I was looking at Proverbs chapter
1 and I read the first six verses and had the intentions of preaching
the first six verses, but then the Lord gave me a message from
the very first verse. Now it's an intro, much like
many of the intros throughout scripture. It gives the writer's
name, his origin, his purpose. But there's a hidden mystery
in this first verse that I want us to look at this hour. My hope
is that the Lord would cause the light of his gospel to shine
in our hearts, that he would illuminate in our hearts himself. And we would see him as not only
in Proverbs, but that's who all of scripture is written about
is the Lord. So let's read Proverbs one, verse one. The Proverbs
of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. Now I've titled
this message, The Secret of the Lord. The Secret of the Lord. Most would see the first verse
here as just a simple introduction, but I would remind us the Lord
tells us that upon every verse he's found. If he chooses to
reveal, he's found on every single verse. Scripture says line upon
line, precept upon precept, I want us to pay close attention to
this first verse, it'd be easily overlooked, but there's the gospel
here in this first verse. If we go by the names that are
given, by the words that are spoken, if we have the translation
of each of the words and each of the names, we have this, we
have this, the parables of peace to God's beloved because of the
son of God, the king of kings. If I was to translate every word
and every name in this first verse, that's exactly what we
get. It says the parables of peace to God's beloved because
of the son of God, King of Kings. The first word is Proverbs and
it literally means parables. The disciples asked the Lord,
Lord, why do you speak unto these people in parables? And he said,
it's not for them to know, it's for you to know. See, it's a
secret, it's a mystery, it's past finding out. And as he says
in verse six here, to understand a proverb, to understand the
parable, that's the whole reason of him writing, the interpretation
thereof, the words of the wise. Who's the wise one? Solomon,
certainly, but it's the Lord Jesus Christ that we may understand. They're dark sayings, proverbs
or parables. Everything written is not just
written physically, but it's written spiritually. We can have
some physical understanding, but that doesn't amount to anything
spiritual. No, it takes the Lord to illuminate. It takes the Lord
to reveal. It takes the Lord to enlighten.
And he does to his people. He said to the disciples, it's
not for them to know, it's for you to know. It's for you to
know. And then what did he do? He graciously expounded over
and over again to the disciples. This is what this means. And
this is what this means. And here's the truth. That's
what I hope the Lord does this morning and every time that we
meet. That he would expound the hidden mysteries of this truth. Otherwise, we're not gonna see
it. We're not gonna see it. It's past finding out. What did
Timothy say about the mysteries without controversy? Somebody
told me one time I was being controversial. They wanted to
find common ground with the gospel. They wanted to find. They believed
in religion. Jesus loves everybody. He died
for everybody. We don't believe that. We know that that's not
true. And I was explaining to them, the Lord only died for
his people. Those that he died for, he loves. And he doesn't
love anybody else. And I gave the example of a husband and
wife. And I've given you guys this before. But if I said, I
love your wife the way I love my wife, you're probably going
to get fighting mad with me. It doesn't make any sense to
say that. And he said, you're just being controversial. And
I said, well, the scripture says, without controversy, great is
the mystery. It's not controversial, it's
just a mystery. Great is the mystery. Great is
the mystery in godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
That's a mystery, isn't it? God was manifest in the flesh.
Now we believe it by faith, but that's a mystery. God was manifest
in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up
into glory. This is the Lord's mystery. It's
not my mystery. It's not your mystery. It's his. It's his secret. Well, what is
the secret? Is it the key to success in life? Is it the key to health? Is it
the key to prosperity? No, the secret is very simple.
Christ is all in salvation. Christ is all. This is what Proverbs
is written for. This is the whole purpose is
to give us understanding of this very simple truth. Christ Jesus
is all. Christ is God's salvation. He is. We'll never see it. We can't understand it, but we
believe it because he's revealed it. He's revealed his truth.
He's revealed the secret of the Lord. These divine parables are
given only by the interpretation of the Lord's spirit. He has
to be the one that speaks. And when he speaks, we hear.
And if he doesn't speak, we cannot hear. It's not discovered, it's
bestowed, it's revealed. And to have understanding of
the Lord's truth, to have understanding of who Christ Jesus really is,
To see Him high and lifted up as Isaiah saw Him. To see Him
as Paul saw Him as Lord. And you know He was struck off
of His high horse when He saw the light and heard the voice.
He was knocked off of His high horse, wasn't He, down in the
dirt. To see the Lord that way, that's what salvation is, is
to see ourself as nothing. And the only way we can see that
is if the Lord reveals it. It's the revelation of Christ.
That's our hope. The first thing I want to make
mention of is that to understand a parable spiritually you have
to be made alive. We're born dead in trespasses and in sin.
We have no hope of understanding of parables or things of the
Lord. We don't speak God's language
by nature. Do we see that? We don't talk
the same thing God does by nature. We have to be made to speak what
God says. And that's what the Seraphim
woman, when she came to the Lord, the Lord called her a dog. That's
why she said, truth, Lord. She spoke the same thing he did.
I am a dog and you're the master. I agree. We agree with God. Why? Because he's given us the revelation
of Christ. We see him as God, not ourself
any longer. There's no hope if we're dead
to believe. There's no hope of gaining knowledge. Understand
what I'm saying. If we're born dead, and we are,
we can't, in that dead state, collect knowledge from the scripture,
gather data from books, Study biblical principles, understand
the fullness of the law, memorize the entire Bible. None of that's
good in and of itself because we're dead still. We're dead.
It takes the power of God to awaken. the dead. It takes the resurrection by
the spirit through the preaching of the gospel to birth us into
the family of God, to make us alive. It's his doing. Otherwise,
everything written from Genesis to Revelation will just remain
a mystery. We can only see it through the
lens of the physical, not the spiritual. But when we have the
lens of the gospel, when the Lord reveals his truth and we
see the spiritual, well, there he is on that page. Well, there
he is in that verse. Well, there he is again. You
mean the story of David and Goliath was all about the Lord Jesus
Christ? Yes. Did it really happen? Yes. David slew the giant, but
it was all about the Lord Jesus Christ. You mean that Noah's
Ark was really about the Lord's people being placed in the Ark
when the wrath of God fell upon Christ? Christ being that Ark. And the atonement that was on
the outside, the pitch is their only hope of survival. Yes. Yes. Did that really happen to Noah?
Yes, it sure did. But it was all a picture. It's
all a picture. What about the children of Israel
crossing the Red Sea? Well, the Lord Himself calls
them to walk across on dry land. It's a picture of death being
all about us as the Lord's people on every side. And yet it can't
touch the Lord's people because our Lord and Savior conquered
death for His people. It's all written about Him. It's
not just stories that we try to hope, well, I hope I have,
I'd like to have the faith of Daniel. I'd like to have, if
you're a believer, you do. You have it. I'd like to have
the faith of Peter. If you're a believer, you do.
Faith just believes Christ. It doesn't look and see what
we do or what we exhibit. That's not what Proverbs is all
about being written. It's to give understanding that
it's all written about him. It's all about him. It's not
about us. It's about him. It's not according to our works
or our will or our discovering. It's His work, isn't it? We love
that. It's His will. We love that.
It's not our will. It's not our works of righteousness.
It's His works of righteousness. We've been made to know we can't
work righteousness, but He did. He did. Oh, for the mercy to see Him
according to His mercy and grace, not in judgment. not in wrath,
but to see him as Savior. You can't see him just as Savior,
you have to see him as Lord also. But everyone's gonna see him
as Lord. But the grace to see him as Lord and Savior now, that's
what Proverbs is written for. The hope is that the Lord would
cause us to see him as Lord and Savior, that he would reveal
himself, not in wrath, not in judgment, but in mercy. If you see him in mercy, then
you see the Lord's secret. The Lord's secret is very simple.
Christ is all. But in seeing that, you see that
you're justified. You're justified before God.
That's a mystery. How can a man of being unclean,
how can the wretch, how can the vile, the worst be made right
with God, the Lord Jesus Christ? That's how. His shed blood, what
he accomplished on the cross of Calvary. We've been justified
by him and now by faith we have peace with God. That's a mystery,
isn't it? How can I have peace with God?
Well, The Lord Jesus Christ had to do it for you. Lord Jesus
Christ had to do it for us. Otherwise we don't have that.
We don't have peace. Seeing Christ is seeing that
we have peace with God. Faith looks to Christ and in
looking to Christ we see there's our peace. He's our peace. We
have peace with God found in him. Now the second word that's mentioned
here, or the second thing I want to bring to our attention, we
have the word Proverbs and then of Solomon. So Proverbs being
a parable also translated a hidden mystery, also translated a secret.
Solomon's name translated means peace. It's the parables of peace,
brethren. That's what this book is. This
Proverbs, the whole book is a parable of peace. That's what it's written
for. It's a secret of peace. It's
a mystery of peace. Only revealed to the Lord's elect
according to his purpose and by his grace. You remember the
Queen of Sheba that came unto Solomon. Solomon was the one
that wrote this, obviously, we just said that, but she had heard
Queen of Sheba coming from the south. She was wealthy, she was
powerful, and she heard of the wisdom of Solomon. She heard
of his, uh, his throne. She heard of his servants. She
heard of his wealth. She heard of his wisdom. And
she said, I'm going to come to him and I'm going to try him
with hard questions. That's her words. I'm going to
try him with hard questions. And she came with her train and
all that she had and, uh, to give unto him and begin asking
him all the questions. And the scripture says that he
answered her questions. Nothing was hidden from her.
Nothing was hidden from her. That's a picture of you and I
approaching the King, the Lord Jesus Christ, having all these,
what we think, hard questions. How can that which is born of
a woman be made clean? And the answer is the same as
every question that we would ask, isn't it? Christ Jesus. He's all. He's all. Every question
that she asked, Solomon gave the answer to. And at the end
of it, she said, when I came to see the king, she said, but
when I saw your servants, I heard about them, but when I saw them,
when I saw your throne, I've heard about your throne, but
when I saw your throne, whenever I saw the way that you ascend
and you descend, when I heard about your wisdom, I was intrigued,
but whenever I actually heard your wisdom, the half was not
told me. For mine eyes have seen the king. Your eyes have seen the king,
if you're a believer. And in seeing him, He is other than
we are in every way. He's more beautiful than we could
ever describe. He's more glorious than we could ever imagine. But
when the gospel goes forth, we see the King. And do we not agree
with the Queen of Sheba? The half has not been told me.
This precious book is written, the parables of peace to the
Lord's people, to the Lord's people. Remember whenever the
Lord was speaking to the Pharisees, He used the Queen of Sheba as
an example. They said unto him, Lord, we would see a sign. And
the Lord told them, said, there's no sign given except that of
the prophet Jonah. And we know the sign, it's the
resurrection of Christ. But he said to this, he said,
a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh a sign. He said, the
queen of the south shall rise up in judgment. That's the queen
of Sheba. And he said these words, but a greater than Solomon. greater
than salt. The Queen of Sheba came to see
the king and saw the king. And all these are coming to Christ
to see a miracle, to see a sign, to see a wonder. None's going
to be given except the resurrection of Christ. And how glorious is
it when we see that? The half has not been told of
this great salvation. That's what the confession of
the Queen of Sheba represents. That's the judgment that she's
going to cast upon these that say we want a sign. Why is that?
Because they were speaking to God. one that was greater than
Solomon and they couldn't see him. They had no interest. He
had no appeal. Isn't that what Isaiah said?
No, no comeliness in him that we should desire. No beauty in
him. That's the word. No beauty in him that we should desire.
He has nothing to offer this flesh. Men take the book of Proverbs
and they go through it and they take the verses and put it on
the wall and they say, okay, we're gonna live by this rule.
We're gonna do this. We got this wisdom and this understanding. But if we've missed Christ, we've
missed the whole reason Proverbs were written. Proverbs was written
to speak this, greater than Solomon is here. This is the parables
of peace written to his people, only revealed by his people.
The Lord told them, the Pharisees, why they couldn't see Him, why
they couldn't hear His words. I remember one time He told them,
you're of your father, the devil. That's what He told them, literally.
You're of your father, Abraham. You're of your father, the devil.
I remember one time I told a lady the verse, He that hath ears
to hear, let him hear. And she looked at me after I
was preaching. She looked at me after service angrily. She
said, my ears work just fine. I have ears to hear. And I said,
you didn't hear a word I said. You didn't hear a word I said.
These Pharisees could not hear even if everyone takes and thinks
that it's a physical it's not physical brethren. This is a
spiritual matter. This is written for understanding
of the Lord Jesus Christ and he must send his spirit. He must
speak in power or we're deaf or we're blind or we're dead.
He's got to do it all. Good news is, is he chose to
speak. In this first verse, he says, here's the parables of
peace. Here's the parables of peace to my people. Here's the
secret. I'm going to tell you the secret. I'm going to tell
you the secret of peace before God. What is it? Christ is all. Christ is all. He must illuminate
this or we remain in darkness. Aren't you glad that in Mercy,
David wrote, He said, the secret of the Lord is with them that
fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. Now the second
hour, I hope to go to Hebrews chapter 1, and we're going to
look at the old and new covenant, Lord willing. But what glorious truth
we have of the covenant here, that the secret of the Lord is
with them that fear Him, He will show them His covenant. Is it
going to be the covenant of law, the covenant of due, the covenant
of works? No. It's the covenant of grace. That's the secret. It's finished.
That's a secret. Men can hear that. And they say,
well, yeah, we believe that it's finished. We believe that it's
all of grace. But unless the Lord truly reveals that to the
heart, unless he truly gives the new heart of faith that looks
to Christ alone, men will never hear that it is finished truly. There's always going to be something
else that has to be done. There's always going to be some
other mystery that has to be uncovered. It's just this simple. Christ is all. And that's too
simple. That's a stumbling block, isn't
it? That's a rock of offense, isn't it? Those that have intelligence,
those that are educated, that's too simple. And those that have
a righteousness in and of themselves, Christ is just the stumbling
block. No, but He's the cornerstone. He's the foundation. He's everything
to His people. Men will hear that the Lord's
secret is with them that fear Him, and they'll say, so all
I have to do is fear Him, and He will give me His light. He
will give me this revelation of Christ. He'll give me salvation
if I fear Him. Brethren, if you find yourself
fearing him, it's because you've been made alive to do so. He's
already done that. You already have his secret.
Only the Lord's people fear him. Only the Lord's people believe
him because he's the doer of it. He's given the faith that
believes him, the faith that, the repentance that fears him
in reference. That's what, that's what his
gospel does by his spirit. Well, if we fear him, it's because
he's already revealed the truth. Dead men can't fear. Dead men
can't fear. What's a dead man going to be
afraid of in this life? Nothing. They're dead. What are
we afraid of spiritually? If we're dead? Nothing. We don't
have, there's no emotion. There's no, there's no, there's,
there's nothing. There's nothing. Only thing a
corpse can do is rot and stink. That's it. There's nothing, nothing
that we can do dead. but he commands his light to
shine in darkness. And when he does, we fear him.
He reveals his glorious truth, his secret, his gospel, Christ
is all. All others, they're just left
without the light of the gospel. Aren't you glad from the very
beginning of the book, he said, let there be light. He calls
his light to shine forth out of darkness. Explain that. We
can't, but we believe it because he is light. Nothing in us is
light, in and of ourself, but everything in him is light, and
in him is no darkness at all, the scripture says. That's a
mystery, isn't it? That's beyond understanding,
isn't it? Faith doesn't need an explanation. Faith just believes
the truth. Christ shines forth his light
in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. But to you
and I who are the Lord's people, our hope is that we comprehend
his light, because he says live, live and we believe, we believe
him. Greater than Solomon is here,
one that's able to save to the uttermost. Solomon and all his
wisdom is nothing to be compared to the wisdom of Christ, the
wisdom of God, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. And aren't you
glad unto us, he said, God hath made him our wisdom. our righteousness,
our sanctification, our redemption. That's a secret. That's a mystery
that nobody can come to the knowledge of unless the Lord gives them
the ability to. And it's all by grace. It's the
free gift unto eternal life. This secret, brethren, is that
Christ Jesus is salvation. It's not moral living. It's not
that if you do things that are right, God will reward you. That's
not the secret. No, that's the lie. That's the
lie. The secret is simple. Christ
is all. Christ is all. It's not our righteous
lifestyle. It's his righteousness bestowed. It's not our moral living. It's
him that kept the law for his people. The key to success is
found in Christ, but it's not a physical success. It's a spiritual
success to be the made. The very righteousness of God
is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have but one need. The revelation of Christ is all
our wisdom. Now, here in our text, the third
thing I want us to notice. Is that he says the son of David,
the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David. Translated another
way would be the parables of peace revealed to his people.
David is, his name means the beloved of God. Now, how can
David be the beloved of God? I want us to take into consideration
just for a moment that David was an adulterer. David was a
murderer. David was many, many things that
you and I are guilty of in our heart as well. We're no different.
How can David be considered and called by God a man after God's
own heart? How can he be the very beloved
of God? Well, that's a mystery, isn't
it? That's a secret that must be revealed, that we can't understand,
that we can't have calculated algorithms that arrive at an
answer that would give any sense to this flesh whatsoever. No,
the answer is Christ is all. By grace are you saved through
faith. And in the salvation of the Lord,
he makes us accepted in the beloved. That's who he's writing to here
is the beloved. The parables of peace revealed
to his beloved, the beloved of God. This is who this precious
book is written to, the entirety of it. But this is who Proverbs
is written to. This is who is, what God is saying
here is I'm writing to the beloved, the ones that I love, the ones
that I love. Peace is only to those who are
the beloved of God. The Lord didn't make a way for
peace to be possible for everyone in the world. He made peace with
God for all those who he represented before God, all those who he
represents now before God, all those for whom he died. He made
peace with God. He didn't make a way for peace.
He is our peace before God. He didn't make a way for righteousness.
He is our righteousness before God. This is what his gospel
reveals. This is What the hidden mystery
that he reveals is, is we have peace with God. We're the beloved
of God. Ephesians 1.6 says, to the praise
and glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. How did David become the beloved
of God? How do you and I become the beloved
of God? Number one, we always have been if we're his. I love
that. That means I can't break it. I can't mess it up. It's not
up to me to get in his love or out of his love. I can't do anything
to mess it up. No, it's by grace, he says, the praise of the glory
of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. You love that the Lord makes
us accepted in the beloved. Well, that's a, That's a mystery,
isn't it? Most people hate that information. The Lord ain't gonna make me
do anything, they say. I've heard somebody say that. Yeah, you
know, he can do whatever he wants to. He's God. What mercy there
is in him not making us a vessel of dishonor. That's what we deserve. To be made a vessel of dishonor.
But he chooses to make some, not because of their merits or
because of their good deeds or because of what they've done,
but he chooses to make some vessels of mercy. Vessels of mercy created
for His glory and for His honor. Why would He do that? All by
grace. All by His grace. We are accepted of the Father
because we are in Christ Jesus by grace. And nobody else can see this.
We don't go around bragging, do we? That's something else
that the gospel does to the Lord's people. It doesn't cause us to
be braggers, does it? We mentioned that on Wednesday night. We don't
brag about what we are or what we do, but we don't brag about
what we know in the gospel, do we? We see that it's truly all
of grace. I know something you don't know
is not what a believer goes around saying. We don't have an arrogance
and prideful spirit as men do in religion, where they go about
thinking that they have accomplished or attained something that no
one else has. No, that's knowledge. Knowledge
puffeth up. I'm talking about wisdom, which is of God. That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. In seeing him, we don't brag
on anything we know. We brag on who we know. And it's
not a bragging of self to point to self. It's to point to him.
If we brag, it's on him alone. It's not on us, is it? How can
that be? Because he's revealed his secret.
Christ is all. We're the worm and he's the master.
We're the dog. We're the dead dog. And he is
life eternal. He's everything. It's all by
grace. It's all what he has done. No
one else will see that. As a matter of fact, everyone
else will hate it. Everyone that doesn't see it
will hate it. The Lord said, you will not come to me that
you may have everlasting life. You don't want life because it's
found in me. You have to come through me and you won't do that.
But the Lord to his people places us in him and gives us life. In spite of us, and despite of
us, He saves His people. He saves them to the uttermost. Most will cry, peace, peace,
when there is no peace, brethren. All others make lies their refuge. They say, we've made a covenant
with death. In hell, we're in agreement.
The Lord said, I'm going to disannoy your covenant. You're looking
to self and what you've done. But the Lord reveals His covenant
to His people in grace and mercy. The Lord reveals His parables
to His sheep alone. The Lord reveals His truth, His
gospel. And what do we find ourselves
doing when we hear it? Do we find ourselves kicking?
Do we find ourselves fussing? Do we find ourselves quarreling
one with another? No, we just sit, like Mary did,
at the feet of Christ. Everybody else is running around
trying to figure everything out. You remember Martha going throughout
the house, she's gotta get this right, and she's gotta get that
right, and she's working, and Martha looked at the Lord and
said, Lord, she's sitting here, I'm doing all this work, you
don't see what I'm, put her to work, tell her to help me. He
said, no, she's done the one thing needful. The one thing. What was that? Sitting at the
feet of Christ. Sitting at the feet of Christ.
Resting in Christ. Not worried about anything else
around her. Why? Because the truth had been
revealed. The mystery of the gospel had
been revealed. The secret of the Lord had been revealed. There's
God in the flesh before her. I've got to have Him. I've got
to. I'm not worried about the dust
on the shelf anymore. I'm not worried about the dust
that's in here. I've got to have him. I'm not worried about the
dirt and the filth that I am. I've got to have him. He's the
righteousness I must have. Only the Lord's people love his
truth and sit at his feet. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
is our peace. He's our place of rest. We have
no other rest. Can't find any rest in the world,
can't find any rest in what we know. We can find rest in who? We can find rest in the Lord
Jesus Christ, can't we? Now, fourthly, I wanna notice
the word son and the word king are in lowercase. Solomon here,
he says, the proverb of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.
The word son is lowercase, the word king is lowercase. Solomon
is indicating His relinquishment of his titles unto the glory
of God. The Lord is mentioned as the
son of David with capital S. The Lord is mentioned King of
Israel with a capital K. Solomon says, no, I'm the lowercase
one. No, there's another that greater than Solomon is coming.
This is his relinquishment of his title. Do you see what I'm
saying there? His power, his glory. He's not saying I am the
King, capital K. He's saying, no, I'm the King,
lowercase K. I'm not the Son, capital S, I'm
the Son, lowercase S. Those are the titles of the Lord.
Those are the titles of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the Son of David with a capital S, but he's also called the Son
of God with a capital S. He's called the King of Israel
with a capital K. But he's also called the King
of Kings and Lord of Lords with a capital K. This is his title.
This is who he is. This is what Solomon is saying
here. I'm not that son. I'm not that king. I'm just the
son according to the flesh. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
the son, not just according to the flesh, as far as his lineage
goes, David being his father, but he's the son of God. He's
the only one worthy to have the capital S. He's the only one
that's worthy to have the capital K. He's the king. He's the king. This is his secret, brethren.
The Lord says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
Lord's not pleased with us. Lord wasn't pleased with Solomon
or David if they had not been found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The only way that he can be pleased with us is if we're found in
the king of kings, in the son of God. This is what his secret
reveals. His secret is very simple and
yet cannot be seen or understood. His mysteries are past finding
out, but this is it, and I've said it multiple times, Christ
is all. Christ is all is the secret that he has to reveal. His secret is this, he's only
pleased with his son. Not my works, not your works,
but the son's works. Not my lordship, not my choice,
not me letting God do something, but the Lord Jesus Christ's lordship,
the Lord Jesus Christ's kingship, who he was, his choice, his choice
to redeem his people, his choice in salvation. And he did it,
and the Lord was satisfied with it. He's pleased with only one
thing, the Lord Jesus Christ. the perfect, precious son of
God and son of David and son of David, the king of kings and
the Lord of lords. His secret, and you and I can't
understand this, but we believe it. It's said so many times.
I'm sad to say, we kind of say it flippantly. We don't enter
into it. We just say it and it leaves our tongue no quicker than it
goes into our ear and out the other. But the Lord is 100% man
and 100% God. Explain that. We're just 100%
man, aren't we? We have anything godly about
us in the flesh, but God became a man. That's a mystery. That's a secret. If we believe
that Jesus Christ is 100% God, we have to see him first. He
has to reveal that. And in seeing that, that's salvation.
That's salvation, that he's sovereign over all as 100% man and 100%
God. That's the mystery that he reveals.
Only God's elect believe this because it's revealed by him. Now lastly, I've already mentioned
this a little bit, He's called the King of Israel with a lowercase
K here, but our Lord is called the King of Israel with a capital
K. You remember the children of Israel, they desired a king.
You can go all the way back to Samuel and you can read it. They
were interested in having a king. Everybody else has a king. We
want a king. Lord said, I am your king. They said, no, no,
no. We want a king like we can really see that sits on a throne.
And it's so flesh, isn't it? That's how the flesh is. We see
the Philistines king and we see the Amorites king. We see the,
Ethiopians have king, the Egyptians have a Pharaoh. We want a king.
We want somebody that we can put on the throne. Somebody that
we can say, now there's our king. We have elected him. We have
put him on the throne. That's what it was all about
with Israel. That's what it was all about.
And who did they get? Well, the Lord allowed them, purposed them to
have Saul. He said, you want a king, I'll
give you one. And he'll be a king after the flesh. He'll be a king.
He was a big man. He was a strong man. Everybody
looked up to Saul. They said, boy, Saul, he's a
king. He's a big guy. He's going to
handle all of our problems. He's going to fix everything.
We're going to live in health, wealth, and prosperity because of this
king. Is that what happened? No, because they only went off
of what they could see. They didn't have the mystery
revealed. God's king, is the Lord's Jesus
Christ. That's who he is. Solomon was,
Saul was just a lowercase K king of Israel. Solomon's end, he
offered up sacrifice unto the Lord of his own, not having an
intercessor. He went to an enchantress and conjured up spirits so that
he could talk to Samuel, witchcraft. And at the very end of his life,
what was his end? He actually committed suicide.
That was his end. He didn't trust in God. He didn't
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't know who God was. But
the good news is this. The Lord raised up his king,
David. He anointed David above his brethren. You know the account given where
David was anointed when all of his brothers, I believe there
were 10 beside him. You can correct me if I'm wrong, I don't mind.
But they had all of them lined up. Jesse, the father, had all
of them lined up when Samuel came. He said, one of your sons
is going to be king. They had every one of them lined up. And
you can imagine Jesse had the strongest one first, didn't he? Wouldn't
we do the same thing? I can see that you're strong.
I'm going to put you first. I know you're the one, because
I can see it with my eyes. And Samuel said, no, that's not
him. The next one, probably maybe a little shorter, maybe not as
strong, maybe not as muscly, you know, whatever. Went to him,
well maybe the smartest one was next, maybe the most intelligent
one was next, and so on and so on, down to the scrappiest, second
to last, youngest. He says, that's not him either.
Did you have another son? Yeah, I got one more, but that
can't be him. He's out there tending a bunch
of sheep. He's the smallest, he's the most insignificant.
He said, go fetch him. David came before Samuel, and
Samuel said, there's the king of God. He's the one anointed. He's the one that's going to
represent the Lord Jesus Christ, because it's not what you see.
It's what God's going to do. He's the one that's going to
drop the giant as a picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ did
on the cross of Calvary. See, these parables, brethren,
are given not for our understanding physically, but spiritually. All men can only see it as just
the physical. And yet to the Lord's people,
we see that we. have the capital K king of kings
as our king. We're not king anymore. What
we see around us is not our king or our God anymore. He's our
God. He's our king. This is what's being written
right here in Proverbs 1 verse 1. What's his secret? Well, it's the same confession
that Peter had. Thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. Everybody else says you're Elijah,
you're a prophet, you're this, you're that. But my eyes have
seen the King, a greater than Solomon is here. Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. If we do err in seeing this,
brethren, we've missed salvation altogether. For it clearly says
here in Proverbs 1 these words, the parables of peace to God's
beloved on behalf of the finished work of the Son of God, King
of Kings. That's what chapter one, verse
one says. It's all about him. It's all about what he's done
for his people in their salvation. That's a secret that he reveals
only to his people. It's the parables of peace to
God's beloved All because the finished work of the Son of God
and the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. Seeing him is seeing
the secret of the Lord revealed. Seeing the mystery of God revealed.
Seeing him is salvation. Let's pray. Father, cause us
to see you. For we know it's not what we
see physically, but give us spiritual eyes that we may see Reveal your
secret, reveal your mystery. Shut us up to Christ, in his
name, amen. Let's take a break.