In 2 Chronicles, in the very
first chapter, 2 Chronicles 1, Solomon had just been made king
in the previous chapter of 1 Chronicles, chapter 29. And the very first
thing that Solomon does is he brings the congregation to Gibeon
to offer sacrifice unto Lord. This place of Gibeon is also
where the tabernacle of the Lord was. The same tabernacle that
we heard about a few weeks ago from Exodus chapter 26. Remember
the curtains that we spoke of? So this is where the tabernacle
has been erected. Now the tabernacle could be moved
around from place to place as the children of Israel went through
the wilderness. But the temple had not been built yet. Once
the temple was built, it did away with the tabernacle. It
was not necessary to move it. It became a stationary place
of worship. And so they still have the tabernacle,
not the temple. First thing that Solomon does
is brings everyone to Gibeon, unto the tabernacle, and he offers
up 1,000 offerings unto the Lord. 1,000 offerings unto the Lord. This is his very first act as
king, was to worship the Lord. It was an acknowledgement that
it's gonna be by grace if the kingdom that Solomon has inherited
is going to succeed or it's going to stay. It's going to have to
be all of grace. And it's also an acknowledgement
of his need of the blood of Christ, his need of a substitute, his
need of a savior that stood in his place. And that's what all
the sacrifices represented was the Lord Jesus Christ. So after
this sacrifice, these thousand burnt offerings unto the Lord
in verse seven, it says, in that night did God appear unto Solomon
and said unto him, ask what I shall give thee And Solomon said unto
God, thou hast showed great mercy unto David, my father, and has
made me to reign in his stead. Now, O Lord, let thy promise
unto David, my father, be established. For thou hast made me king over
a people like the dust in the earth. Give me now wisdom and
knowledge that I may go out and come in before this people, for
who can judge this thy people that is so great? And God said
to Solomon, because this was in thine heart, thou hast not
asked riches, wealth, or honor, nor the life of thine enemies,
neither yet has asked long life, but has asked wisdom and knowledge
for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people over whom I have
made thee king, wisdom, and knowledge is granted unto thee. And I will
give thee riches and wealth and honor, such as none of the kings
have had that have been before thee. Neither shall there any
after thee have the like." His request unto the Lord is, give
me wisdom. This is the same desire that
the Lord puts in the hearts of every one of his elect. When
the Lord is passing by, just as blind Bartimaeus sat by the
wayside begging, he heard that Christ was passing by. He was
made to have a need, wasn't he? He was made to need his sight,
and he cried out unto the Lord, Lord, give me my sight. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy upon me. That was his cry unto the Lord.
When he's brought unto the Lord, he's made to confess that need,
isn't he? He's made to confess, I need my sight. And the Lord
says, unto him, see, behold, look, he gave him his sight,
didn't he? And then the Lord tells him, go thy way. And what
was blind Bartimaeus' way? It was following the Lord in
the way. So blind Bartimaeus never departed from the Lord
in that regard. So when the Lord gave him his sight, he followed
the Lord in the way. He didn't just depart and go
back to doing whatever he was doing prior. He had no need for
that anymore, did he? He had seen the Lord. Solomon
was made to want to have wisdom. He was had a desire in his heart
to have the wisdom of God. This is the same heart that he
gives to every one of his people. This is the faith of Christ that
looks unto the Lord Jesus Christ. I've enjoyed reading Proverbs
through the book of Proverbs, and we're going to look at Chapter
11. The next hour is the beginning, the beginning passage for our
service. But every time you read wisdom
in Proverbs, Solomon's the one that wrote the book of Proverbs
in case maybe someone didn't know that. But we've been going
through the book of Proverbs from chapter one up till chapter
11 now because today's the 11th. Tomorrow we'll read chapter 12
because tomorrow's the 12th. Some of us may not have known
that, so I just wanted to communicate. There's 31 days in the month
of December, there's 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs. So anyways,
whenever you see the word wisdom in Proverbs, most of the time
you can change it to the Lord Jesus Christ. because Christ
is the wisdom of God. Solomon wasn't just praying for
a temporal need. He wasn't just praying for a
physical need. Yes, he needed to know how to judge the people.
He said, give me Christ. This is what Solomon was praying.
This is the same faith that the Lord gives to every one of his
people in time for us to cry out for wisdom. 1 Corinthians
1 tells us, we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling
block and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jew and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of
God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Is he saying that God is foolish
or God is weak? No, certainly not. He's making
a point, isn't he? God is infinitely wise, which
is interesting if you think about this. If the Lord is infinitely
wise and yet he can never increase in wisdom, what does that mean?
Explain that. He's infinitely wise and yet
he can never increase in wisdom. I don't understand that, but
I believe it. That's the God we're talking about. He has everlasting
wisdom. He has eternal wisdom. He has
wisdom that can never be increased. It has no limits. It cannot change.
And we don't understand those things, but we believe it. That's
why I prompted Paul to say in Romans one to the only wise God,
the only wise God. No other God is wise compared
to this God. This God is the wisdom. He is
the wisdom, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is who Solomon's praying
to. His father David said, great is our Lord and of great power.
His understanding is infinite. His understanding is infinite. Wisdom is what Solomon's asking
for. Understanding is what Solomon needs. And he's saying unto the
Lord, wisdom, your wisdom's infinite. Your knowledge is infinite. I
need Christ who is the wisdom of God. When you pray for wisdom,
you're praying for the Lord Jesus Christ. When you're praying for
knowledge, you're praying for the Lord Jesus Christ. There
can be no other explanation. That's who we are here to hear
about, the wisdom of God. This is the same confession for
every elect sinner. Every elect sinner has been made
that way. In Romans chapter 10 it says, but what sayeth it? The word is nigh thee even in
thy mouth and in thy heart and the word of faith. How can it
be in our mouth and in our heart? How can the word of faith be
in our heart? Understand that it's not our
faith that merits salvation. It is the faith of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We must have his faith in order
to please the father. So how can it be in our heart?
He places it there, does he not? He made Solomon request this. When the Lord told Solomon, he
said, because it was in thine heart to ask me this, the Lord's
the one that put it there. The Lord's the one that put the
faith there to cry out, Lord, have mercy. Lord, give me wisdom. And that's exactly what he does
for his people. And he sees that which he hath done so that you
and I get no glory in it. And he's pleased with the person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how it's in our heart.
He goes on to say that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, God hath raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart
men believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made into salvation. This confession is of the heart,
and yet our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked, isn't it, from birth. So how is it I can confess the
Lord Jesus? Because he's the one that put
it there. He's the one that put the desire to have wisdom, which
is Christ. He's the one that has given faith. He gave repentance to his people
and he gives faith to his people to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ for all their salvation. Repentance, brethren, and I've
underlined this because I wanted to make sure that I said this
very clearly. Repentance is always the result
of God's grace and never the cause. Repentance is always the
result of God's grace and never the cause. What does that mean?
That means your repentance does not merit grace. Grace is given
and the result of that grace is repentance towards God and
faith for the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance is always the result
of God's grace, never the cause. Repentance is not to merit salvation.
Men in religion believe that all they have to do is give their
heart to Jesus. That's what they call repentance. Repentance is
something that the Lord gives. It's a gift. It's bestowed. It's not earned. It's not something
that I produce. Faith is not something I produce.
It's bestowed and it's only bestowed upon the elect of God. It's only
bestowed upon those for whom he lived his perfect life. died
the perfect death and resurrected for. It's the faith of the Lord
Jesus Christ that merits salvation. This salvation is bestowed. Repentance
and faith is imputed. Righteousness is imputed. He saves us and then he calls
us. we're saved from the foundation
of the world. So it's not something that we do that merits this salvation.
I'm spending a lot of time on this because I want us to understand
the reason that Solomon cried out for wisdom is because God
had made him cry out for wisdom. And the reason you cry out for
the blood, for mercy, for grace is because God passed by your
way and said, live. And when he, when there's no
way that this cemetery that's back behind us, there's no way
that a dead man in that cemetery or woman is going to cry out
for help. Are they? They're dead, and that's how we're born, is
dead in trespasses and in sin. That's why Paul said, for by
grace are you saved through faith, in that not of yourself. It's
not yours, it doesn't belong to you. It's of him, and he produced
it. When David was in trouble with
Bathsheba and he cried out, he repented, he cried out for mercy,
what did he say? Restoring to me the joy of thy
salvation. It's God's salvation. It's God's
wisdom. It's God's righteousness that
he merited. and he merited it for his bride,
for his elect and bestows it upon us and lets us know that
he bestowed it. That's the saving and then the
calling. Being called is the result of
your salvation, not the offer of it. That means the Lord's
not offering salvation when he calls you. He doesn't pass by
and offer something to you. He passes by and says unto you,
live and you live. He says unto you, breathe and
you breathe. We see that. Justification, sanctification,
glorification, every bit of it's already happened. The Lord Jesus
Christ did all of it. All that was required for his
people and God reveals that in time. This thing of repentance,
this changing of the mind. God does this for his people
and it's a direct result of the revelation of Christ. Solomon
had a need. Solomon had been given the desire
to cry out for wisdom. Is this not what we cry out for?
Do we not confess, Lord, I know nothing. I know nothing. Can
these bones live, Ezekiel? Lord, thou knowest. I don't know
if these bones can live. If they're going to live, you're
going to have to do it. Is that not what Ezekiel said? Lord, thou knowest. Lord,
you have all wisdom. You are all righteousness. You
are all sanctification. Redemption. That's what we crowd
isn't Lord. Give us Christ lest we die. I confess that I am nothing
but a dead dog center. I can't produce something that
pleases you. I can't merit something that would give me salvation.
Lord, I can't earn this Christ. Jesus must be my substitute or
I'm going to die and go to hell for eternity. And that's what
I deserve. But thanks God, it's thank God
it's by grace and it's by mercy. It's his redemption, his salvation.
He earned it for his people and he bestowed it upon them and
then he reveals it in time. Repentance is a direct result
of this revelation. It is literally life given. Best
way I can describe. Life and repentance and faith
would be. The Lord says unto us live a
baby comes forth from the womb and it's alive and yet it's not
breathing. Am I right? It has to, sometimes you have
to initiate the breath for that baby to gasp for the first time.
And I've used this analogy several times, I know. When that baby
starts breathing, it is evidence of life, right? When the baby
starts breathing, it's evidence of life. That's what faith is.
It's just taking a breath. And the Lord's the one that says,
breathe, breathe, breathe. And what do you breathe in? The
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you look to Him.
for all of your wisdom, all of your righteousness before God,
all of your sanctification, all of your redemption, everything
required, you look to Christ for. That's what faith does.
It always looks to Christ. It never looks to ourself. The
Lord's saying, breathe, breathe. Faith is the evidence of life.
Faith is the result of life, the life that the Lord gives
his people. The Lord said, ask what I should give you, Solomon.
Ask anything. Ask me anything and I'll give
it to you. What shall I give thee? Wisdom. Give me Christ
calls me to breathe. Faith cries. Give us wisdom,
Lord, lest we die. Now if the Lord literally asked
you in an audible voice and you knew it was God speaking to you.
What would you ask the Lord for if he says ask what you will
of me? What would you ask him for? As I begin to ask some of
my daughters and my wife, just out of curiosity and conversation,
I come to the conclusion, and it's the only possible logical
conclusion, that we would always ask for health, wealth, prosperity,
peace. We'd ask for many different things,
unless, unless the Lord gave us a need. The one thing that
matters, seeing ourselves as sinners, needing a substitute. You see that when the Lord says,
what will you have that I've given to you? You'll say, my
sight. I need my sight, I'm blind. Lord, I need feet to walk on,
I'm lame. Lord, I need a tongue to speak. I'm dumb. I can't hear. I need hearing. You would ask
for wisdom because the Lord hath made us to know that we are nothing
but sinners in need of a precious Savior. Jesus Christ is that
Savior. Jesus Christ is the feet that
we walk upon. He is the breath that we take.
He is the life is hidden Christ. Our life is hidden Christ in
Christ Jesus. We live, we move, we have our
being in him. We would ask, give us Christ,
lest we die. And every single one that the
Lord died for, every one that the Lord died for, we'll cry
out, Lord, give me wisdom. Lord, give me Christ. And Christ always gives his people
himself. Do you love that? That is your
portion. That is your reward. All of your,
think about this. When the Lord talks over in Isaiah
chapter, Chapter 40, I believe it is. When the Lord's speaking,
Isaiah was talking and he said, Lord, what shall I tell them?
Lord, tell them, tell them they're but grass, is what he starts
out telling them. But he also said, tell them that their iniquity
is pardoned. and then I've given them double for their sin. That's
your portion. You bring your unrighteousness
unto God and he gives you righteousness. He takes away your sin and then
gives you righteousness. He takes away your iniquity,
which is us trying to please God, and he gives you the righteousness
of Christ, which pleases God. He takes all the negative that
we are, our polluted blood, and gives us the precious blood of
Christ. He takes away Our wisdom. We don't have wisdom. We confess
that he gives us the wisdom of God Christ himself. He is our
portion. He is what we are made to confess
for made to beg for Christ. This word wisdom is mentioned
222 times in the Scripture 222 times. And it's mentioned 55 times in
the book of Proverbs. I looked that up just because
we were in the book of Proverbs, and I've already saw it several
times, and I was curious. So a quarter of the time, more than a quarter,
or about a quarter, roughly, of the times wisdom's mentioned
is in Proverbs. Well, isn't Solomon the one that wrote Proverbs?
Isn't he the one that cried out for wisdom? The Lord gave him
what he asked for. Why? Because he gave him the
heart to ask for it. You and I know that if the Lord
leaves us, we'll be dead and trespasses and in sin. You and
I know that if the Lord doesn't pass by us and says, live, we
will die in our sin. And where we are, the Lord will
not come unto us that we may live. But thanks be to God, He
gives us wisdom. He gave us wisdom, Jesus Christ,
His Son, and we are made to cry out for Him. Turn with me to
Proverbs 1. I wanna show us a few places
of wisdom in Proverbs. Is this not what we beg for,
brethren? We come here, what were we asking for in prayer
just a moment ago? We were asking for the Lord to send his spirit.
Lord, give us Christ. Lord, cause us to see him one
more time. Proverbs chapter one and verse
one, the proverb of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel,
to know wisdom. He tells us the reason that he
writes Proverbs from the very beginning. He tells us who he
is, and then he tells us why he's writing, to know wisdom. I would remind you that you can
change the word wisdom a lot of times in the book of Proverbs
to the word Christ. He's saying to know Christ, because
in him is hidden the mysteries of the Lord. In him is the wisdom
of God. 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, 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, the words of
the wise and their dark sayings, The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. We are
made to know what the purpose of Proverbs is. It's to know
wisdom. It's to know the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse three,
he mentions the gospel to us, and I love this. You can go every
chapter, the Lord can reveal. If he chooses to reveal himself,
he's on every page, brethren. And right here in verse three,
he just got done saying to know wisdom, and then he says to receive
the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity. This
is Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus, the wisdom. We
can change that word to wisdom. Satisfying justice and judgment
to give us equity. Now, equity is uprightness or
righteousness. Do we see that? Here we have
the Lord Jesus Christ satisfying justice, satisfying the judgment
of God, the wrath of God being poured out upon him for his people,
him being made sin, and us being given his righteousness, right
there in Proverbs chapter one, verse three. Isn't that glorious?
This is the reason Proverbs were written, is so that we can see
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that causes us to
do that. He goes on to say in verse four,
to give subtlety to the simple. Now subtlety, you know what that
word translates? Wisdom. It's another word for
wisdom. To give wisdom to the simple. You know what the word simple
translates? Foolish. Boy, you and I were foolish,
weren't we, at one time? Certainly, and that would be
our confession now of our righteousness, unless it's of Christ would be
foolish. I want us to understand the definition of the word foolish
is one lacking or one needing wisdom. That's what foolish means. One lacking or one needing wisdom. You've been made to know you're
foolish, haven't you? You've been made to know you
need wisdom. You lack wisdom. You don't have any wisdom before
the Lord. Christ does, and we cry out for wisdom for that reason. We are dead when we are born. We're born in sin and we're born
foolish. We're dead. We don't know that
we have a need. But here's our hope. He tells us our hope in
verse five, a wise man will hear. Are we wise? If we are looking
under Christ, we're wise. If we're looking under ourself,
we're fools. Now, The word fool that's mentioned later on is
one who despises wisdom. There's a difference between
being foolish and a fool. A fool hath said in his heart
there is no God, but being foolish means you have a need for wisdom. You see the difference? The Lord's
the only one that can take a fool and make him foolish and save
him. Isn't that glorious? He takes us, being born, not
believing in God, not having any merit of our own to come
to God, shows us our need of God, shows us that we need Christ,
makes us foolish, and then gives us the wisdom of God, and he
gets all the glory for it. Gives us ears to hear, makes
us to know Christ, our wisdom, makes Christ our confession.
We have been made to see the hidden things of God. The Scripture
says the secret of the Lord are with the righteous. What's his
secret? It's his Gospel. It's that Christ is the wisdom
of God. It's we are made to cry out for
this. This wisdom, not man's wisdom,
not our own wisdom. We are made foolish and cry out
for wisdom. The elect of God are made to
believe Christ is all that he satisfied justice that he put
away our sin that he saved his people from their sin. Now knowing
this, look back in our text in 2 Chronicles chapter one. We're
gonna go back to Proverbs here in just a minute, but we have
to go back to 2 Chronicles first. 2 Chronicles chapter one in verse
seven says, in that night did God appear unto Solomon and said
unto him, ask what I shall give thee. That's what I've titled
this message. I don't know if I've said that already. A lot of times
people come up to me after and ask me what I titled it. I never
did tell apparently, but ask what I shall give thee. That's
the title of this. The Lord says unto him, ask what
I shall give thee. And because of the faith that
he had given Solomon in Solomon's heart in verse 10, Solomon says,
give me now wisdom and knowledge. Give me Christ. Give me Christ. Is that your plea? Is that what
you're crying out to the Lord for? That's the only prayer that
the Lord will hear, because he's the one that's put it there.
He's given you faith to cry it out. If you haven't cried that
out unto the Lord, you're not a believer. A believer will cry
out, Lord, give me Christ, lest I die, lest I die. Now, That being said, just crying
out doesn't merit salvation. There must be faith given. But
every believer will cry out because of the faith of Christ. It cries
out unto the Lord. It's because it's in the heart
of the Lord's people. Well, that's what it says in
verse 11. And God said unto Solomon, because this was in thine heart.
The Lord's the one that put it there and yet he sees it and
he's pleased with it. Isn't that glorious? It is to me because
I couldn't produce it if I needed to. The only way that the Lord
can save a sinner is to do all the work in the salvation of
that sinner. And he did. He did for his people. He put
away the sin of his people. And then he reveals unto us our
need by making us alive, showing us that we're foolish and says,
ask what I shall give you. And what is your cry? Lord, give
me wisdom. Give me Christ. Give me Jesus
Christ, Your precious Son. Cause me to be robed in His righteousness,
not my righteousness. Give me Christ. The Lord is satisfied
with this cry because the Lord is the one that put it there. In 2 Samuel, this is an account
This appears twice in the scripture. The first time is in 2 Samuel.
The second time here is in 2 Chronicles. And I mentioned to you that Samuel
kind of mirrors Chronicles to some degree throughout. And it's
true. That's another passage that was written twice. The account
that's written in 2 Samuel says, the request pleased the Lord. The request of Solomon pleased
the Lord. Did you know that the only thing
that the Lord is pleased with is the Lord Jesus Christ? The
Lord is not pleased with us. He's not pleased with the life
that we live. He's not pleased with the things that we do. There's
nothing, there's absolutely zero, nothing that we can do that makes
God happy or pleased with us. We need a substitute. We need
to have been put in Jesus Christ when he died so that when God's
wrath fell upon him, he was overshadowing us and he absorbed all the wrath
of God So that you and I could be set free, putting away the
sin of his people is our only hope in salvation, and that's
exactly what he did. He put away the sin of his people. This request please the Lord.
Now. I want us to think about something
for a moment. If you remember, there was times in the scripture
where it says, and the thing that he did displeased the Lord,
not just Solomon, but other, David's a good example of that,
isn't he? Remember whenever David sinned with Bathsheba? What did
it say at the very end of that chapter? But the thing David
did displeased the Lord. So we see all throughout the
scripture that men displeased the Lord. And yet we have here
that Solomon, the thing, the thing requested pleased the Lord.
What about Moses? Do you remember Moses? Whenever
the Lord told him the first time, smite the rock that it may give
forth water unto the children of Israel. They were in the wilderness.
They were thirsty. They had no water. And they started
murmuring and complaining much like we do so often about our
circumstances. They come up to Moses and so
many times they threatened to kill him. They tried, they said,
well, we should just go back to Egypt where we came from.
We had it so much better there. This particular time, the Lord tells
Moses, smite the rock and it will give forth water. And he
does. And it gives forth water. Well, a few chapters later, they're
still wandering in the wilderness as they did for 40 years. Moses
never could bring them into the promised land because he's a
type in a picture of the law, which cannot save a man, can
only show our sinful condition, only show us that we're foolish,
that we need the wisdom. Could not save us, could not
bring us to the promised land. Moses couldn't do that. And so
they don't have water again. And the people begin to murmur
and Moses said, I know exactly what to do. And he goes to the
rock and he smites it. And the thing that Moses did displeased
the Lord. You know why? Because the demands
of God's holy law was satisfied one time. Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness sake to them which are in him. Christ
Jesus fulfilled the law And the law demanded justice when it
saw our sin upon the precious Son of God. And the law executed
the justice of God upon the Son. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
lay his life down, his soul being made an offering for sin. Now,
do you know what the law says to the elect of God? Perfect. It has nothing to say. Do you
know why? Because the law smoked the rock one time. So why did
the Lord become angry with Moses the second time? Because justice
was satisfied the first time. Justice cannot be enacted upon
the child of God because it was satisfied in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. What I'm telling you is, the
Lord hath made unto you Christ, who is our wisdom. We have been
made to know Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
We have been made to know that we are perfect in him and that
in Christ, I have satisfied the law's demand. That's the gospel. That is the glorious gospel.
That is what we cry out for. Give us Christ our wisdom. Ask what you will. He says into
Solomon. Solomon said give me wisdom. Give me understanding.
Give me Christ. That's what we cry out for. It was granted, wasn't it? It
was granted and then he says because you haven't asked for
riches and you haven't asked for health, wealth and prosperity.
Because you haven't done all these things, I'm going to give
you health, wealth and prosperity. I'm gonna give you Christ. But
I'm gonna give you health, wealth and prosperity. It's not Christ
our life. Are we not hidden in Him? It's
not Christ our riches. It's not Christ our portion.
Do we not have a place in Him at the right hand of the Father
where we are hid eternally from the wrath of God? Men today preach to live according
to the law of Moses and all they're doing is trying to smite the
Son of God over and over again as if His wrath, as if the Lord's
wrath was not satisfied. That's what preaching the law
is. It's to bring up Christ from beneath or to bring down Christ
from above. It's to say, it's to devalue His finished work.
It's to say, you have something to do to please God. That's exactly,
they're smoting the rock again. That's what they're doing. No,
it's finished, isn't it, brethren? You've been made to know that.
You've been made to know that the wisdom of God has satisfied
God, and that's what you cry out for. Lord, give me Christ,
lest I die. I'll turn back to Proverbs 8
quickly. We'll finish in Proverbs 8. Proverbs 8, verse 4 says, Does
not wisdom cry? For understanding put forth her
voice. What does wisdom cry? Come. Whosoever will, let him come. Taste of the water of life freely.
She standeth in the top of high places, by the way, in the places
of the path. She crieth at the gates, at the
entry of the city, at the coming in, at the doors, unto you, O
men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. O ye simple,
understand." That's the same exact word as the word foolish. Ones that need understanding.
You know you've been around someone that we would consider simple,
right? That's exactly what the Lord makes. His people is simple.
One desire only that Christ would be our wisdom that Christ would
be our righteousness. Oh, you simple understand wisdom
and you fools be of an understanding heart here for I will speak of
excellent things in the opening of my lips shall be right things. His lips. What He speaks is the
truth. Because Christ Jesus is the truth. What He speaks is the Word of
God. And Christ Himself is the Word
of God. His lips speak right things unto
His people. And what do they speak? Hear
what the Spirit and the bride say in Revelation. Come. Come
take of the water of life freely. Come unto Me, all you that are
labored and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come, the
tables prepared. The righteousness of Christ hath
been bestowed upon his people, come taste of the water of life
and live. Hear what the father said here,
my beloved son. Here is my beloved son, hear
ye him. This is my beloved son, what
the father said. This is what proceeded out of the father's
mouth regarding his son. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. This is wisdom. This is who we
cry out for. Brethren, we hear from the Lord's
lips, it is finished. It is finished. The Lord devised
In the covenant of grace by his infinite wisdom, the salvation
of his elect centers of his people. Everything required for his elect.
He given has given unto us in the everlasting grace of God.
He says unto us, ask what I shall give you and you know what we
asked for. Look in verse 11. Wisdom is better than rubies
and all the things that may be desired or not to be compared
to it. I wisdom, now there it is, I'm a person now, do you
see that? I wisdom, that's Christ, this
is Christ. I wisdom dwell with prudence
and find out knowledge of witty inventions. The fear of the Lord
is to hate evil, pride and arrogancy and the evil way in the forward
mouth do I hate. Brethren, you have been made
to hate yourself, haven't you? We loathe ourself, we don't love
ourself. We despise the evil that we devise
and the things that we do and the things that we would, we
don't. Paul said, we've been made to loathe ourself and yet,
what are we made to confess? Well, he says here, the forward
mouth of the Lord, hey, we no longer have an arrogant mouth
when it comes before the Lord. We have one plea. Plea of humility,
sincere humility that the Lord's put in your heart. Lord, give
me wisdom. That's what we cry. Says ask what I should give thee.
And what do you ask for? We ask for wisdom, don't we? Paul said that I may know him.
The power of his resurrection. The fellowship of his sufferings.
be made conformable unto his death. To be conformed to the
image of God's wisdom is our desire. Peter said he's precious
because of this. Unto you, therefore, which believe
he's precious. You believe that the Lord's precious, don't you?
It's foolishness to everyone else, but to you, the Lord Jesus
Christ is beyond value. He's precious. We've been made
foolish. We've been made to see we're
blind, we're deaf, we're miserable, we're hot, we're lame. We're
in our own trespasses and in sins. We're wretched. We're vile.
Did you know that's the qualifications for the elect of God to be made
a sinner? To see that the Lord causes repentance and you see
that and we see him high and lifted up and holy. And we say,
Lord, give me wisdom. Give me Christ. If he's precious
to you, if he is precious to you, then you can say with. Apostle
Paul in 1st Corinthians, but of him, the father. The father,
are you in Christ Jesus, who God hath made unto us all wisdom,
all righteousness, all sanctification, and all redemption. Ask what
I'll give thee. And the believer says, Lord,
give me Christ, your wisdom. Father, we pray that you would
make Christ our wisdom. Shut us up to him. Bless your word according to
your will. In Christ's name, amen.