Turn with me, if you will, tonight
again to Proverbs chapter 30. I mentioned last time that these
words in chapter 30 are the words of a man by the name of Agur. And we looked at the first nine
verses and we saw, among other things, that he, as the Apostle
Peter said in the New Testament, all the prophets gave witness
to Christ or spoke of Christ. And Edgar speaks, you notice
in verse one, of Ithiel and Eucl. And we saw the name Ithiel means
God with me. And that reminds us of the incarnation,
the Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel. I shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted means God with us. And the word yukal
means the mighty one. And so, Agur prophesied or preached
of Christ, God with us, the mighty one upon whom God laid hell. And the remainder of Agur's words
in this chapter, he points out five groups of four. Five groups
of four things that I'm calling curious things. Five groups of
four curious things. In the last four groups, he begins
with three and then adds a fourth. Notice with me, if you will,
in verse 15, he begins with three, but then he adds a fourth. The
harsh leech hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. Now notice,
there are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things. And then if you will, in verse
18, there be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea,
four, which I know not. And then in verse 21, for three
things the earth is disquieted, and for four, which it cannot
bear, and then the fifth group in verse 29, there be three things
which go well, yea, four are comely in going. Tonight, the Lord willing, I
want us to look at the verses which contain the first group
of four curious things, verses 10 through 14. I'm going to divide
my message into three parts. And the title of the message
is, There Is. There Is. And each one of these
points will begin, There Is. The first point is, There Is
a Servant. Notice in verse 10. Accused not
a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found
guilty." Now, when we read that verse, our first thought probably
is, well, that can't apply to me. That has nothing to say to
me because I don't have a servant. But that's not so. My point is,
that's not so. You do have a servant. And you
are looking at him. You do have a servant. and you
are looking at him. If you will, look with me in
2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Beginning with verse number 3. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost, and whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. This is what every pastor is. Every pastor that the Lord has
called and put into the ministry, he is a servant. He is like his Lord, a servant. I had a friend, preacher friend,
pastor friend, several years ago, who retired, and I heard
him make this statement more than once, but he said, I'm stepping
down. And this may be nitpicking on
my part, but I thought to myself, how does a servant step down?
How does a servant step down? The eternal Son of God, He stepped
down. He stepped down in becoming a
servant. You know the passage there in
Philippians chapter 2. who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation, but took upon himself the form of a servant. He stepped down by his incarnation
and became a servant. And every pastor, every one,
as I said just a moment ago, that God calls and puts into
the ministry is, first of all, the Lord's servant, but he's
also the servant of the people in the congregation where he
pastors. Now pastors are servants. I want
to go over a little ground here that I'm sure most all of us
are familiar with, but I want to emphasize this again. Every person in this building
tonight who is saved, every person is a priest. Every person who
is saved is a priest. You know the scripture in Revelation
chapter 1, one of our favorites, Revelation chapter 1, verses
5 and 6, I believe it is. And from Jesus Christ, verse
5 of chapter 1 in Revelation, and from Jesus Christ, who is
the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and
the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us
and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us
kings and priests unto God and his father. To him be glory and
dominion forever and ever. The church is a kingdom of priest. Every child of God is a priest. There's no office. There's no
office in the church of a priest. And by office, I mean there's
no separate one, no person who's set apart to the office of a
priest. Men are set apart to the work
of the ministry. And if you look with me in Ephesians
chapter four, we'll just point this out. Ephesians chapter four and verse eight. Wherefore he
saith, when he, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, when he ascended
up on high, he led captivity captive. In other words, he defeated
all of our foes. He led captivity captive. And the picture, of course, was
of a Roman general who defeated a country or an army and would
return to Rome, and they would have a big parade, and behind
him, he would be first in the parade, and behind him, there
would be the captives. sometimes kings, sometimes generals
and others that he had captured in the battle. The Lord Jesus
Christ, when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive. He had defeated all of our foes. He had defeated Satan. Principalities
and powers, everything is under his rule, under his feet. When he ascended on high, he
led captivity captive, but notice he gave gifts unto men. And then
you notice down in verse 11, some of these gifts, and he gave
some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastor
teachers. Now, do you notice what is missing
from that list? Do you? Priest, someone said
it, didn't you? Priest. Doesn't say he gave gifts
unto men, apostles, prophets, evangelists, priests, pastor,
teachers. No, no. In our church building here,
we don't have an altar. We have a table here in the front,
sometimes I've called it the offering table, sometimes the
communion table because we put the wine and the bread and the
communion service on this table, but this is not an altar. When
I was first in religion, and that's what it was, religion,
I was exhorted many times to come to the front, come down
to the altar, come down to the altar and pray. I don't think
I ever heard this, but I believe in many places it was said, come
down to the altar and pray through. Pray through at the altar. We
don't have an altar here. We don't have an altar here in
this building. And we don't have a man who is
set apart as a priest. For the obvious reason, we do
not have a sacrifice that is going to be offered in this building. But we do, you know this, we
do have all three. We don't have an altar, we don't
have a priest, we don't have a sacrifice in this building,
in our services, but we all, all of us who know Christ tonight,
we have an altar, we have a priest, and we have a sacrifice. And
Christ is all three. His deity His Godhood is the
altar upon which He sacrificed His humanity. And that's the
reason His sacrifice is effectual. All of those for whom He offered
a sacrifice, He put away our sins. For by one offering, He
hath perfected forever those that are sanctified, those who
are set apart, Hebrews chapter 10. We have an altar, yes, and
our altar is Christ. And we have a high priest, we
have a priest. And he's our great high priest,
isn't he? He's our great high priest, whoever
liveth to make intercession for all of us who come unto God by
him. And we have a great sacrifice.
that saves great centers, blood that washes whiter than snow. What we do have, we don't have
a priest, and we don't have an altar, and we don't have a sacrifice
in this building, but what we do have, we have pastor, teachers
who are servants. Every servant has a master. And
my master is Christ. Every pastor who is a servant,
he has a master. And we answer to our master. We're not hirelings. Pastors
are servants, but they're not hirelings. When I think about myself as
a servant, I think about one of the ways that pastors serve
is we serve food here every service. We serve a meal here every service,
and it's Christ and Him crucified. And I think of the parable our
Lord told about the king that made a great feast for his son,
I believe it was, and he said, go out into the highways and
bring in the maimed, the blind, the lame, that my house may be
filled. And we serve a meal. And for
those who fit that description, needy. The need is met by the power
of the Holy Spirit. I think you probably read in
your bulletin today that article by Charles Spurgeon. He quoted
another preacher, but how the pastor writes with ink, writes
upon the hearts, the word of God upon the heart. And he made
application, pray for your pastor. that God would give him more
ink, more of God's spirit in preaching the gospel. But that's
my first point. There is a servant. My second point is there is a
generation. Now, let's look at these four
things that Edgar mentions here. Proverbs chapter 30, beginning
with verse 11. There is a generation that curseth
their father and doth not bless their mother. There is a generation
that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their
filthiness. There is a generation, oh how
lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up. There
is a generation whose teeth are as swords and their jaw teeth
as knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy
from among men. Now the word generation is used
in two ways in the Old Testament. Sometimes the word generation
means all the men living in a certain time period. Remember all of
those who were above 20 years of age that came out of Egypt,
that generation, they all died. And that was 40 years. 40 years
they wandered in the wilderness. So sometimes the word generation
means a period of time, everyone alive in that period of time.
And I believe this scripture, I think this is true, that this
can be borne out by the word of God, that a generation, according
to the word of God, is 40 years. 40 years serves as a generation. But this word is also used to
mean a class, a class of men characterized by certain qualities,
a generation. An example of that last meeting
in Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 5, we read, they have corrupted
themselves. Their spot is not the spot of
his children. They are a perverse and crooked
generation. In other words, everyone who
did not have the spot, they were not marked as God's children,
They were a perverse and crooked generation, no matter when they
lived. I believe the Lord Jesus Christ, as you read through the
Gospels, you see that he used this word generation in both
senses. In Matthew 11, he said, where
unto shall I liken this generation? In other words, those who were
alive when he was here. Where unto shall I liken this
generation? And then on another occasion
in Matthew 12, he said, O generation of vipers. In other words, those
who he called vipers, snakes. It was a quality in those men. They were a generation of vipers. Well, how does Ager use it in
our text? Is he speaking of a certain age,
a certain time period, or does he have reference to men that
are characterized by this behavior? Well, I want us to consider it
both ways. First of all, there is a generation. a certain age
marked by these four things. And let me say, if we look at
it as a time period, that it was the generation, it was the
time period when the Lord Jesus Christ lived here in the flesh. And I must be brief on these
four things, but listen. A generation, first of all, verse
11, there is a generation that curseth their father and doth
not bless their mother. In other words, there is a generation
who are without natural affection. Now the Lord Jesus called those
religious people out in his day over this very matter. You remember
that doctrine that they had invented called carbon, carbon. They knew that the law of God
commanded honor thy father and thy mother, but they invented
that doctrine and they would just say carbon by whatever which
you might be profited, my father, my mother, however you might
be profited by my means, that's dedicated to the Lord. And the
Lord rebuked them for that, saying, they set aside the law of God
and followed the traditions of men. There is a generation, as
Edgar here says, a generation that cursed their father and
doth not bless their mother. Now that was certainly characteristic
of the age in which the Lord Jesus Christ was here. The second. thing we see in verse
12, there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes. Wasn't that true of those who
were here when the Lord Jesus Christ was here? I'm talking
to mainly about the religious leaders. A generation that was pure in
their own eyes, the Pharisee in the temple talking, praying,
I thank thee. that I am not as other men. I'm certainly not like this publican
standing over here. Pure, pure as the driven snow
in their own eyes. In verse 13, there is a generation,
oh, how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted
up. A generation lofty in their own
eyes. Remember, our Lord told the religious
leaders, if the sun shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.
Ah, we be Abraham's children. We be Abraham's children. We've
never been in bondage to any man. How lofty were their thoughts
of themselves. Lofty. And then, The next one is a generation,
there's a generation whose teeth are swords and their jaw teeth
is knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy
from among men. The Lord Jesus Christ charged
those religious leaders as men who devour widows' houses. In other words, who took advantage
of the poor. These four characteristics were
true of the generation in which the Lord Jesus Christ was here
in the flesh. But let's consider it using the
word generation the other way. There is a generation, there
is a class of men marked by these characteristics. And these marks would be true
of every time period. not just 40 years at a certain
time when our Lord was here, but the whole time period. There is a generation. In the
days of Noah, that generation was described, the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. In the
days of David, help Lord, For the godly man ceaseth, for the
faithful fail from among the children of men. In the days
of Jeremiah the prophet, oh, that I had in the wilderness
a lodging place of a wayfaring man, that I might leave my people
and go from them, for they be all adulterers and assembly of
treacherous men. And in the days of the apostles,
look in Romans chapter one. There is a generation, these
characteristics are true of men in every age of this world, fallen
men and women. Romans chapter one, the apostle
sums up the depravity as it is manifested Being filled, verse
28, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which
are not convenient. being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters
of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient
to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural
affection, implacable, unmerciful, a description of man as he comes
into this world. These four curious things that
Edgar mentions in our text tonight are four marks or four manifestations
of depravity. Depravity. Man, you know, they
say if the water If a fountain is flowing and
the water is polluted there at the fountain, you may get 100
yards down the stream, but the water's still going to be polluted.
Why? Because the fountain is polluted.
And that's man's problem, isn't it? It's the heart. The heart. And it doesn't matter which age,
which generation, and which men live. These characteristics are
manifested among men. My third point is there is a
way of washing. Look in verse 12. Edgar said, ìThere is a generation
that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their
filthiness.î If there was no means of being
washed, if it were impossible to be washed, then they could
not be faulted for not having been washed. But there is a way. There is a means of washing from
our filthiness. What is this filthiness from
which we need to be washed? It's sin. Look with me in Psalm 14. It's
sin. The fool, Psalm 14, the fool
has said in his heart, no God. Sometimes you notice those first
two words are in italics and the fool doesn't say there isn't
a God. He knows there's a God. All men
know there is a God. Their conscience testifies to
that fact. He lighteth every man that cometh
into the world, the scripture says in John chapter one. No
man, the fool says no to God. They are corrupt. They have done
abominable works. There's none that doeth good.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men. To
see if there were any that did understand and seek God, they're
all gonna sigh. Paul quotes these verses, doesn't
he, in Romans chapter three. They're all gonna sigh. They're
all together become filthy, stinking. You have a marginal reading there?
They are all together become Filthy, there's none that doeth
good, no, not one. What is this filth from which
all men need to be washed? It is the filth of sin. All mankind, we all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. There is a means. of being washed. There is a way. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 18. Isaiah 1 and verse 18. Come now
and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. This word, which is translated
scarlet, is a very interesting word. It tells us two things. A piece of cotton cloth, when
it was dipped into a particular dye, which was red in color,
and then it was dipped a second time, there was no way to get that
dye out of that cloth. That's literally what this word,
how this word comes to us. This was a fast or fixed color. Neither dew nor rain nor washing
nor long usage would remove it. Hence, it is used to represent
the fixedness and permanency of sins of the heart. No human
means will wash them out. No effort of man, no external
rights, no tears, no sacrifices, no prayers are of themselves
sufficient to take them away. They are deep fixed in the heart,
as a scarlet color was in the web of cloth, and only almighty power is able
to remove them. Come now, though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. In Zechariah chapter
13, the Lord said, in that day there shall be a fountain opened
for the house of David. And I've said this before because
I like fountains. I like fountains in cities. I think they're very attractive
and beautiful. But the fountain that God opened
up is not for looking at. It's not for admiration. It's for using. It's for using. It's coming to the fountain and
being washed from sin. Being cleansed. Remember the
couple that used to visit here and sing that hymn that we liked,
a special, the blood of Jesus reacheth deeper. Deeper than
the stain hath gone. Deeper than the stain hath gone. As I was preparing these words
and thinking about that text, I remembered something that happened
to me many years ago now. Pastor here, and someone asked
me if I would visit a particular person in the hospital Hospital
downtown, and I said yes, I'll be happy to do that and I went
down there one evening and and there was a big sign on the door
of This person's room this man's room said do not enter Do not
enter without checking at the nurse's station That's kind of
scary So I went down to the nurse's station. She said oh yes at the
You've got to put on this special clothing. They had their gown
and I forget what all went into the room. Man was dying, dying
of AIDS. And this is when AIDS was just
coming into our country, really. So that takes us back into the
1980s. And I visited with him. This man had been raised in a
home where His mother especially had lived the gospel, believed
the gospel, and been a real witness for Christ. I knew her. But he
had left home, and like a lot of young men, all that training
seemingly had been in vain. But now, as he was on his deathbed,
we talked and he prayed, and I believe the Lord saved him.
I really do. Doesn't matter what I believe,
really, but I do believe he was saved. And I remember the last
time I visited him, I said, now, your mother has asked me to preach
your funeral. And he said, yeah, I want you
to do that. And I said, I want to know what you want me to say,
what you would like for me to say. And I never will forget,
he said, I want you to say that the blood of Jesus Christ wipes
away all our sins. I said, well, that's what I want
to say. That's what I will say. And that word wipes, he said,
wipes it away, washes it away. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stain. Amen? Amen. David, come and lead us
in the hymn.