word. That's our prayer, isn't
it? Tonight, we're in Proverbs chapter one, if you'd like to
turn there. Proverbs chapter one. And by
the Lord's grace, we're looking at the five parables of peace.
That's what we've titled the series that we're doing here
in Proverbs. Um, and so far I was asked tonight, are we doing Proverbs
on Wednesday night? And I said, well, apparently
that seems to be how it's going. So we'll see if the Lord may
change that. But for now, we're going to be
in Proverbs, uh, for tonight, chapter one, there's five things
that Solomon tells us here, five, um, distinct parables of peace
to the Lord's people. So let's, uh, Let's read here,
Proverbs 1 verse 1 says, the proverb 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,
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 and the interpretation, words of the
wise and their dark sayings." Solomon was given great insight
from the Lord about who God is, about where salvation comes from. about many of the precepts of
the Lord that are hidden. And by the Lord's grace, he wrote
Proverbs. Proverbs means parable. And we're
going to turn in just a moment to look at when the disciples
said, why do you speak in parables? And I think about every time
I've stood and I've mentioned that. But Solomon's name means
peace. So these are the parables of
peace to the Lord's people, to the Lord's chosen people. Solomon
had understanding Salvation is all by grace alone, all by grace
alone. And you and I have that understanding
too, if we're his. We desire to see his truth. We desire to see his parables
of peace. It's a mystery. It's dark sayings
is what he calls it in verse six. If he doesn't reveal it,
we have no hope of seeing it. So for tonight, we're going to
be looking at the part in verse two where it says to perceive
the words of understanding. I've titled this message to perceive,
to perceive. Perceive means to have discernment.
to cause, to understand. I love that. To cause, to understand. It doesn't mean that we have
attained understanding because we have done something. That
means we have been caused to understand. Well, who was the
one that did the causing? You have to ask that question,
don't we? It wasn't me and it wasn't you.
It has to be the Lord, doesn't it? That's the mystery of the
gospel to those who don't know the truth. But to us, all our
hope is that Christ is all in salvation. All our hope is he's
the one that teaches, as we saw in Psalm 119, teach me, O Lord,
cause me, make me. This is the prayer of the believer.
We really understand that if I'm going to perceive the words
of understanding, If I'm going to have understanding of God,
that's where it has to come from, is God. I cannot perceive things
of godliness in myself, neither can you, or in the flesh. Flesh
cannot receive the things of God because they're spiritual.
The Lord's gonna have to give it. Lord, you're gonna have to
give me some, you're gonna have to give me perception. Now, I
recently was having trouble. I had one contact that fell out.
and my depth perception was off. And I went to take stairs and
about fell down the stairs. And I've talked to someone, I
think even recently telling me about how their perceptions off
now. And as they walk, they kind of
stumble about more so. And the older you get, the worse
it gets and things like that. Maybe some of you can relate
to that. Surely everybody here knows what it's like to have
a depth perception miscue at some time or another. This is
not what he's talking about here is just needing a pair of corrective
lenses. Now this is about us needing
life, life, eternal life given for him to say live. And when
he says live, we see Christ. He becomes our perception. He becomes, that's the ability
to perceive him is all by faith, isn't it? He's going to have
to do that. Otherwise these words of understanding, I will have
no understanding. How can a dead man perceive anything? Can't. I can't. But thanks be
to God. It is the gift of God into eternal
life to see the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. It's all by grace,
isn't it? It's all by grace. Perceive means to have discernment. Lord, I need discernment, but
I don't have any spiritual discernment in my flesh. I don't have any
understanding of God in my flesh. Man by nature cannot perceive
the things of God. Lord, you're going to have to
give me discernment. You have to cause me to understand. The
Lord told us plainly that no one can come and no one will
come. He said, no one can come to the
Father but by me. No one can come to the Father
except the Father which sent me draw him. Nobody can come.
Then he said, nobody will come. He said, you will not come to
me that you may have eternal life. You will not. So nobody
can and nobody will except the Father makes them to, except
they are made to bow, made to have perception, made to perceive
the words of understanding. I want understanding, don't you?
What is that understanding? It's simply repentance and faith. It's understanding that he's
God and I'm not. He's salvation and nothing I
can do can attain to salvation or merit it in any way. But Christ
Jesus merited salvation, didn't he? There's the understanding
of the words of truth. Without God calling, God teaching,
God making himself known and giving faith to believe, we would
have no perception of the words of understanding. Bless God did
that. He said, I am the Lord. I am
the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. I am the Lord. You're not. I
am. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. There's some,
there's something I want to perceive. I want to see don't like Isaiah
saw him high and lifted up. He was seated. He was on his
throne seated. He was high and he lifted up
and his train filled the temple, all of his glory. There was no
room for anything else in the temple, but his glory. That's
how we want to see the Lord. Isn't it? That's how we want
to see the Lord. Lord, give me this. Allow me
to perceive these words of understanding. If the Lord doesn't give it,
we have no perception of the words of understanding. Turn
with me in your Bibles. We're going to turn two or three
places tonight, but Matthew chapter 13 is the first place we want
to look at. Here we have the parable of the
sower. Now, you know that the sower went out and sowed seed
and some fell on the wayside. Some fell among the thorns and
was choked out. Some was thrown upon the rock
and the sun scorched them out. And yet some fell on good ground. And the Lord gives us the explanation
for this parable, telling us that it's the gospel that goes
forth. And unless the Lord tenderizes the heart, gives a new heart,
gives faith to believe that the word, the seed given will not
take root. The Lord has to do that. Matter
of fact, you remember Paul talking. He said that he had planted,
Apollos had watered, but God had to give the increase, didn't
he? And that's what we're doing tonight. When we declare the
gospel, our hope is that the Lord's blessing it to sow seed,
but he's the one that has to do the tilling of the heart,
isn't it? He is the hearing ear and the seeing eyes of the Lord.
It's all him. He's the one that causes us to perceive words of
understanding. That's what he's telling these
individuals here. And the disciples look at the
Lord, they say this, look at verse, your chapter 13 look at
verse 10. The disciples came and said to
him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and
said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven. That's that dark saying as we
just read about, isn't it? That's the parables of peace
that we're looking at tonight. The mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven. But to them, it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall
be given. He shall have more abundance.
but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away, even that
he hath. Therefore speak I unto them in
parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear and
shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive. See, this is, there's that word
perceive, isn't it? That's what we're looking at
tonight, to perceive the words of understanding. He says plainly
here, Isaiah said this, seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive.
This is not something physical where you and I make a decision
to see God. This is him being the invisible
God and us unable to see him. And yet by grace, he shines forth
the light and says, live. And we see, we perceive the words
of understanding. We perceive the Lord Jesus Christ.
As a matter of fact, he becomes all to us because of this gift. He becomes all to us, all because
of his grace and his mercy. He tells us the reason that they
see and they perceive not right here in verse 15, for this people's
heart is waxed gross and their ears are dull of hearing and
their eyes they have closed. lest at any time they should
see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand
with their heart and should be converted and I should heal them. But blessed are your ears for
they see. Blessed for your eyes for they
see and your ears for they hear. For verily I say unto you that
many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things
which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things
which ye hear and have not heard them. See, it's all of the Lord giving
ears to hear, isn't it? It's all of the Lord giving eyes
to see, or we would never see. Some might read the verse that
says, but blessed are your eyes, for they see in your ears, for
they hear. They say, okay. Well, I hear, therefore my ears
are blessed. No, your ears are blessed because
God chose to let you hear. That's the difference in the
gospel. If the Lord calls your ears blessed, it's because he's
made them thus. You know we know that to be true.
Lord, give me ears to hear. Give me eyes to see. Allow me
to perceive the words of understanding. Why did these others not perceive?
That's the question. Lord, I want to perceive. How
do I perceive? Well, why didn't these other
ones perceive. Why was it only the disciples
that could perceive? He says it clearly. It was not
given to them. It was not given to them. See,
hearing and seeing and perceiving is all the gift of God by grace
through faith. He does it. He does it. And he
does it for his people, completely dependent upon him. It's not
God plus my works. It's not God plus my faith. No,
the only faith the Lord's pleased with is the faith of the Lord
Jesus Christ that's bestowed unto his people. It's not that
I've put my trust in him, it's that he's caused me to trust
in him. There's the difference. The only
way that we'll do that is if he gives us the ability to perceive
the words of understanding. It's not God plus my works or
plus my faith. It's not God plus my dedication
to church. I heard somebody say recently
in a conversation, get your life right and start going to church
better, the Lord would give you a husband." There was a young
lady that doesn't have a husband and she's upset about it. I said,
Lord would give you a husband if you'd get to church. I'm like,
where's the chapter and verse that says that? That's obligating
God, isn't it? That's all that that is. The
individual doesn't perceive the words of understanding. That's
as clear as we can be. It's by grace that I do. I was
talking to another man, I was with Steve, and it'll be in the
Bulletin article this week, and this man said the most horrible
words of unbelief. He said, God made a mistake in
taking my wife. He owes me an apology. That told
me two things. Number one, that man doesn't
know who God is. But number two, who maketh me
to differ? Who gave me perception of understanding? Lord, do I have perception of
understanding? Do I have wisdom? Do I have Christ? Lord, if I don't give me Christ,
lest I die. No, it's not that we see and
we brag about what we've seen and condemn others. We see, Lord,
it's by the grace of God, there go I. If you haven't given me
grace, we would say the same thing, God made a mistake. But
oh, he's the Lord. He makes no mistake. We know
that to be true. He changes not. He can't make
a mistake. He cannot lie. He's God. There's
what we perceive in the words of understanding. He is God.
And we're not. To perceive the words of knowledge
is completely dependent upon God. Completely dependent. That's as clear and plain as
we can be tonight. It's completely dependent upon
Him. Aren't you glad it's not dependent
upon you? Not dependent upon you. It's
dependent upon Him and it's dependent upon His promise. His promise
that He made. The promise that the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit and the covenant of grace made. It's
everything about salvation is dependent upon that covenant.
That covenant's ordered and sure. It's called an everlasting covenant.
That's what it is to perceive the words of knowledge, is to
know that salvation is of the Lord. It's not of me, and it's
not of you. It's not what I do, but it's
what He has done. It's what He has done. To perceive
the words of knowledge is completely dependent upon God. Now go back
to our text in Proverbs chapter one. This is the reason Solomon's
writing this. Verse one, the Proverbs of Solomon, the parables
of peace, the son of the beloved King of Israel. That's what David's
name means, beloved of the Lord. To know wisdom and instruction,
to perceive the words of understanding, to perceive the words of understanding.
That's the purpose. That's the purpose that Proverbs
was written for, is for the Lord's people to be enabled by God to
perceive the words of understanding. This is not confusing, is it?
The gospel's not confusing. It's just impossible to believe
it in and of ourself. It's not confusing that God is
sovereign. It's not confusing that God is
all powerful, that God saved his people from their sin, and
that Christ Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father.
That's not confusing, but it's impossible to believe unless
the Lord enables us to perceive the words, to perceive the words
of knowledge. Notice here, the description,
it doesn't say to perceive words of understanding, but it says
to perceive the words of understanding that the makes them more singular,
doesn't it? Specifically, the words of understanding. That means it comes from the
Lord. It's his words. They are not our words. They're
the words. They're the words of understanding.
It's not that there is different words of understanding in regard
to multiple ways to understand the gospel. The words of understanding
is very simple, Christ is all. That's the words of understanding.
The only way I can perceive that is if the Lord enables me to. It doesn't say that you can perceive
some of the word. See, every time we see the word,
word, a lot of times when it's referring to the Lord, it's talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He is understanding. He is salvation. And without him, we're lost.
We haven't perceived. We have not the truth. If we
have not Christ, he is, he is the reason that we perceive all
by grace. The truth is simple in word,
but it's impossible to know unless God reveals it. That's true,
isn't it? I can tell you the truth. But it's impossible to
know the truth. The truth's a person. He has
to introduce himself. He must, otherwise we wouldn't
know the truth. Aren't you glad of the promise
of the Lord? You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free. It's what the scripture says.
Well, how am I to know him? Lord, you're gonna have to do
it. You're going to have to cause me to be able to perceive. You're
going to have to cause me to be able to know because it's
impossible to know you unless you reveal yourself. What is it to perceive the words
of understanding? It's to know the Lord Jesus Christ
is all in salvation. He is all in salvation. It is
to be made to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your only
hope of eternal life. That's what it is to perceive
the words of understanding. If we can perceive anything,
spiritually speaking, we have to have spiritual life. That's,
that's easy to compute, isn't it? The only way I'm going to
have spiritual life is if he causes me to, and he never calls
us anyone to have spiritual life for a time and causes them to
become spiritually dead later on. If you were given life, it's
eternal life. And you have this, the ability
to perceive all by grace through faith. To perceive the words of understanding
is to be made to hear and believe the Lord's words when he said,
all that the father giveth me shall come to me. I'm not going
to lose one of them. I'm not going to lose one of
them. The only way that you and I can perceive those words is
if he gives us understanding and the ability to perceive them.
To perceive the words of understanding is to understand Jesus Christ
as God and I'm not. I'm not. That's pretty simple. But people, men and women, they
cannot believe that unless the Lord makes them believe that
he is God. He is seeded. He is successful. He is Alpha and Omega. I mentioned this earlier, but
when men talk about to perceive, they talk about their depth perception. They act like the Lord is some
kind of a corrective lens that they wear in order to be able
to see spiritual things better. That's not true. We don't need
corrective lenses, do we? We need life. We need life. We don't need a quadruple bypass
to fix our heart. We need a new heart. heart of
flesh, this is a heart of stone that knows not the things of
God and hates God in every way, this flesh hates God. But you're
gonna have to give me the ability to perceive your precious words
of understanding, your precious words. There's a good example of this,
if you wanna turn to John chapter nine, the Lord's gonna have to
cause us to perceive him. All the examples that we can
see in the scripture How many times was the Lord talking to
someone face to face with them? They didn't perceive that it
was God, did they? His own brothers. Think about
this. The Lord Jesus Christ's own family did not reckon. I mean, Mary and Joseph, of course,
because the angel, uh, The angel of the Lord declared it unto
them. They knew the miraculous conception. They knew the miracle
that was given in the Lord's birth. So they believe by the
Lord's word. But the brothers, the men in
the area, in the town they were in, you remember the Lord got
up and he read Isaiah and he said, the burden of the Lord
is upon me to preach the gospel, to declare the truth. And he
closed the book and he said, today is these words fulfilled
in your ears. And they marveled at the gracious
words of the Lord. They marveled at it. They marveled. But then they said, is this not
Joseph and Mary's son? We've known him from birth. They
could not perceive. that he was God. And the only
way you and I can perceive he is God is if he gives us the
ability to. Now here in John chapter nine,
it's the account of the blind man from birth. And I'm gonna
tell us the account and then I wanna read his response unto
the Lord after. This blind man from birth was
at the temple and the Lord came and healed him on the Sabbath
day. And you can imagine the Pharisees as they held onto their
religious ordinances as their righteousness is so many do their
taste, not touch, not handle, not that's their lifestyle. They
were offering up to God for their salvation. They were angry with
this blind man for receiving his side on the Sabbath day.
They were angry at Jesus Christ for doing it. And they came to
the parents and the parents were afraid of the Pharisees. They
were afraid of the scribes and the chief priests and whoever
else was present. And they asked the parents, who
did this? What caused him to be able to
see? And because of their fear, they answered and said, the boy
is of age, ask him. The man is of age, ask him. And
they looked at the young man and they said unto him, give
God the glory. We want you, we're demanding
that you give God the glory. The man that did this to you
is a sinner. That's what they said. That's what they accused
the Lord Jesus Christ, the creator of the universe, the creator
and sustainer of all life, the sovereign ruler that overall
of being a sinner. They wanted him to confess that
so that not God get the glory, but they got the glory that made
them look better. So what happened when the young
man said, whether he's a sinner or no, I know not. But this one
thing I do know, whereas I was blind, now I see. And they begin
to accuse the Lord of being a devil or having devils, Beelzebub and
all this other stuff. And he said, well, this is a
marvelous thing. You're saying that the devil cast out, or that the devil's
the one that healed and all this. And they rebuked him and said,
you were conceived in sin. You were born in sin. You were
born, you don't talk to us like that. And they threw him out
of the temple. They never realized that they are the sinner as well.
They needed a savior as well. They had their own righteousness,
didn't they? They called him a sinner. You were born in sins. Now look
at what happens after this. John 9 verse 35 through the end
of the chapter tells us, Jesus heard that they had cast him
out. And when he had found him, he said unto him, dost thou believe
on the Son of God? Now, before we read any farther,
I want to understand very clearly that this man had received his
sight of the Lord Jesus Christ already. Okay, he's received
his sight, now Jesus Christ is talking to him. Dost thou believe
on the Son of God? Here's what the man said. He
answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on
him? Who is he? Who is he, Lord, that
I might believe? He's talking to the man, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man that had just caused him to receive
sight, yet he did not perceive that it was the Lord Jesus Christ,
did he? He did not perceive that he was God, did he? Why? It's the gift of God. See, no
amount of miraculous things that we see with these eyes can cause
us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's by faith alone.
It's the gift of God unto eternal life. It's not that we've had
a great experience in You've heard people talk about how they
used to live this way, and they used to live that way, and they
had an experience, and now they're on the straight and narrow, they
call it, and they cleaned up their life, and they feel better
about themselves. That's not what salvation's about.
We're all for moral living, but that's not for righteousness.
Not for righteousness, no. This man, like all, like every
single person that's been born, could not perceive the Lord Jesus
Christ unless the Lord caused him to. Look what he says next.
Verse 36, he answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I might
believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, thou
hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And
he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. Jesus said,
for judgment I am coming to this world that they which see not
might see. They which see might be made
blind. Some of the Pharisees which were
with him heard these words and said unto him, are we blind also?
Now look what the Lord says. Jesus said to them, if you were
blind, you should have no sin. But now you say we see, therefore
your sin remaineth. Now that doesn't make any sense
to the flesh whatsoever, does it? The ones that are blind are
the ones that can see and the ones that say that they can see
are the ones that are blind. We don't understand that in the
flesh, do we? But because we have been given the ability to
perceive the words of understanding, because we see that the Lord's
the one that gives the sight, we see that we are now blinded
to ourself. We're blinded to our own self-righteousness,
aren't we? We don't examine self anymore
to see if there's good in us. No, we see the one, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the truth, the word of God. We see Jesus Christ. And every single person that
the Lord died for will come to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ and will do exactly what this young man did, bow to him
and worship him. See, the ability to worship must
be done in spirit and in truth. And unless he gives his spirit,
we have no hope of worshiping him. The only way you and I can
worship is if he calls us to do so. Aren't you glad that he
does that by giving us the ability, giving us the perception, he's
God and we're not. Giving us the words of understanding,
causing us to be able to perceive it. No amount of physical healing
or miraculous experience can equal spiritual sight. We're
talking about charismatic movement a while ago and how that it's
a stirring of the flesh and they'll have A lot of things go on in
that church that's demonic, I mean just truly. It's false worship,
it's exalting self. And draws attention to self,
that's what it does. But no amount of anything we
can do in the flesh, anything that we can do in the flesh,
results in us obtaining this perception. Results in us being
given understanding. Results in us being able to worship.
The Lord has to do that. Worship is done where? Is it
done out, I mean, I'm sure we say amen sometimes, but it's
done in the heart, isn't it? That's where the Lord, he gives
his spirit and gives a new heart. We worship him in spirit and
in truth from the new heart he gives by faith. This is what
the Lord does for his people. He must reveal his truth according
to his will, according to his own purpose. He tells us, He
tells us in Proverbs 20, verse 12, the hearing ear and the seeing
eye, the Lord hath made even both of them. The Lord made them,
he created them. The creator created the seeing
eye and the hearing ear. And he's not just talking about
this eye and this ear, he's talking about spiritual sight, spiritual
hearing. And in hearing, what does it
cause us to do? We just rest in his word, don't we? Remember
Mary and Martha, whenever Mary was overburdened, she was cumbered
about with much serving, is what the scripture says. What was
Mary doing? Martha was busy working. It's
a picture of false religion, isn't it? What was Mary doing?
Seated at his feet, resting in his words. She wasn't speaking. She wasn't busy. She was just
soaking up every word that he was saying. She had perception. He was God. She had the ability
to perceive the words of understanding. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
gave her that. The Lord must reveal that he
is the Lord Jesus Christ, or we remain without perception.
But hear the good news of the gospel. He says that he is elect.
Hear the good news. Thou thoughtest I was altogether
such in one as thyself. You thought I was like you, but
I will reprove thee, and I will set them in order before thine
eyes. I'm gonna correct it. I will
save you and you shall be saved. I will give you understanding
that the Lord Jesus Christ is God and you will believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the Lord does, isn't
it? That's what he does. I love the I wills and you shall.
I will give you sight and you're gonna see. I'm gonna give you
hearing ears, and you're gonna hear. I'm gonna give you perception,
and you're gonna be able to perceive. I'm gonna give you wisdom, and
you're going to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. What rest? Lord, give me these ears. The
woman at the well said to her, if you would have asked me, he
said, I would have given you water that had sprung up in you
into eternal life. And she said, Lord, give me this
water. Lord, give me this water. Whenever we hear the truth, that's
what we say, is that, Lord, give me this water. But we don't just
say it from a physical standpoint. No, we say it, our spiritual
cry unto Him, Lord, save me. Lord, save me. She began to kind
of contest the Lord, saying, we worship here in this mountain.
When she found out he was a prophet, he said, go call your husband.
She said, I don't. So I don't have a, he said, that's
well-spoken. You've had five. And the one you have now is not
your own. She said, Oh, you're a prophet. Well, I'm going to be really
religious now. And I'm going to show you my righteousness. We worship
in this mountain, but the Jews say that you should worship in
Jerusalem. What the Lord say, Tom is coming. And now is you'll
need to worship in that mountain or in Jerusalem. You're going
to worship from the heart. You're going to worship in spirit
and in truth. He said, and that's what the
Lord desires for his people. And that's what he gives is the
ability to worship in spirit and in truth. She said, well, when Messiah
comes, he'll set everything straight. He'll tell us the truth. What
did he say to her? Again, she couldn't perceive
that she was talking to the King of Glory. She could not perceive
His words of understanding. She could not rest in His ability,
in His person. She could not believe the gospel
until He said, He that speaketh to you am He. He said, I am. I am the Messiah. I am the Lord
Jesus Christ. Before Abraham was, I am. I'm
the one that spoke to Moses in the burning bush. I'm the one
that parted the Red Sea. I'm the one that created the
universe. I'm the one that saved my people from their sin. I am.
And she left her water pot behind. She left everything that she
held to before. She said, come see a man. Come
see the man. The Lord Jesus Christ told me
all things ever I did. Is this not the Christ? This
is him. I believe. Why do I believe? Lord, you've
given us the ability to perceive your words of understanding.
You've given us the ability by grace through faith to cry out,
Christ is all. Come see a man. Whereas I was
blind, now I see. That's one thing I know. I don't
know anything else. They asked, you imagine them
asking Lazarus, what happened, Lazarus said, I don't know, I
was dead, now I'm alive, the Lord called me to life. I took
the first step and I let the Lord Jesus Christ do the rest.
No, he gave life by saying, Lazarus, come forth. This is what he does
for his people. He says, I'll cause your ears
to open and you'll hear. I'll cause you to perceive the
words of knowledge and you will know that I am God and you'll
rest. You won't work anymore. You'll
see that I am seated because I was successful in redeeming
my people. You'll see that the Father rested upon the Sabbath
and you know who we're gonna rest in? The Sabbath, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Scripture says in Psalm 100,
it is he that has made us and not we ourself. We are his people
and the sheep of his pasture. He told us in Isaiah, he said,
I have I have bought you, fear not Jacob, I have bought you,
I have redeemed you, I've purchased you. And you know the purchase
price was his own blood. He said, you're mine, you're mine. This
is what we're given is the ability to perceive these words and understand
that that is our salvation, is everything that he has done,
not what we have done. No other way could we understand
that except he caused us to see it. In Deuteronomy 4.35, it tells
us just that, it says unto thee, Unto thee was it showed, that
thou mightest know that the Lord, he is God, and there is none
else besides him. Unto thee it was shown." Who's
the these? The Lord's people. The Lord doesn't
speak to those who are not his. He said, my sheep hear my voice.
That's the ability, isn't it? That's the gift to hear. And
I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal
life. Unless he causes us to see it,
unless he causes us to hear it, we would not hear. We would say
the same thing that's spoken in the scripture. We would be
like Sodom and Gomorrah. That's what we'd be like. We would just
do whatever we thought would be okay for us to do and believe
that we were good to go. Whenever he gives us the ability
to perceive the words of understanding, you know what our cry is? Lord,
save me. Truth, Lord, I am a dog. Truth, Lord, I am the chief sinner.
That's what it is to perceive the words of understanding, is
to know that he's God and we're not, and we have no hope except
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. God must make us to perceive
the words of knowledge. Christ Jesus has made all to
his people. made all to his people. We're given understanding that
Christ is all that's not something we came up with. That's something
that's given. Otherwise, you and I will think
we know we'll have a form of godliness, the scripture says,
but will deny the power thereof. But oh, whenever he gives us
his perception of his words of knowledge, then we cry, we have
no knowledge except for Christ. Now, isn't that the truth? When
he shows Christ, Jesus is our wisdom, our righteousness, our
sanctification and redemption. Lord, I have no wisdom. I have
no righteousness in myself. I have no sanctification. I don't,
there's no such thing as progressive sanctification. I'm not getting
better. I'm getting worse. There is no redemption outside
of Christ. That's what it is to perceive. The words of the
Lord's knowledge. This is the gift. He causes it
by grace. Causes us to see, to hear, and
to believe. The Lord's people have the same
confession as that blind man. This one thing I know, whereas
I was blind, now I see. I know Christ is the doer of
it. All for his glory. All for his
honor and praise. That's why we now beg just for
him, isn't it? In closing, I want to turn back to Psalm 119, just
quickly. We read this as our call to worship,
our scripture reading, but I want to point out to you, this is
the prayer of the believer. If you've been given the ability to perceive the Lord's
words, His precious words, His knowledge, if the Lord's given
you the ability, this is your prayer. And this is my prayer. He says, teach me, verse 33,
119 Psalms, teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and
I shall keep it unto the end. What is he saying? If you don't
teach me, I can't keep it. What does it mean to be taught
that the Lord, you can't keep it, the Lord kept it for you?
That's what's being taught, isn't it? Give me understanding. And I shall keep thy law. How
are we gonna keep God's law? Christ Jesus kept it for us.
Christ Jesus kept the law for his people. Yea, I shall observe
it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the paths of
thy commandments, for therein do I delight. Is that your delight? Path of righteousness only found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. What's the commandment? They
asked the Lord what was the greatest commandment. He said, love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength. The
second's like unto the first. Love your neighbor as yourself.
What caused me to go in thy commandments? How can I do that? I can't love
the Lord the way that I want to, the way that he demands I
do in perfection, and I can't love you the way that I want
to and the way that the Lord demands for perfection. But the
Lord Jesus Christ did. The Lord Jesus Christ loved the
Father perfectly and loved his neighbor as himself, loved his
people unto death and died for them, putting away their sin
on the cross of Calvary. This is what's being spoken here.
Make me to go in the paths of thy commandments. Cause me to
look to Christ for therein do I delight. Incline my heart. We don't even have the ability
to incline our heart, do we? Incline my heart unto thy testimonies. What's the Lord's testimonies?
This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him.
Incline my heart unto those testimonies, Lord. Cause me to believe on
Him and not to covetousness. We don't covet the Lord's glory
anymore, do we? Here he says again, turn away
mine eyes from beholding vanity. What is vanity? We're vanity. Turn away my eyes from looking
to myself for self-righteousness. Quicken me. Lord, I'm gonna remain
dead if you don't. Quicken thou me in thy way. Establish
thy word unto thy servant who is devoted to thy fear. Turn
away my reproach which I fear, for thy judgments are good. Behold,
I have longed after thy precepts. Lord, I have desired to perceive
the words of knowledge that's only found in Christ. I've longed
after thy precepts. Quicken me. in thy righteousness. He says the same prayer that
you and I say, Lord, teach me, Lord, give me, Lord, make me,
incline my heart, turn away mine eyes, quicken thou me, establish
thy word, turn away my reproach, quicken me in thy righteousness.
That's the prayer, isn't it? It's all about him doing it.
Lord, you're gonna have to do it. I can't do it. Lord, if you
don't do this, if you don't give us the ability to perceive the
precious words of knowledge, we will have no perception. We
will have no perception. We will be lost. But it's like
the one that came to the Lord having a need. And he said, Lord,
if thou will. If thou will, thou canst make me whole. And what
did the Lord say? I will be thou made whole. Take comfort, brethren, that
every single mercy beggar that came to the Lord Jesus Christ
received mercy from the Lord Jesus Christ. Every single person
that cries out, Lord, Lord, I've got to have the ability to perceive
your precious words of knowledge. Everyone that cries out for that
receives the ability to do so. Why? Because God gave them that
cry and God gave them that ability to cry out all by faith. We believe
that he is all. He put the desire there. He did
it all for his glory. We desire to perceive the words
of understanding. We desire to perceive the Lord
Jesus Christ, don't we? Let's pray. Father calls us to
see you. Lord, it is true. We don't need
corrective lenses. We need sight. We need life. We need Christ. We need to be
able to perceive him. Give us that according to your
will. In Christ's name, amen.