We don't cry out to the Lord. I mean, we're proclaiming. He is all in our cry, but we're
crying out for mercy. We're begging. We're pleading.
That's not what wisdom does. Wisdom proclaims. Wisdom declares. Wisdom calls out. Doesn't mean
pleads. Now this is an exhortation that
can only be understood, can only be received by grace through
faith. It's all of the Lord. It's not
of works, it's all of grace. He says, turn ye at my reproof.
This is not an invitation to repent. This is not an invitation
to repent. He's saying to them, you turned
your back on me. Turn your face towards my son,
is what he's saying. Turn your face towards my son.
Turn you at my reproof. He's identifying their issue
for them. He's identifying our issue. We hear the call that
says, come to Christ. We hear the call that says, whosoever
will, let him come. And yet we've been made to know,
Lord, I don't have legs to walk to you. I don't have strength
to come to you. I don't have sight to see you. Lord, cause me to turn. And what
does he say in the next part? Verse 23, I will pour out my
spirit unto you. I will make known my words unto
you. There's the gospel. I will and
you shall. Turn you at my reproof. I'm gonna
turn you at my reproof and you're gonna turn at my reproof. That's
what he's saying. He's pointing out Turn ye at
my reproof. He's pointing out that they've
hardened their heart, and they've hardened their heart, and we
would too, had it not been for the grace of God. You ever read
when Pharaoh, Moses went in and said, let my people go, the scripture
says, and Pharaoh hardened his heart. And Pharaoh hardened his
heart. You know what it also says? And
God hardened the heart of Pharaoh. And God hardened the heart of
Pharaoh. It's of the Lord if we have a
soft heart. It's of the Lord if we have a
new heart created by the Lord Jesus Christ, one that believes
Him, one that turns at His reproof, His chastening. Whom the Lord
loveth, He chasteneth. That's what the word reproof
means. But only the Lord's people are chastened because He only
loves them. So we're chastened, and so often, brethren, and you
know it's true, we see the chastening of the Lord, and it's grievous
to our flesh, and we, well, we're all the same. We kick, we fuss,
we don't mean to be that way. That's just like the children
of Israel. We murmur like in the wilderness, don't we? You
know, their shoes never wore out, and they had bread fall
from the sky. Everything they needed, their
shoes never wore out, their clothes never got old, they had bread
fall from the sky, they got water out of a rock, and all that's
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ being exactly what we need. But
is it not true that we're taken care of by the Lord in so many
ways, and yet, we're just like them, we murmur, we murmur. Lord, soften my heart, cause
me to be tender unto you, cause me to know you. And when we see
the precious Lord Jesus Christ, you know that it tenderizes the
heart, doesn't it? What was the, in Song of Solomon,
the Shulamite girl, lost my word there for a second, Shulamite
girl, she was talking to her, it's a picture of the church
and the Lord's what it is, but she was talking and she said,
my beloved's gone. She said, his smell lingers. I can still smell that he was
here. I know his smell. That's us. We know the Lord.
By faith, we know him. And what did he say of her? He
said, well, one look, thou hast ravished my heart. This is our
beloved. This is who wisdom is. This is the Lord. Lord, soften
my heart. Listen to what Proverbs 15 says.
He that refuses instruction, he that refuses instruction despises
his own soul. But he that heareth reproof,
getteth understanding. He that heareth reproof geteth
understanding. Why? Because in order to hear,
you have to be alive. A dead man can't hear anything.
In order to hear, you have to be alive. That means he's made
you alive and he's given understanding. Understanding of who God is and
who we are. This is the work of God, getting
understanding. This is the gift by grace. To
be able to hear him, to be able to see Him, to be able to know
Him. That is the gift of grace. Now
here in our text, we have all men by nature. We have all men
by nature. In verse 22, how long you simple
ones will you love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their
scornings, and the fools hate knowledge. So we have the three,
the simple, The scorners and the fools. And for this hour,
I wanna look at those three, but I wanna look at who makes
us to differ. I wanna look at who makes us to differ. We by
nature are born simple scorners and fools. That's our nature. That's our nature. It's who we
are. All of these individuals have
one thing in common. They do not have a need. They
do not have a need. He's saying to them, you love
simplicity. So your scorners delight in your
scorning. Your fools hate knowledge. These are they who enjoy what
they are and what they do. A simple, and we'll look at each
one of these one at a time, they don't have a need. They don't
have a need. A simple one, simple is someone who doesn't Well,
they don't have a need, but they love their willful ignorance.
They've been convinced of something by a man. They love what they
know. They love what they have. The scripture calls them being
willingly ignorant. Willingly ignorant. That's what
simple is. They're open-minded. What do
I mean by open-minded? Well, you and I are not open-minded
when it comes to things of God. Now, if he's teaching us, absolutely,
but when it comes to a conversation with somebody else, somebody
says, I wanna find a common ground with you, or I wanna, can't do
it. No, we're very closed-minded when it comes to the things of
God. Him being sovereign, him dying for his people, him redeeming
his people, election, we can't, there's no compromise. We talked
about that, was it last week, I guess? It's true, isn't it? We can't compromise on that.
We're closed-minded. These are they who are open-minded. They're
interested in whatever feels good, whatever they can see with
their eyes, rather than what the thing's unseen. They're happy with the simple,
general, or generic God. The God that men declare that
don't exist, that says he loves everybody. That's simple, but
it's the lie. It's the simple lie, isn't it?
These are the men that say peace, peace, when there is no peace. The simple have no need of Christ.
They do not believe that they're as bad as God said. That's what
it comes down to. These that are simple, and brethren,
understand something, that's us left to ourselves. We won't
believe we're as bad as God says we are. Even looking at the law,
you remember the rich young ruler that came to the Lord, and he
said unto him, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And
he told him the 10 commandments is what he told him. And he said,
you know the commandments, you love your father and your mother,
you keep Sabbath day. And he said, I've done all of
these from my youth. I've done them all. He's lying
for one because he didn't believe he was as bad as God says he
is. That's the problem. And what did the Lord say? Well,
the Lord said, go and sell all you have and give to the poor,
take up your cross and follow me. What he was saying was, is
deny everything that you have, everything that you are and everything
that you believe and follow me, follow me. And that's not complicated,
is it? That's not complicated. So that's
exactly what the Lord's people do. But that was not what this
young ruler wanted to hear. He didn't want to hear this.
He was happy with what he had already had. Think about who came to Christ
when he was on the earth. Who came to Christ when he was
on the earth? And I find it interesting, as I was studying, I thought
of this, I've never thought of this before. When the Lord, we see
that he healed many, didn't say he healed all. Think about that,
why? Because it took faith to believe. And only the ones given faith
came to Christ. And that's the same now. Until the Lord Petus
leaves us to ourself, we'll just be simple. We will never come,
we'll never have a need. Who came to the Lord? Those who
had a need. Those who had a need and were
given faith to believe him. How many times did he say, Thy
faith hath made thee whole. That's the gift. It's amazing. He gives exactly what is needed
and then just points it out. I've done that for you. Your
faith has made you whole. I gave you the faith. He gets
all the glory, doesn't he? Unless God causes us to have
a need. And faith to believe, we'll die
believing our simplicity, our fabricated simplicity, the human
mind. Now, I would say this about the simple. Everyone is born
simple compared to God. We don't know anything, do we,
compared to him? He knows everything. Remember,
we read already that he has all the knowledge, all the wisdom
that's hid in Christ. In Christ, that's where it's
hit at, and we can't see that. That's the point, is men will
be content with their simplicity unless the Lord reveals the gospel. That's the treasures of wisdom,
brethren, that he's talking about here, to see the Lord Jesus Christ
as being the wisdom of God, as seeing him as being our knowledge
before God. We don't come to Christ for wisdom,
we come to Christ because he's revealed as our wisdom. We come
to him to be our wisdom. We don't come to him with our
hand outstretched saying, I need your wisdom. We come to him saying,
I need Christ. He's all that I know. I need
him. Second thing we see here is the
scorners. Scorners or braggers, a mocker, it's defined as both,
a bragger and a mocker. Well, to brag in our own righteousness
is to mock what the Lord Jesus Christ did. It's the same thing.
And that's what a scorner does. Self-righteous, in the Lord's
time it was called a Pharisee. They were called the Pharisees
and Sadducees. It's the religious. Today they're called Baptists
and Methodists and Catholics. I'm not picking on any certain
denomination. It's any false religion whatsoever. Those are
the scorners. Those are the braggers. Everything
in man's religion, man-made religion is designed to lift man up, not
the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything about the gospel is
given and revealed to us that Christ is all. Christ is all. He must increase. I must decrease. Is that not what the scripture
teaches us? Left to ourself, we would not be a beggar, we
would be a bragger. Preached a message on that recently.
And that's exactly what a scorner is, is a bragger, not a beggar.
Turn with me to Luke chapter 23. I just want to read four verses
here. verses 39 through 43. And one of the male factors,
which were hanged, railed on him, saying, if thou be Christ,
save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked
him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same
condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done
nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said
unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be
with me in paradise. Here we have one who is mocking. thou be Christ. And that's what
all religion tries to see is with the natural eye. If thou
be Christ, prove it is what he's saying. If you prove it, I'll
believe. It's not how it works, is it?
It's not how it works. The Lord causes us to believe,
or we'll never believe. You have one, they're in the
same condition. They're all dying, all three
of these, the Lord Jesus Christ and these two thieves, these
murderers, the thieves. They're all being put to death.
They're all been found guilty. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, he
was the one that was innocent, wasn't he? And that's what was
revealed to this one man. So you think about his visage
being marred beyond recognition. You think about the stripes and
all the, it had been a gruesome, it had been gruesome to look
upon, yet he saw Jesus Christ, the Lord on the cross. He saw
him. They were all in the same condition. They were all, it
was, how is it that one saw him and
one did not? Faith. God gave the one faith. If you be Christ, save yourself
and us. Lord. Acknowledged who he was,
didn't he? Lord. Remember me, Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. Remember me. Isn't that the same
prayer as have mercy on me, the sinner? Is that not the same
prayer as Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me? Is that
not the same prayer? Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. Lord, if it be you, let me let
me come to you. It's the same prayer, isn't it? That's the prayer that's given
to the believer by faith that just believes Christ. On one
hand, you have the one who is mocking, and on the other, you
have one who is believing. We have the scoffer and the believer,
scoffer and the believer. They're in the same condition,
but how can one see the Lord Jesus Christ and the other one
mock? One word, grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith, in that not of yourself, not of yourself. What does that
mean? That means I didn't have anything to do with it. I didn't
contribute anything to it in and of myself. I didn't do any,
it's not of me, it's of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. God's amazing grace revealed
that Jesus Christ is God. That's the treasure of wisdom. That's what has to be revealed.
This is the secret. This is the mystery. This is
the hidden thing. This is where the Lord must do
the revealing. Otherwise, we wouldn't see him.
How many people did the Lord Jesus Christ walk past while
he was on this earth and they just thought he was another man?
Even, I mean, you think about all the people that saw him raised
up. He was stood up in the temple and he declared the truth unto
them out of Isaiah. And they marveled at his words,
but they said, is this not Joseph and Mary's son? We know who this
is. This is the carpenter's boy. Couldn't see him. Why? Because it's hidden. In him are
hid all the treasures. All the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. He is God, salvations of the
Lord, and it is finished. Christ is all. That's the simplicity. That is the simplicity of the
believer, that men will not believe. Christ is all. The thief on the cross didn't
believe that, did he? But the other one did. The Lord's
the one that did that, isn't he? Turn back to our text in
Proverbs 1. Last thing we see in verse 22, How long, you simple ones, will
you love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their
scorning, and the fools hate knowledge. Fools hate knowledge. Well, who or what is a fool?
Well, he tells us, one who hates knowledge. One who hates knowledge,
number one. What does the scripture say,
though? It's because they're their own
God. What does the scripture say? The fool hath said in his
heart, there is no God. That's what the fool says. Now,
is he talking about atheists there? Well, let me read that
all to you. The fool hath said in his heart,
there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works.
There is none that doeth good. There is none that doeth good.
Now, how do men say that? How do men say there is no God?
Is he talking about atheists? Well, I'm sure that encompasses
them as well. But he's talking about those
who are saying, how about when you hear men say, I'm going to
make God Lord of my life? He's not God at all then, is
he? I am. How about whenever you hear someone says, I found
God? I got saved. I didn't know he
was lost. If I say I found God, that means
I'm lost, not him. Lord, find me. It wasn't that
the sheep found the shepherd, was it? That doesn't make any
sense. No, the shepherd comes after
his sheep. There's never been a more foolish
statement. You want to know what a fool talks like, a fool talks
like. And this is you and I, this is
what our flesh will come to as the conclusion. Jesus loves everybody. He died for everybody. He's just
waiting on you. He wants to save you. He's pleading
with you. He's begging for you to come
to him. He's done everything he can. And it's up to you now. The devil's voted one against
you and God's voted one for you and you got to break the tie.
That's a fool speaking that says that. That's a fool speaking. Somebody says Jesus loves everybody
and wants to save everybody but can't. That's a lie. That's the
fool. If left to ourself, and some
of us in this very room used to believe that. That's embarrassing,
isn't it? Why do we not believe it anymore?
God gave faith. God gave grace, not by works
of righteousness we have done. It wasn't a conclusion I came
to. No, God said, live. Hear ye him. This is my beloved
son. Hear ye him. That's when the treasures of
wisdom are revealed through the gospel. We just see Christ. Christ
is all now. It's not about what we're doing.
It's about what he done. Left to ourself, we will approach
God as a fool and to death. But look at our hope, brethren,
verse 23. I've already mentioned it before. Turn you at my reproof. He didn't stop right there. You
know, he could've. He could've. And he could've said, I told
you to turn and you would not. I told you to, but we couldn't
have. We couldn't have. We're simple, we're fools, we're
scorners. Turn you at my reproof. I will pour out my spirit on
you. I will. I will pour out my spirit unto
you. I will make known my words unto
you. That's salvation. That removes
the simple from speaking in their simplicity. That removes the
fool from talking and replying against God. That removes the
scorners. We no longer brag about anything but Christ and him crucified.
I'm determined to know nothing among you save Christ and him
crucified. Turn ye at my reproof. Proverbs 17.10 says this about
a reproof. A reproof entereth more into
a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool. Think about what
he's saying there. You can, that's all that men
do. They hear that they're fools and they go around with lawmongering
and legalism and they just beat one another. And they look at
me, I'm doing better. And they're improving on their
standing with other men, but with God, no. They're still just
fools. Didn't change what we are. No,
he has to do that. He has to give us a new nature,
not our own nature. And that's where the, A problem
comes with false preaching is that men believe that you can
get a new nature on your own by a choice you make. We can't
choose in this nature to obtain another nature. It has to be
bestowed. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ does is he gives us a new, he makes us new creatures. He
didn't change our foolish mind and this fleshly mind, this fleshly
heart, this, he didn't come to save the flesh. But boy, he put
away all of those foolish thoughts, didn't he? That I'm God? No,
we don't think that way anymore. We don't brag on ourself anymore.
We're not simple when it comes to living our life frivolously,
not worried about anything. Well, whatever's gonna happen
is gonna happen, and that's what the simple do. No, we wanna live
unto him. Lord, cause me to see you day
by day, moment by moment. Cause me to see you, cause me
to, it's in him we live, move, and have our being. All that religion, all that law
mongering, all that legalism can do is whip a fool, and it
accomplishes nothing. Just whipping a fool. If you
have a child and you, I remember being a young father, I'm telling
on myself a little bit, and I never had the attitude I'm gonna beat
the bat out of him, but it was almost like whenever you went
to correct him in my mind, it was like I gotta not only correct
this action, this never needs to happen again, I gotta get
rid of that, you know? My children are well and fine,
you can see that. I don't beat my kids, you understand
what I'm saying. But I couldn't change their nature, could I?
Couldn't change it one time. Well, yeah, I guess I will tell
you that one. One time, Bethany got into some
chocolate. She looked at me, had it all over her face. Ironically,
I did the same thing whenever I was three years old. My mom's
chocolate pie, and I had it all over my face. And both me and
my mom, I asked Bethany, and then mom asked me, did you get
in my chocolate pie? And I asked Bethany, did you
get in chocolate? No, daddy. No, mama. No, absolutely not. Are you sure? I'm recording her
at this point. You sure you didn't? Yes, absolutely. You promise, I promise. I promise. You have to discipline the child,
you correct them, you chase them in love. I couldn't be angry
at her. But I never could change her nature, could I? No matter
what I did. No, God has to do that, doesn't
he? We train them up under the sound of the gospel and hope
that the Lord does change their nature. Not their physical, gives
them a new nature is what I'm trying to say. Gives them a new
nature in Christ. That's our hope. We can't do
anything to change our nature, but what does God say in verse
23? I will pour out my spirit unto
you. I will make you know. I will
make known my words unto you. You're going to know them. How
is it we're going to know the words of God? Is he talking about
just having a knowledge of it? No. He's talking about in the
heart, having a knowledge unto life eternal, not just a head
knowledge, but knowing him. The word know is the same as
intimate. It's intimacy, knowing, like
a husband and wife. You understand what I'm saying?
He said, I'm gonna make you know me. This is what he does for
his people. When we see this, when we see
these words, does it not make us confess, Lord, I'm, I'm simple,
you're all wisdom, Lord, I'm, I'm the scorner. I see that I
would brag on myself and my self righteousness left to myself,
Lord, I'm the fool. Have mercy on me, the sinner.
Have mercy on me. Give me the glorious substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ, lest I die. That's our prayer, isn't it?
And Psalm 11. It starts out by saying, blessed
is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful. Blessed is the man. Can you say with all honesty
that you have never walked in the counsel of the ungodly? No,
I can't say that. Of course I have. Everywhere
we go is ungodly. Everything we are is ungodly.
You ever counseled yourself? That's ungodly. Think about it.
You ever stood in the way of sinners? I am one. I am one by nature. You ever
sat in the seat of the scornful, the braggers? Yeah, front row. Front row. So he can't be talking
about me, so who's he talking about? Blessed is the man. Talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. So what we have here is the same
thing we have in our text. Turn back there with me, if you
would. I'm sorry, I guess we should have turned already. Psalm
1. Look at what we have here. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Men will hear that.
We know it's the Lord because of what he says, but his delight
is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day
and night. Do we meditate day and night on the things of the
Lord? The new man does, but it's created in Christ. He's talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. In religion, men use this and
says, well, you should live better. This is what he's telling you
to do. You don't stand here. You don't sit there. You don't
walk here. You don't do this. You don't do that's not what
he's talking about here. He's talking about the substitutionary
work of the Lord Jesus Christ for his people, because these
three, the ungodly, the sinner and the scornful is the exact
same as what we have right here. The simple, the scorners and
the fools. Same exact thing. I need a substitute. I am this. I am all of this. Lord, I need a substitute. I'm
the sinner. I am ungodly, I am a sinner,
I am self-righteous in my flesh. I need the substitutionary work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What he accomplished on the cross
of Calvary for his elect people, I need that. We do not come to the Lord Jesus
Christ to give us wisdom only. We come to the Lord Jesus Christ
for himself to be our wisdom, begging him to be our wisdom.
We don't come to him to give us blessedness or blessings. We come to him because he is
the blessing. He's our only hope of eternal life. He is salvation.
We come to him himself. We come to him to be our blessedness. We come to him needy because
he has made us. He has enabled us. He has caused
us. He has called us to himself. That's why I will pour out my
spirit upon you. I will save you and you will
be saved. told Jacob, he said, I have redeemed you. I have chose
you. I have called you by name. The
only difference between you and Esau, Jacob, is that I have done
all of these things and you have been redeemed. The only difference
between Judas and Peter was that Christ prayed for Peter. He didn't pray for Judas. The
only difference between the two thieves on the cross is the Lord
gave faith to the one and not the other. These brethren, these
are the simple. These are the scornful. These
are the foolish mentioned in our text. Our hope is that when
God says I will and you shall. I love. He pours out his spirit
on purpose. Doesn't. Everything he does is
on purpose. You and I make mistakes. He don't
make mistakes. He pours out his spirit. It's under eternal life.
It's not a. an opportunity, as men say. He does it on purpose. He does it on purpose. He makes
his treasures of wisdom known to his people. In closing, I
want to turn to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 begins with two questions. Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? The answer's in the question.
The ones that believe the report are the ones whom the arm of
the Lord is revealed. Who is the arm of the Lord? It's
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. For he, the Lord Jesus Christ,
shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry
ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty in him. There is
no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we
hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. We esteemed him not. Who believes? Who esteems the Lord highly?
the ones who the Lord reveals his arm to, the ones who the
Lord reveals his truth to, the one who the Lord reveals his
hidden treasures of wisdom to, that Christ is all. Everyone
else will remain simple, scorners, and foolish, but to his people,
God has revealed that in Christ are hid all the treasures, all
the treasures of wisdom, and knowledge. Amen. Let's pray. Father. Calls us to believe. Leave us not to ourself. Calls
us to be found in Christ. In his name. Amen.