Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] This may be a generational thing, so I don't know. I'm actually wanting to do a quick survey of the room. Raise your hand if you have seen the movie national treasure.
[00:00:14] Oh, that's great. That's a pretty good number.
[00:00:17] Raise your hand if you haven't heard of national treasure. Okay. There's a few.
[00:00:22] I know the groans should tell you that you guys are missing out now, I'm often on the receiving end of people saying, how have you not seen that? So I know how you feel. It's okay. I love national treasure. It's one of those movies that my brother and my dad can quote a lot of the lines from. And I know that's probably kind of lame, but we've seen it so many times, probably just because of Nic Cage. We love Nic Cage. He's the man. But national treasure. So there was a scene that came to my mind as I was studying proverbs eight. It was this scene where they have. There are going to be some spoilers, so you guys maybe want to plug your ears while I talk about this. They have just taken the Declaration of Independence and they're looking on the back for a map. They're trying to find the treasure. Now, eventually, they realize that while there is a clue that they see on the back, there's more to it, but they can't see it. They have to go get these special glasses. These glasses were invented by Ben Franklin, and they're hidden in a brick and they find it. And when they look at it and they flip these little different lenses on and off, they can see different clues on the back of the declaration.
[00:01:36] Well, this sort of glasses is exactly what I think proverbs eight is for the book. You can read proverbs, you can get a lot out of it, and you can learn so much practical, and you can even see hints pointing toward the gospel in Christ, as we have. But without proverbs eight, it's difficult to unlock the entirety of the meaning of proverbs. It really is the key to the entire book.
[00:02:06] So if you haven't, flip to proverbs eight, as I do, too. And let's remember the theme of proverbs. Can someone shout out, what is the theme of proverbs?
[00:02:19] Wisdom. But what's the phrase we use?
[00:02:23] It's okay. It's been a couple weeks. Choose the path of wisdom, which is the path of Christ. Very good.
[00:02:32] This evening, we get a bit of a break from the typical rhythms that we have been having in this book. If you recall, we have gotten a lot of these lectures from the father to the son. We've actually gone over ten lectures just in the first seven chapters. Well, tonight there isn't a lecture, but we have another interlude. You probably don't remember this word, but we used it the very first week. In chapter one, there was an interlude, a little speech given by a character we called Lady Wisdom. Tonight she returns. We are hearing an interlude from Lady Wisdom, and this directly contrasts with what we did two weeks ago. We are contrasting her with the adulteress.
[00:03:20] She is the opposite.
[00:03:22] And Lady Wisdom, she calls out and she presents a pressing question for us all.
[00:03:29] As we seek wisdom, we will see wisdom's role in providing all we need in life, and we'll see wisdom's role in creating the world, as you will see, hopefully. Proverbs eight is not just a key, it's an entire worldview.
[00:03:47] It gives us a way to see the entirety of the created universe. We can interpret and better understand what we see and what we read and what we encounter by understanding this chapter as well. This chapter is the key. As I said, it draws out themes that have been mentioned prior, but it puts it all together into one chapter.
[00:04:10] There is a choice. There's a choice when you combine this with the last chapters, between folly and the adulteress or wisdom in Christ, that's the choice. Christ provides all we need, and as God, he created all things too, and so we ought to choose him.
[00:04:30] We must choose him.
[00:04:32] Now, the main idea of proverbs eight is this. Respond with faith to the pressing call of. Oh, I didn't write it down. Pressing call of Christ, because he created, provides, and will reward you with salvation.
[00:04:56] So if we respond with faith to this call of wisdom, we will be rewarded with salvation. But we should also, because he created all things, he provides for us as well.
[00:05:11] Now let's read from this chapter. Let's read the first eleven verses.
[00:05:19] Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice on the heights beside the way, at the crossroads, she takes her stand beside the gates in front of the town. At the entrance of the portal, she cries aloud to you, o men, I call. And my cry is to the children of man. O simple ones, learn prudence. O fools, learn sense.
[00:05:42] Hear. For I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right, for my mouth will utter truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are righteous.
[00:05:55] There is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
[00:05:58] They are all straight to him who understands and right to those who find knowledge take my instruction. Instead of silver and knowledge rather than choice, gold. For wisdom is better than jewels.
[00:06:12] And all that you may desire cannot compare with her.
[00:06:16] So, as we start this first point, we must realize that this call of Christ, as the main idea states, is pressing.
[00:06:24] The call of Christ is pressing. It demands a response, and it must not be delayed.
[00:06:35] As wisdom calls. We should remember what we read two weeks ago again, the adulteress and lady wisdom. They are from, like, parallel universes. They have a lot of similarities, but ultimately, they're the total opposite of one another.
[00:06:52] They both go into the streets. They go into the town. They call to young, foolish men.
[00:06:58] But the motive and the content could not be more different. As the adulteress cares nothing for the young men. Wisdom cares for them. The adulteress smooth talks and seduces. But following her leads to ruin. Her words are lies. The paths she leads you down go to death.
[00:07:21] But wisdom, on the other hand, she speaks earnestly and honestly. She speaks what is right. She utters truth we just read. She intends to lead them in, not to destruction, but to prosperity.
[00:07:36] All her paths are straight. She speaks of the value of following her.
[00:07:42] The young men in this scenario, then, if we combine these chapters together, they are in between two voices calling. They have to make a choice. This will be more clear even in proverbs nine, as that scene plays out more clearly.
[00:07:58] And when we put it this way, the choice seems pretty obvious. Why would you go down the path to death? Yet we know so often, and probably most often, that is the choice people make. They choose the voice of the adulteress, the smooth words, rather than the true and right words of lady wisdom.
[00:08:21] But here, how much better, and let's think about how much better this pitch of lady wisdom is and what it means for us. The call of wisdom has gone out in search of all who will hear it. This is a universal call. This very call has come, come to you, even tonight. I believe this is the same call that happens whenever the word is opened and the gospel is preached. It is a call. Will you respond? Will you trust God's word? Will you trust the call of wisdom?
[00:08:51] You don't have to already be wise. You don't have to have your life together. You don't have to already be buddy buddy with the Lord and feel like you have overcome enough sins to be welcomed by him, because he will receive you as you are, and he will make you righteous.
[00:09:08] That's the promise that wisdom is making.
[00:09:12] Everything you receive from responding and knowing. Wisdom is righteous, she says all the words of my mouth are righteous. The word of Christ is righteous. And upon putting your faith in wisdom, you too will receive Christ's righteousness upon you. It is credited to your account.
[00:09:31] And in a world we see also here at the end, in a world where wealth is so important, lady Wisdom calls to young men and says, what she offers is better than all of that. Better than gold, silver and jewels is what wisdom is offering. This is true and lasting, unlike worldly wealth.
[00:09:56] So this pressing call must be answered. So respond to the call of wisdom, as both foolish wisdom and foolishness are calling. We can't sit on the fence. Don't fool yourself into thinking you can sit in between and wait it out. This is a pressing call.
[00:10:18] Let's continue on in the text. Look at verse twelve. Now I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil, pride and arrogance, and the way of evil and perverted speech. I hate. I have counsel and sound wisdom. I have insight. I have strength. By me, kings reign, and rulers decree what is just by me, princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly.
[00:10:49] I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me. Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, granting an inheritance to those who love me and filling their treasuries.
[00:11:14] So here we see another theme kind of emerge, and it's providence. It is Christ providing. So here we see the providence of Christ is needed. Our second point, the providence of Christ is needed.
[00:11:32] As wisdom represents Christ.
[00:11:35] Wisdom is holding all things together.
[00:11:41] He provides and upholds all things in the world. But in this little passage, we are seeing that God, in his word, is providing all we need to function.
[00:11:52] Now, it might be a little surprising if I were to say that you need Christ to function properly. Right? We see all sorts of people that reject Christianity and don't live according to it at all. And they might see seem to operate just fine. But let me say, without Christ, this world does not operate. Look around us now, we don't have kings or rulers in this sense, and princes in our country.
[00:12:20] But does our president lead with wisdom?
[00:12:24] Do our courts decree what is just and constitutional? Does our legislature govern justly now? Of course, sometimes, yes. But often the answer to this is no. So often we don't honor Christ. Our leaders don't. They need him. They need Christ. And here we have another hint that wisdom is Christ.
[00:12:48] Look, in verse 13, the fear of the Lord is hatred of evil, pride and arrogance, and the way of evil and perverted speech. I, wisdom, hate.
[00:13:00] So wisdom says that she is the pinnacle of fearing the Lord. She's reminding us about that thesis of the whole book. In chapter one, verse seven, she's saying, I'm the pinnacle of fearing God. I'm the pinnacle of wisdom.
[00:13:16] To fear the Lord, you must know Christ.
[00:13:22] Second Corinthians five says this.
[00:13:25] Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.
[00:13:31] But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience, for the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died, and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
[00:13:57] And then here further, we see a connection where Christ is. He feared God supremely. In Hebrews five seven nine, we read, in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death. And he was heard because of his reverence or fear.
[00:14:21] Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.
[00:14:34] So here we see Christ, the one who died, gives eternal life to those who trust him and those who trust him. As the corinthians are called by Christ, they are those who know the fear of the Lord. These two things are inseparably linked. If you trust Christ but you don't fear God, you're a living contradiction. You don't exist. It cannot happen that way. And so trust him and trust in God. Trust in Christ, who feared God the Father perfectly as he prayed and went to the cross, that you might be united to him by faith, because through faith you are united to the man who feared God supremely, and his works are credited to you. So to fear the Lord, you must necessarily go and be united to Christ.
[00:15:26] When you do, the results is the reception of an inheritance.
[00:15:32] Luke 1025 28.
[00:15:36] And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him, Jesus, to the test, saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
[00:15:45] And he answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, you have answered correctly, do this and you will live by faith in Christ.
[00:16:03] You too can truly love the Lord your God with all your heart.
[00:16:07] But you must fully trust that Christ will provide for you. He will provide the ability, because we know that Christ is provident and we need his provision.
[00:16:25] Third, we have the creative work of Christ, which is divine.
[00:16:31] It is no less than divine. It proves that he himself is God.
[00:16:39] Wisdom is God in this context. So look down at the text again at verse 22. We'll read what I'm talking about.
[00:16:51] Wisdom continues. The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old, ages ago. I was set up at the first, before the beginning of the earth, when there were no depths I was brought forth when there were no springs abounding with water, before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills I was brought forth before he had made the earth with its fields or the first of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there. When he drew a circle on the face of the deep, which he made firm, when he made firm the skies above when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was beside him like a master workmande, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him, always rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the creation of man.
[00:18:03] So here is the key.
[00:18:07] Wisdom is Christ.
[00:18:10] And I know I've been saying it a ton, probably to your displeasure. Even you might be tired of hearing it, but nonetheless, it's true. And this is the most explicit testimony of this fact. Now, when we pursue practical wisdom, we first need to relentlessly pursue Christ, who we see here in this text.
[00:18:32] And this needs to become our framework.
[00:18:36] We need to take this reality and look through it like those glasses and national treasure. We need to take these glasses and read proverbs, understanding where this wisdom comes from. Who are we in relation to God? Before we even attempt to live a life of wisdom, this chapter is a worldview. As I said before.
[00:19:02] Now, building a worldview is another one of the key tasks of this book. Now, what is a worldview? You may have heard this term. Maybe you haven't. Well, similar to the glasses, I would say you look through it. To all things, a worldview is how you, quite simply, view the world, how you see and interpret and understand different ideas and cultures and interactions. Anything you encounter on the earth is filtered through your worldview. And you're not a blank slate. You have one.
[00:19:38] You can think about movies, cinematography. Some movies are you've seen are produced bright and colorful. Others are darker, monochromatic. This is done intentionally to help you view the movie in a certain way, to make you feel a certain way when you see it. So in a similar way that a cinematographer shades how his movie is seen.
[00:20:01] When we submit to the christian worldview, we are able to clearly see Christ.
[00:20:08] We are able to see the world in an ordered way, a way that makes sense.
[00:20:15] There is a correct way to view the world. It helps us to see how the world actually functions to the God who actually created it.
[00:20:25] And that is exactly why we need this book. We need the entirety of God's word, and we need Christ and his spirit in order to view the world accurately because he is its creator. Wisdom was there in the beginning, just as Christ in the beginning was with God and was God.
[00:20:49] Genesis 126 says, then God said, let us make man in our image, pointing to the reality of a triune God creating mankind. Romans 1136 says, for from Christ, and through him and to him are all things. All things in this world are from him, from Christ.
[00:21:09] Colossians 116 says something similar. It says, for by Christ all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.
[00:21:24] And then in Hebrews one, two, speaking of God's son, we read, through whom also he created the world.
[00:21:34] If we can say, through Christ, God created the world, and through wisdom, he created the world. We have quite a strong parallel.
[00:21:43] For wisdom to exist before the beginning of the earth means it is inherent to God's nature.
[00:21:50] Wisdom is from God. As God created the world through wisdom, he simultaneously was giving this world order, which is how a worldview can even make sense. If we have order, it's how we can study again things like science and physics. Because we have a creator, we have an order in this world. It's not random. It's not chaos. They all make sense because they were created through Christ to point to his perfection.
[00:22:19] Therefore, it makes sense then that history moved toward Christ, and then now it looks back to Christ and to his coming.
[00:22:30] All of history revolves around the cross. It's true.
[00:22:36] Nothing in your life or in anyone else's life exists outside of this reality. That God became man, was righteous, died a sinner's death, rose again, ascended into heaven, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.
[00:22:52] No one's life exists outside that reality, no matter how much they deny it. Not you, not your agnostic friend, not even the Muslim living in Palestine. Nobody is outside this reality.
[00:23:08] So you, if you're a Christian, know that this is true. We all live in this world created through wisdom. So therefore we should live with a christian worldview, a worldview that interprets all things through the reality that Christ created all things. He upholds and provides all things. He died to save his people, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead. And so we should live in a way that pursues him, that pursues Christ. We should respond to the call of Christ.
[00:23:47] But now look again down at your bibles in verse 32.
[00:23:53] And now, o sons, listen to me.
[00:23:57] Blessed are those who keep my ways, hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.
[00:24:14] For whoever finds me, finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.
[00:24:19] But he who fails to find me injures himself. All who hate me love death.
[00:24:26] So here we have one more point about the call of Christ, and it's that it is rewarding.
[00:24:34] We see, when we respond to the call of Christ, there is a reward. And we've seen hints of this before, about an inheritance and treasures being given.
[00:24:47] It is rewarding. Now, in this little section, these last five verses, we see basically only a few little points. We see two what we call beatitudes. So you might recognize a beatitude when you see the words blessed are.
[00:25:02] And we also have something that is called an antithesis. Basically, this is a promise and a warning. It's two opposite realities that they put right next to each other to emphasize a point.
[00:25:14] So that's what we have here. It's straightforward, but let's look at those kind of in turn. So 1st 1st we see that blessed are you if you keep the ways of wisdom. Blessed are those who keep my ways. And so this here is pointing to how you live, how you live your life. Though we rightly emphasize the gospel, we emphasize the fact that in the gospel you can be saved by grace alone through faith alone, according to the works of Christ, Christ alone.
[00:25:48] We must realize also that a dead faith breaks that chain.
[00:25:54] Grace alone through faith alone, through Christ alone, doesn't work. If our faith is dead, that middle chain is broken.
[00:26:01] And so here we're pointing to keeping the ways of wisdom. And I don't want us to overlook this.
[00:26:08] Saving grace does not operate through a dead I faith. Just as fruit is not produced from a dead tree or a dead vine, light does not emit from a dead light bulb. Sound doesn't come from a broken speaker. We must have a living and active faith.
[00:26:31] But this, I understand, may be a struggle for many of us in the room having a living and active faith. Now I want to say real quick, some of you in the room are likely on the opposite end of the spectrum. You are so overactive in trying to appease God or your parents and meet certain standards and clean up your life enough.
[00:26:56] You must trust in the gospel and the works of Christ and not your own. But some of you are on the opposite spectrum, I'm almost certain, where we believe in name only, but our lives rarely, if ever, reflect the reality of our salvation, the reality that we have been supposedly renewed by the Holy Spirit.
[00:27:19] So you might fancy yourself a good and well behaved student, but you know, your works don't really look that christianly. You aren't keeping the ways of wisdom when you hear the commands of God, when the word is opened and taught from or preached from, are you at all thinking about how these teachings ought to affect your life?
[00:27:43] Is that something we think as the words preached? What is God telling me to do because of this reality? I think this should be something we practice often.
[00:27:54] You must hear the instruction of Christ to follow his ways. But now, how can one do this? How can we follow his ways? How can we hear these instructions? Well, we have our answer. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside of my doors.
[00:28:16] So how do you listen? I want you guys to think as I say these how do you listen to God, if at all? What does it look like to watch daily at his gates?
[00:28:29] What does it mean to be waiting beside wisdom's doors? What does that practically look like in your day to day life? How can it look if your life doesn't look like that?
[00:28:42] When I was in seminary, I interned for the president of the school and I occasionally would travel with him. He had a lot of interns. He had a big staff and so interns would take turns traveling with him. He did a lot of speaking events all over the country.
[00:28:57] The intern's job when with him was to be forever on call. You were always alert. Now he has a lot of responsibilities, a lot going on through his head and he's used to, like I said, having a large staff, and now he's just got you. He's got me. We're in Little Rock, Arkansas or Atlanta, Georgia, and he's just got me.
[00:29:21] So I would be very alert. My phone was never on silent. I was always ready for his call. I was thinking ahead even after this speaking event, you know, he might be thirsty. Let me get a water or a Diet coke for him in advance. He loves Diet Coke. You would do these things in advance. You'd be waiting actively, and I think this is what it means to watch at the gates and wait at the doors, to be waiting and listening expectantly for the Lord, not waiting for him to slap you upside the head with a loud, audible voice.
[00:29:59] You need to be looking and listening to the Lord. Be a good disciple of Christ. If indeed you've given him your life. Being a good disciple, it means more than studying the Bible. It doesn't mean less. It means more than that, though. It means deciding to follow him daily and doing what it takes daily, trusting that through the spirit, he's giving you the ability to make this decision each day, whether you're a Christian or not, whether you actually follow Christ or not, you actually do decide whether you're going to neglect and ignore or if you're going to trust and obey the call of Christ.
[00:30:44] Because now and probably many other times the gospel has been presented to you, you have the option in front of you.
[00:30:53] And if you've trusted in Jesus before, then you must choose to listen. A Christian needs this in his or her life. And more specifically, we must choose to follow Matthew 16 24 25.
[00:31:09] Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
[00:31:26] To follow Jesus is nothing less than taking up your cross. What this means is surrendering your life. You are giving it up in a way symbolic of what Christ actually did when he took up his cross and gave up his life.
[00:31:44] You are doing that in response. And so when we do this, none of our preferences or desires or aspirations matter all that much in comparison with the call of Christ to our souls.
[00:31:59] So follow him, trust him, give your life away to him each and every day.
[00:32:06] And that's the essence of the call of wisdom. In proverbs eight, it's a call to follow Christ.
[00:32:14] And look at those last two verses, that antithesis, the promise warning, the contrast we see there, for whoever finds me finds life, obtains favor from the Lord, but he who fails to find me injures himself. All who hate me, love death.
[00:32:33] The first in the fourth line, we see, they kind of, they kind of contrast with one another, right? You see, whoever finds me finds life contrasted with all who hate me, love, death. Those middle two lines also kind of go with one another, that you can obtain favor from the Lord or you find a injury, favor versus injury. And I think that this little way that these lines are phrased really points us to those outer two lines and what the ultimate contrasting is being done with. It's contrasting life and death.
[00:33:06] Life and death. That's the focal point. Choosing wisdom, which of course is choosing Christ brings with it life.
[00:33:17] That's what wisdom is telling her hearers, you choose me. If you choose Christ, you get life instead of death. That's the ultimate bottom line of what this decision is. It's life or death.
[00:33:34] John 17, two, three. Jesus is praying, and this is what he says. He says, Father, since you have given the Son authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given the Son, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent, knowing Christ, knowing God gives life, that's really the option.
[00:34:05] If you don't know God, or even if you're a little unsure, then seek him this evening with these voices calling and then actual voices calling to you either to live to Christ or commit sins with your friends during the week. We have voices always calling to us. But listen to the voice of wisdom. Listen to God's word. If you want to know God, listen to Christ. Listen to proverbs eight. You have a choice to make. Are you going to neglect this call again?
[00:34:35] Are you going to listen and follow him and be given eternal life through Christ?
[00:34:42] To follow him, you only need to believe in Christ and trust him to do the rest.
[00:34:49] Let's pray.
[00:34:54] Father, we thank you for your word.
[00:34:57] And Lord, we thank you for your son, Jesus, who created the world, upholds all things put on flesh, and died for us. That through faith we may be united to him and we may be saved. We may fear the Lord and worship you in your presence for eternity. God, we pray that this reality would be shown to be true, that the people in this room, that we all would recognize the reality that this will come one day, that the call of Christ is pressing, that we don't know when you return. And so we must turn to Christ today. And Lord, help us to remember this as we struggle day to day in life to obey you or to follow the ways of the world. Lord, help us to remember your word, that we may honor you with our lives. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
[00:35:54] I.
