Proverbs chapter one Wednesday
nights we've been looking at the five parables of peace given
by Solomon that's what his name means is peace. This is our fifth
and final parable that we're going to look at and it means
or it's to understand. To understand a proverb and the
interpretation to understand understand means to perceive.
To discern, because we've been made to, to be made to understand. That's what the word understanding
means. It's written 53 times in the book of Proverbs, more
than any other, any other place in the scripture. 53 times the
Lord talks about the word understand or understanding. My hope tonight
is that the Lord would give us understanding. He would cause
us to understand. That's the only place understanding
comes from, is Him. We know that to be true, don't
we? Let's read our text, Proverbs 1, 1 through 6. The Proverbs of Solomon, the
son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction,
to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of
wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity, to give subtlety
to the simple and to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear and will increase learning, and a man
of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. To understand
a proverb, the interpretation, the words of the wise. and their
dark sayings to understand, to perceive, to discern dark sayings,
the dark sayings of the Lord. Who can know the dark sayings
of the Lord? Who can utter the dark sayings of the Lord? The
Lord's the one that has to reveal these things. He's the one that
has to cause us to understand his dark sayings. Only those whom he calls us to
will understand. He says here, a wise man, verse
five, a wise man will hear and will increase learning. A man
of understanding shall attain wise counsel. A wise man will
hear. Is a wise man the cause of his understanding? Is a wise
man the cause of his understanding? You know the answer to that.
Understanding is given to the Lord's people, therefore they
are wise men and women. It's the cause and effect that
all religion has backwards. It's not that only wise men come
to the knowledge of the understanding, it's but that the Lord makes
us wise. We were dead. He gives us Christ
who is our wisdom. He causes us to understand, calling
us out of darkness into light. This is how the dark sayings
are revealed, is by the light. This is what the Lord does by
giving his people understanding. The Lord caused us to understand,
therefore we hear his voice. We follow him. To follow Christ
is a result of being made to understand. To follow Christ
is the result of Him giving us understanding. If you're made
to understand, then you'll follow Christ. Those that have understanding,
follow after Him. It's the cause of being made
to perceive and discern. A child cannot understand a lot
of things. The younger the child is, down
to an infant, they don't have any perception. They don't have
any understanding of reality or life, do they? And as they
grow, they begin to receive understanding. How is that? By instruction.
Parents teach them. You can go different places.
You can see children on water fountains and they'll be licking
the water fountain and everything else. They have no perception
of danger with germs or sickness. They have no fear of death. They
don't understand that life's a vapor. This is something the
Lord must teach his people, not just on a physical level, but
a spiritual level. We can come to some understanding,
physically speaking, that we're going to die, but unless the
Lord gives us understanding of what that death really means,
and the reason we are gonna die is because we are sin, and we
need a substitute, unless he gives us that understanding,
we'd be of all men most miserable, wouldn't we? We would have no
understanding, just as a child has no understanding. How much
more, though, brethren, are we likened unto an infant compared
to God? Think about His. What did we
just read in Psalm 147? His understanding is infinite. Our understanding is limited,
completely based upon what He reveals. His understanding is
infinite. Would we even dare say that we're
an infant compared to His? No. Not even a worm, would we? We wouldn't compliment ourselves.
Why? Because we've been given understanding. I'm not even a
worm compared to him. No, I'm dead, a dead dog sinner. And that's a compliment to even
comparing to him. We can't fathom the depth of
our depravity and our wicked heart. And yet to the Lord's
people, he says, I'm gonna give you understanding, and he does.
I will give you understanding and you'll believe. I'll give
you understanding and you'll perceive the things of the Lord. You'll perceive spiritual matters.
You'll see that your only hope for salvation is found in the
precious blood of Christ. It's not in what you do. It's
not whether you, well, we go back to the child licking the
water fountain. That's just what we do by nature, isn't it? A
dog returns to its vomit, the scripture says. That's what we
are. It's not that we stop doing those things. No, that's behavioral.
No, we need understanding that it's not what I do, it's what
he's done. That's what made the difference.
Lord, you're gonna have to give me understanding. You're gonna have to open up
my blind eyes. A blind man doesn't need a prescription
for contacts, does he? Blonde woman doesn't need a prescription
for glasses. I wear both. For blonde, it wouldn't
do you any good, no matter the strength of the prescription.
No, that's just treating the symptom, isn't it? You and I,
we treat symptoms, don't we? When we get a cold, we can't
wheel away a cold. Men talk about willing God to
do something or obligating God based upon their life or choosing
God or not choosing God. We can't will away a cold, can
we, brethren? The next time we get a cold, go ahead and just
will it to be gone. That's the most simple form of
sickness I can think of. There's others that's even probably
more simpler than that, but what if cancer and other diseases
that are the magnitude of treatments you have to go through and that,
some of you know about that. Can't wheel that away, can we?
I don't have any control over this flesh. And yet, all false
religion does is just treat the symptoms. It really doesn't even
treat the symptoms, truly. But that's what they try to do.
Today we were at a place of, it's a Catholic place, a place
of many idols there, many things, and everything that they do there
is to make themselves feel better about themselves. It's to get
gratification of what they believe in, maybe the life that they're
living, maybe they've done enough, they've done enough in their
mind to please God, and they get affirmation from other men,
and it would be likened to a man or a woman going to a hospital,
going to the ER, and having pain in their stomach, severe pain.
And the doctor walks in and would say, here, some morphine for
you, and I'm going to send you on your way. And they say, well,
what about this pain that I'm feeling? Well, it's fine. Just
keep taking more morphine. Here's another pill for tomorrow. It'll help the pain go away.
Yeah, but what if it's something ruptured? What if their clock's
ticking on their life, literally, because something's ruptured
inside of them? That would be malpractice, wouldn't it? That
would be a disservice as a doctor, a practicer of medicine, wouldn't
it? And yet, that's what all false religion does. That's all
false religion can do is they try to treat the symptoms. But
the problem is, is that we're sin. The problem isn't that we
have a cold and that we treat the symptoms. The problem is,
is that we're a leper from head to toe. I don't need a Band-Aid
for my leprosy. I need to be cleansed. I need
to be made clean. I'm a lame man. I don't need
a cane. I need to, I need to receive strength to walk. I have
not the strength to walk. We're dead, aren't we? I don't
need a choice to make to make me alive. No, I'm dead. I have
no hope. You can't treat the symptoms
of a dead man. You can put all the perfume you want to on a
corpse, but it's still dead. It's going to stink more and
more, isn't it? But that's what all false religion tries to do.
Lord, we need understanding in this that you're going to have
to make us alive. You're going to have to give
us sight. You're going to have to give us strength. You're going
to have to cause us to come to you. You're going to have to
give us perception of spiritual matters because we're dead. And
that's what he does. That's why this was written,
to give understanding, to give understanding. Man says, look what I've discovered. We discovered something new.
I was reading that they may have found a cure for a disease. I
can't remember the disease now, but it's something that's been
plaguing humans for a long time. Found a cure for the disease.
They discovered that. The Lord has never, think about
this, the Lord has never discovered anything. Has he? He created all things. How's
he gonna discover something if he already knows it's there?
His understanding is infinite. It's not like, he's not like
us in any way. His understanding is infinite. He already knows
everything. He already purposed all things. He created all things
for his glory. That's our God. Lord, give me
that understanding to believe that. Give me the ability to
believe that. We do, don't we? Yet, we get
worried if something was to happen, something comes our way in our
life. Our eyes are just like Peter's eyes. We take our eyes
off of him, the fountain of living water, the bread of life, the
one that created the universe. We start worrying about our little
our own circumstances. And the Lord says, seek my face. You're going to cry out, save
me. And I'm going to save you. I'll give you understanding that
I'm the only one that can save you. And I'll give you the cry
to say, save me. And then I'll save you. He does it all. He
does it all. And does he do it once? No. No
saving is right now and right now. The Lord's people has been
saved. I want to make sure I'm very clear on this. We believe
this. We know this to be true. We were saved once and for all,
weren't we? But is it not true that we must be saved from ourself
right now? We're kept by the power of God
right now. We're preserved right now. He's got to do all that.
Lord, give me understanding to to realize I'm not keeping myself. I'm not. The boat has no steering
wheel, does it? And if it did, you and I wouldn't
be the captain. No, he's the captain of our salvation. He's
the one that's the that's purposed it to come into the harbor at
his appointed time. Without him shining his light
for us, we would have no understanding without giving life. we would
be dead, we would have no understanding. Solomon had, here, Solomon's
a writer of Proverbs, but prior to this, prior to him writing
this, the Lord appears unto him in a dream, and he asked him,
what shall I give of you? And you know what he prayed for?
Understanding. Turn with me to 1 Kings 3. could have prayed for anything,
but the Lord gave him the need. And that is the key to it, isn't
it? That is the key, is he gave him
the need. He needed understanding. 1 Kings
3, look at verse 6. And Solomon said, now let's read
verse 5 so we understand what all is happening here. In Gibeon,
the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. And God
said, ask what I shall give thee. Solomon said, thou has shown
unto thy servant, David, my father, great mercy, according as he
walked before thee in truth and righteousness and an uprightness
of heart with thee. Now understand all religion has
these words backwards. The reason, the reason David. walked before the Lord in truth
and in righteousness and uprightness of heart was for the part before
that because the Lord showed great mercy. That's the truth
of it. We don't understand that by nature.
We think, okay, if I walk uprightly, then I'll receive mercy. Then
it's not mercy. Then it's not grace. We've earned it. The reason
that David was able to walk in righteousness, the reason that
David was able, all these things that he said here, walk in the
truth and in righteousness and uprightness was because The Lord
showed him great mercy. Let's read verse six again. Solomon said, thou has showed
unto thy servant, David, my father, great mercy, according as he
walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and uprightness
of heart with thee and thou has kept him, kept for him this great
kindness. that thou hast given him a son
to sit on his throne as it is this day. Now I want you to look
what Solomon calls himself here. And now, O Lord, verse seven,
now, O Lord, my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead
of David my father, and I am but a little child. You know,
is that not what we just heard a few minutes ago about children
not having understanding? He's acknowledging, I have no
understanding here. I am but a little child. An infant
is the way that that's translated. I know not how to go out or to
come in. I have no perception, no understanding,
and thy servant is in the midst of thy people, which thou hast
chosen, a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge
thy people, that I may discern between good and bad, for who
is able to judge this thy so great a people?" And the speech
pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. And God
said unto him, because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not
asked for thyself long life, neither hast asked riches for
thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies, but had asked
for thyself understanding to discern judgment, behold, I have
done according to thy words. Lo, I have given thee a wise
and understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before,
neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. Why did he receive understanding? Well, number one, the Lord gave
him the cry to ask for that. Why did that please the Lord? because the Lord's the one that
put the cry there. If you and I cry out, Lord, save
me, it's because we've been given understanding. If you and I cry
out, Lord, I need understanding, it's because we've already been
given understanding. If you and I beg for mercy from
the Lord, it's because we've been given understanding. There's
no other way to put it. That's the only reason that you
and I would cry out is if the Lord gives us the need to cry
out. Why was it pleasing unto the
Lord? Well, the cry was a gift of grace. We know that because
if the Lord's pleased with it, he provided it. He's only pleased
with what he provides. But second of all, Solomon's
a type of Christ. This is a type of the Lord, Jesus
Christ, as he prays for his people, as he prays unto the Lord for
his people. You see the intercessory prayer in John 17. Look with me, if you will, in
Isaiah chapter 11, as him being a type of Christ here. Unlike Solomon, the Lord did
not need to pray for understanding. And we'll see why Isaiah 11. When the Lord said, no king will
be after thee, that's a picture of Christ. The wisdom that Solomon
had said to be the wisest man, that's a picture of Christ, isn't
it? We know that to be true. Look here in Isaiah 11, verse
one. There shall come forth a rod
out of the sim of Jesse, a branch shall go out of his roots, and
the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, and the spirit
of wisdom, and what's the next word? Understanding. That spirit's
gonna rest upon him. The spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord. and
shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And
he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove
after the hearing of his ears." Boy, you and I can't do that,
can we? Every judgment we make is based on what we see and hear,
isn't it? It is, it is, not the Lord Jesus Christ. But with righteousness
shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the
earth. And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth
and with the breath of his lips. shall he slay the wicked, and
righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness
the girdle of his reins." He doesn't judge by what he sees
and what he hears according to the flesh. He judges based upon
what he knows, and he knows the Father. He knows the Father's
will. He's one with the Father. This
is the difference. Even though Solomon is a type
and a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, this particular time,
the Lord didn't have to beg the Lord for understanding. He asked
the Lord to glorify him. And that was for your and I's
sake. Glorify the Son, that I may glorify thee in the same glory
that thou hast glorified me with, that I may glorify them. But
understand something, this spirit of understanding was upon him
from birth. You and I are not born with this
understanding. This is not something that is earned, something that
is merited, something that can be found out. This is the gift
of God by grace alone. Lord Jesus Christ did not honor
himself, did he? He honored the Father in all
things. He said, I come to do thy will, O God. His first words,
what Mary and Joseph had left the Lord, he was 12 years old,
they left him behind and they were journeying and they realized,
where is he at? He's gone. The Lord Jesus Christ
is gone. And so they returned and found him and said, well,
what are you doing? You know, they begin to interrogate him or question
him. He said these words, how is it that you sought me? Wish
you not. that I must be about my father's
business. See, he had understanding from
birth. Isn't that glorious? And that
same understanding is what he gives to his people. What was
the business he was speaking of? The business that he said,
I must wish you not that I must be about my father's business.
It was to give eternal life to all that the father had given
him. That was his business. That's why he came. That was
his purpose. to give understanding to all God's elected children,
to make us know righteousness, to make us know Him who is our
righteousness. That's what His purpose was,
that was the business. You and I must see him high and
lifted up. We must see our sinful condition that we have. We're
hopeless. We're hopeless in and of ourself. That's what Isaiah,
I use this analogy Sunday, Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted
up. He was seated in his train filled the temple. When Job saw
the Lord, then you remember the account of Job when the Lord
appeared to Job out of the whirlwind and he said these words to him.
Who is this that darkeneth counsel without knowledge. Who is this
that darkeneth counsel without knowledge? Who are you to talk
to me? I mean, it was, Lord always asked rhetorical questions, didn't
he? And he said, where were you when I laid the foundation of
the earth? And you know, the next part that he says, declare
if you have understanding. Declare if you have understanding.
And what was the end result of that? Job said, I'm gonna, I'm
vile. I'm vile. put my hands over my mouth, not
to reply anymore. Now I have understanding. I've
seen God. I thought and I was wrong. We see our hopeless condition,
it's because we've been given understanding. And he's made
our hope and salvation. He's made our we say we're vile,
we say I saw the Lord, I'm, I'm a man of unclean lips. And we
desire to understand, don't we? What do we desire to understand?
Well, we've been made to have a need, one need. This understanding
we're talking about tonight is understanding who the Lord Jesus
Christ is, understanding that he hath put away our sin, understanding
that he came to this earth for the purpose of saving his people
from their sin, and he said it is finished, therefore it's finished. And he was resurrected, that's
our affirmation, that's the sign the Lord gave that he was pleased
with his son, and now he's seated. This is what we need to understand,
he's God. He's God and he's successfully
redeemed. And we've been made to want to
know the glory of his suffering, the power of his resurrection,
the splendor of his power in saving elected sinners, to saving
his people. We want to know about that. I
need understanding in that. You remember the blind man from
birth? The blind man from birth, they were asking him questions.
What do you know? They ended up throwing him out of the temple.
They said, oh, you were born in sins. We weren't born in sins.
You were born in sins and threw him out of the temple at the
end of his confession. What was that confession? This one thing I
know. This one thing I understand,
I don't understand anything that you all are talking about. And
I know you're right. He told him, he said, was he a sinner
or no? He knew he wasn't a sinner. He said, this one thing I know,
whereas I was blind, but now I see. Is that not our confession?
What glory do we have in ourself by being healed, by being saved? None. None in ourself, do we? He did it all. He said, receive
thy sight and we see. He said live and we came to life.
We understand that, don't we? He's got to do it all. We must
be born again. Now this man didn't need corrective
lenses. Lame man doesn't need a crutch.
The leper doesn't need a band-aid. No, the dead man doesn't need
a choice. We need life to be given, sight to be given, strength
to walk, to run to him, to flee to him. We must be born again. Nicodemus didn't understand those
words, did he? Do not understand. How can a
man, when he is old, enter into his mother's womb a second time
and be born? I think I used this last Wednesday and maybe even
the Wednesday before. But it's to perceive, it's understanding.
It doesn't make sense to the flesh. Nothing about the spirit
makes sense to the flesh because they're opposites. I can't give
a good example. It's light and darkness. We can
call it that, but to understand the depth of the opposites, it's
not possible for our human minds to understand. We must be born
again, and that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that
which is born of the spirit is spirit. Nothing we can do in
the flesh can please God. But everything the Lord Jesus
Christ did pleased God. Everything the Lord Jesus Christ
did. We must be born again. That's what the great physician
does, brethren. He calls us to be birthed into the family of
God. He heals us from all our infirmities, our separation from
God. This is what he does. Men try to treat the symptoms.
And the problem is, the root problem is, it's not just that
we have something, we can't treat it. We can't treat the problem.
This isn't something that we can find the cure for. This is
something where the cure, oh, it's in a person. It's in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and he has to give it. He has to give it.
These are the dark sayings mentioned in Proverbs here. It's hidden
to the natural man, but to understand this, to see Christ Jesus high
and lifted up, to see him as the cure, to see him as the great
physician, to see him as the only remedy for the sin that
we are, that's salvation. He never reveals himself, he
never gives understanding in vain or reveals himself to anyone
other than a sheep, other than a sheep. It's a gift of God unto
eternal life to be made to understand, it's the gift of sovereign grace.
I wrote down the example I wrote down this example. First
of all, his ways are past finding out. He's higher than the heavens. His ways are past finding out.
Unless he chooses to interpret, we have no understanding. You
and I can travel to a foreign place, foreign land. We can go
to pick a country that doesn't speak English. as their primary
language. You go over there and you try
to have a conversation with somebody or you try to ask for directions
with somebody or you're hungry, you might be able to use sign
language or make whatever we do when we're trying to say,
I don't know if that's the proper way to say food, but you understand
what I'm saying. We try to make signs and symbols and hope that
we get through and there's understanding. There's a barrier there. They
don't understand what we're saying. We're not speaking the same language.
This is, uh, maybe we can look at signs, maybe we can do things
like that, but understand when it comes to spiritual things,
we're in darkness and we're dead. We don't speak the same language
as God. He doesn't hear us. If we're
dead, if we're in darkness, he doesn't hear us. We have to have
an interpreter. We have to have an interpreter.
Now, you can use a cell phone now. I don't know if you all
know this. I found this out. One time I was trying to get
a car from a man, and he was a different nationality completely,
and he didn't speak hardly a lick of English, and I didn't speak
whatever language he was speaking. And all he could say is, good,
good car. Good, good car. And I said, well,
how's the gas mileage? Good, good car. He's like, well,
has it had any engine problems? Good, good car. not answering
my question. I could tell by the way it was
beat up on the outside and the inside. It wasn't taken care
of very well. Finally, I got to thinking. I said, well, this
is a, I have a computer in my pocket, a cell phone. I said,
surely there's something I can do here that we can communicate.
So then I started saying words and it started telling him whatever
I was saying. And it was, it was communicating
for us. It was communicating for us. And I'm not sure that
he still understood what that thing was saying. I didn't half
understand because it, it still flips it back and forth. It like
it would be backwards instead of forward. Sometimes when he
would reply to me and it wasn't a good, wasn't a good translator.
What's my point? Men in religion believe. that
they have some ability to communicate with God or communicate spiritual
things. What do I mean by that? Well,
if it's up to us to make a choice, that means I can communicate
something with God in myself. I can stand in my place. I can
call out unto Him. That makes me God. That makes
me my own intercessor. That makes me approaching Him
by myself. And it's not true. It's not true. There is no translator other
than the Holy Spirit. He's the one that translates
for his people. He's the one that communicates to us. He's
the one that causes us to hear, causes us to understand. He's
the interpreter of the Lord. That's the only way we can speak
his language. What's his language? It's the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
He's the message and the messenger. He's the he is the language of
the Lord. We can't speak that by man. Men by nature cannot know the
things of God. We can't speak his language,
we must have an interpreter. What did the Lord say? This is
my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him. Lord,
how am I gonna hear you if I can't speak your language? How am I
going to hear you if I can't understand your words? You're
going to need the Lord to cause us to have understanding. We're
going to need the Lord to cause us. We're in darkness. I can't
try to use sign language. I can't do anything that would
communicate with him. No, and he wouldn't hear because
it's not washed in the precious blood if I'm doing it on my own.
No, we need the Lord. We need the Lord to communicate.
We need the Lord to cause us to have understanding. Cause
us to have understanding. This is what we're given understanding
to know. The Lord Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God. He's the
balm of Gilead that heals. His precious blood is a double
cure for the stain of our sin. He is life. He is light. He is the life of his people.
In him we live, move, and have our being. This is what we're
made to understand. This is what Solomon is conveying.
Back to Proverbs, if you will. This is what Solomon is telling
us. Verse five, Proverbs one, a wise
man will hear. A wise man will hear and will
increase learning." This is the Lord's words. Solomon penned
them, but it's the Holy Spirit that moved upon Solomon to do
so. We believe the words in the scripture are from the Lord,
don't we? A wise man will hear. Why will a wise man hear? Because
the Lord made him a wise man, wise woman. It's a gift of grace
in the heart. A wise man is the only one that
can hear, the only one that can learn of the Lord. The Lord's
not teaching others. The Lord's not teaching men.
They're without excuse by looking at nature. We heard about that
Sunday, but the Lord's not out here teaching other men. He's
teaching his people. He's speaking to his people.
The man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. To
understand a proverb, that word proverb's a parable. To understand
a proverb and the interpretation. What did the Lord tell the disciples?
They said, Lord, what are these sayings that you're telling these
people? In one place, you remember me talking about this before,
he said, because it wasn't for them to know, but unto you. It's
unto you is it given. But in another place, they say,
Lord, you're gonna have to explain that to us. He says, are you
also without understanding? What's the answer? Yes. Truth,
Lord, I'm without understanding. I don't know anything. You alone
have the words of eternal life. You must give understanding. He says, you will hear. My sheep
hear my voice. You will hear. You'll believe.
You'll believe because it's given of the Lord. The question that's
always asked. The question that's always asked,
where there is void of understanding, is the word why. You ever found
yourself asking why? You don't understand something,
don't understand something in life, don't understand something
that's happening a certain way, you get frustrated, your flesh
gets angry, and you say the words why. Why is this happening? I've
talked to many people talking about the country, talking about
politics, talking about whatever else, and the word they say is
why. You know, if the Lord gives understanding, we don't ask why.
We see Christ Jesus. We see Him high and lifted up.
There is no why anymore, is there? There's not. It's gone. We don't
sit there and think, yeah, yeah, I understand that, but why is
this? No, if we see Him as God, we've been given understanding.
And that peace, what does the scripture say? The peace of the
Lord, it passeth all understanding. I've seen the king. The half's
not been told me. I've seen the king. I understand
now that he's seated. I understand now that he is God.
I understand now that he's the successful redeemer. And he didn't
shed his blood just to leave me on the wayside to figure life
out. No, he leadeth his people. He
guideth us. Psalm 23, maketh me lie down
in green pastures, leadeth me beside the still waters. This
is what he does all the time. This is continual. Constantly
given us more and more understanding. Christ is all. Christ is all. To understand a proverb and the
interpretation, that's why this is written. The words of the
wise and their dark sayings. Lord, don't hide these dark sayings
from me. Stop all my questions. Give me
understanding. Give me Christ. Give me Christ. Our flesh will never understand
spiritual things. Our flesh will never understand
anything about God. It's contrary to him. But our
new man created in Christ Jesus understands perfectly. He's God. And I believe he's God. Salvation
is of the Lord. Our new man understands these
three things. I didn't write these down in this order, but
I believe this is it. Our new man created in Christ Jesus understands
perfectly, number one, he's God, number two, salvations of the
Lord, number three, it is finished. Number one, he is God, number
two, salvations of the Lord, and number three, it is finished.
That takes all the wise out of it, doesn't it? You might say,
well, why would he save someone like me? Well, because he's God. How can he save someone like
me? He said, it's finished, by his
own blood he purged our sins. He's God. How can he save me? Well, salvation's of the Lord,
that's how. Job 38, 36, who hath put wisdom
in the inward parts? Who hath given understanding
to the heart? It's another rhetorical question the Lord asked, isn't
it? Who does that? God. The Lord Jesus Christ does
that for his people. He's our wisdom. We've been made
to understand this. Psalm 119, 34 says, give me understanding. Give me understanding and I shall
keep thy law. Yea, I shall observe it with
my whole heart. Only by this understanding do we see we can't
keep the law with our whole heart. We desire to. Lord, you're going
to have to give me a new heart. Christ Jesus is going to have
to live the perfect life. I can't live keeping your law
perfectly. And what does the scripture say? Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness. We're no longer trying to fix.
Or we're no longer trying to treat the symptoms. Or we see
the root problem. No, we're lepers from the top
of our head to the bottom of our feet. And what does the Lord
say? I've given you understanding. You're clean. You're clean. We see Christ is the end of the
law. He's our cure. We understand. To observe it,
to observe the whole law, we must look to Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ, the one alone. If we're in him, we kept the
law perfectly in him. If we died in him on the cross
of Calvary, we've been raised to eternal life in him. Verse five, again, in closing,
a wise man will hear. It doesn't make us say, I think
I can hear then. I feel like I'm a wise man. I
looked up wise men and it was Aristotle, Socrates, and other
philosophers and different things. We look over other men because
we've seen the man, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose wisdom is
infinite. He's the only one with infinite
knowledge, understanding. He's the only one with infinite
wisdom. He is the wise man, and he makes his people wise. And
that's what we cry out. Lord, make me wise. Give me Christ.
Give me Christ. A wise man will hear and will
increase learning. A man of understanding shall
attain unto wise counsels to understand the proverb, interpretation,
The words of the wise and their dark sayings. Thank God. That everything he required,
including us to understand he gives it. He gives it to his
people. Let's pray. Father calls us to
hear your dark sayings. Shine your light by grace into
our heart. Lord, give us a new heart, make
us wise, make us see Christ alone, who is our wisdom. Thank you
for giving us everything you require. Thank you for understanding. In Christ's name, amen.