Call of Wisdom

Introduction and Background to Proverbs 1

0:02 After a digression of several Lord's Day evenings due to the irresistible pressure of the holiday season, we return tonight to our study in the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 1.

0:26 Thus far we have considered some background issues relative to the book of Proverbs, its peculiar literary style, its advantages, its practical helpfulness. We've looked at who the author was and why in a peculiar way he was suited to give us these pithy statements concerning true wisdom.

0:51 And we looked at his explicitly stated purpose in verses 2 through 6, why he wrote the Proverbs, what good they can bring to us when rightly read and understood and applauded. And we studied together the key text in the whole book of Proverbs, verse 7. The key to all the wisdom and knowledge is the fear of the Lord, the proper regard of the tutor, the son as his pupil, or more likely, the earthly father instructing his earthly fleshly son. We see this intimate relationship of mutual love and respect and compassion.

1:34 And in that sense, this section of the Proverbs is particularly suited for the young. Here is a father instructing his son. The first thing he does in that instruction is to remind him of his obligation to heed the instruction of his father, for therein is to be found true beauty, the chaplet of grace about his head, true nobility, chains about his neck. And having established the necessity of heeding that instruction, his first counsel is counsel given in these general terms, My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

2:17 It's a warning against the terrible influence of evil companions. The father knows that he will not have his son with him forever. And there is coming a time when he can no longer surround him with those external restraints. It is promised that the sheep shall do nothing but the cities shall destroy them.

2:39 It is promised that the eagle shall 똕. As we can see from this scripture, we're walking on kind of twisted path right now. It is promised that in the future of a thousand years, we shall be able to listen to thoseờis, to be to be heard and to be known to those tape, to plediously submit our battery and to be having面 concerning these rules we have suppressed. Rap konnte을ached.com

3:03 that is about Mexican education, that is a doctrine which allegiance is both a Christian and земarshallah. him the general warning against the evil effect of heeding the counsel of evil men. Then he fleshes out that warning in a particular example, namely the inducement to murder and to theft, which is rooted in this disposition of covetousness. Now then, having warned his son about the dangers of listening to the seductive speech of evil men, he by contrast begins in verse 20, and this is where our study begins tonight, shows him the terrible danger of not

The Call of Wisdom: An Overview

3:45 heeding the counsel of God. The first directive was negative. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. But, O my son, when God entreats thee, do consent, do listen. And so then we have this contrast between that

4:07 first large warning against the evil of heeding the voice of temptation, now by contrast the necessity, the danger of not heeding the voice of God speaking here in this passage as wisdom. Will you listen carefully as I read the paragraph? Then we shall look at the paragraph in a brief overview, and then we'll back up and seek to expound verses 20 through 23. Wisdom crieth aloud in the street, she uttereth her voice in the broad places. She crieth in the chief place of the concourse, at the entrance of the gates.

4:50 In the city she uttereth her words. How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And scoffers delight them in scoffing, and fools hate knowledge. Turn you at my reproof.

5:08 Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you. I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye have refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded. But ye have said it not, all my counsel, and would none of my reproof.

5:30 I also will laugh in the day of your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as a storm, and your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind. When distress and anguish come upon you, then will they call upon me, but I will not answer. Then will they seek me diligently,

5:55 but they shall not find me. For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, and the careless ease of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely, and shall be quiet without fear.

6:31 Of evil. Do you see the contrast? My son, when sinners entice, don't hearken. Wisdom says, when I speak, hearken. Hearken to the voice of sinners, destruction. Hearken to the voice of

6:46 wisdom, blessing, and peace, and grace. Now then, in this particular passage, we have set before us, first of all, this peculiar, personification of wisdom. And our first task tonight will be to identify the preacher. Who is the preacher in this paragraph? Then, having done that, we shall proceed to see how the preacher

7:16 preaches. Then we'll consider what the preacher says. And that's as far as we'll get tonight, and then, God willing, next week, we'll consider what I believe to be some of the most sobering, frightening words in all of the Bible. Scripture, what the preacher threatens. For here you have a sobering threat, beginning with verse

7:40 24, containing some of the most frightening words. When God says, I'll mock your cry, I'll mock at it. Not I'll only be indifferent, I'll mock at it. Frightening words. But oh,

7:57 that God would so speak to us through these first three verses of the paragraph, four verses, that the threat will never prevail in our instance. First of all, then, let's seek to identify the preacher. Who is this preacher? Called in verse 20, wisdom. Literally, it's in the plural. Wisdoms.

Identifying the Preacher: Wisdom as Christ

8:18 And sometimes to emphasize the perfection of something, you have the plural in the Hebrew. So it's wisdoms, or the perfection of wisdom, crieth aloud in the street. Who is this wisdom? Well, when you carefully read the passage, and you consider all of the personal properties of wisdom, all the things that wisdom says she will do, all the things that wisdom promises and threatens, I believe you'll come to the conclusion that I have come to after careful study, a conclusion shared by the great body of the trusted commentators in the history of the church,

9:03 that the identity of the preacher in this passage is no one other than our Lord Jesus Christ himself, the Son of God, in the fullness of divine authority and grace. For wisdom, considered simply as a thing, cannot pour forth of spirit. Verse 23, I will pour out my spirit upon you. Wisdom, does not stretch out its hand in such a way as to receive returning sinners. And yet,

9:40 wisdom in this passage says that she is the object of the call of faith, the call of religious worship. When ye call upon me, I will not hear. Wisdom in this passage says to have the power, is said to have the power of dispensing grace and blessing upon the sons of men, And so I say the identity of the preacher is the eternal word, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And I believe this position can be established not only from the immediate context, but from the rest of Scripture.

10:19 What is He called in 1 Corinthians 1.24, but the wisdom of God. The Apostle Paul says, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Again, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.30, He is made unto us wisdom, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

10:43 And then the Lord Jesus Himself, in Luke 11.49, quoting His own words, says, The wisdom of God saith, Unto you, in which He takes this very term, wisdom of God, and applies it to Himself. Now when you tie those verses together with such statements as we have in the book of the Revelation, that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Tie it in with verses such as Luke 24.27, in which Jesus, starting with Moses,

11:21 opened up the Scriptures and showed those people on the road, to Emmaus, all the things concerning Himself. Then one is warranted, not unrightly, to see in this passage, the Lord Jesus, the eternal Word, the embodiment of all wisdom, the one spoken of in Colossians 2, as in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid. So in this passage, we have, The Son of God Himself, the eternal Word, who long before He became a man, was the medium by which God revealed His mind to mankind.

12:06 We must never think that God began to reveal Himself through the Lord Jesus from His conception and birth onward. There are facets of the glory and mind of God that could not be revealed until the Word became flesh, and dwelt amongst us. But from the beginning of time, God has always revealed Himself by the Word, the eternal Word, that Word which was in the beginning with God, that Word which was God. And so wisdom, then, is the Son of God, the second person of the Godhead, the eternal Word,

12:49 through whom God speaks to men. He speaks to men, in creation. But whose creation is it? All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that hath been made.

13:06 It is Christ as the eternal Word, who speaks through creation, for the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. It is Christ who speaks through the conscience of men, the remains of the divine image in man, so that conscience is there as a moral arbiter, bringing condemnation or a sense of approbation when we think and act. Where did conscience come from? It's not something that's just inherent in man.

13:41 It is what the Scripture calls the spirit of man is the lamp or the candle of the Lord. And so Christ as the eternal Word, speaking through creation as wisdom, speaking through conscience, and then above all, speaking in the written Word. For how was the Word given to us? Even the Old Testament?

14:05 2 Peter 1.11 says, The Spirit of Christ, which was in the prophets, was speaking. It was the Spirit of Christ, the eternal Word, the One through whom God's revelation has always come to men. Now this has great practical implications.

14:24 As we come to this passage tonight, we must not view wisdom as some independent entity out here. No, no. In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In Christ, the very wisdom of God finds its summation and its source.

14:46 And therefore, when we come to hear this preacher tonight, not this preacher, but this preacher, this preacher, wisdom, we are dealing not with wisdom in the abstract. We are dealing with Him who is not only God's constant medium of revelation, but Him who is judge of the world, who said, The Word that I have spoken unto you shall judge you in the last day. May God grant then, as we hear the preacher of Proverbs 1.20 and following, that we shall hear him speak in all the resplendence of His glory and majesty

15:28 and in all the weight and power of His own inherent authority. So much then for the identity of the preacher. Now consider in the second place how the preacher conveys his message or, more briefly, wisdom's method. How is the preacher going to come to men?

Wisdom's Method: Open, Earnest, and Clear Preaching

15:50 Well, you'll notice there are three distinct characteristics of how the preacher is going to come to men. How the preacher conveys his message. First of all, he conveys it openly. Look at these words.

16:02 Wisdom crieth aloud, where? In the street. She uttereth her voice, where? In the broad places.

16:13 She crieth, where? In the chief place of the concourse. Where? At the entrance of the gates.

16:21 Where? In the city. Now put all those words, put all those words together. In the street.

16:27 In the broad places. In the chief place of the concourse. The entrance of the gates. In the city.

16:34 What is being conveyed in these words? Well, the thought of openness. Wisdom is speaking His message not in a secret corner, but in the street where men pass in the masses. In the broad places where they are gathered.

16:51 In the chief place at the entrance of the gate where everyone, everyone in the city must pass in or out high and low, rich and poor. Everyone enters the city and exits by means of the city gates. So then wisdom's message does not come to a select few. And I think this supports the assertion that wisdom here is the Son of God, the Eternal Word.

17:17 For wisdom speaking through creation speaks to all men. Read the 19th Psalm if you have any questions. And if you have any questions about the details of the understanding, please contact me at the address on the screen or on the internet. And I'll try to answer all of your questions.

17:30 Read the 19th Psalm if you have any questions about the understanding. Read Romans chapter 1 where Paul describes people who've never had one phrase of special revelation. They've never seen a page of the Old or the New Testament, and yet the Scripture says from the creation of the world certain facets of God's character are declared to them, even His divinity and His everlasting power. And so the message of the preacher, the eternal word, calling men away from sin, calling men to acknowledge their God, calling men to acknowledge Him as their Creator,

18:14 as the one from whom all of their gifts flow, and therefore the one to whom they owe allegiance and obedience, that message is not secret, it does not come in some secluded cloister, it is an open message, in the street, in the broad places, in the chief place, in the entrance of the city, at the city gate. And not only do we see this with creation, but if we've rightly interpreted this, think of this with relationship to conscience. Where can men go to escape conscience? If there were some place in the universe tonight where men would be able to escape conscience, where men could escape conscience for a moment, they'd pay any fee to get to that place.

18:58 For the one worm in the gourd of their sinful pleasure is the presence of a nagging conscience.

19:06 Drown themselves, immerse themselves in their sin, but the moment they come to any degree of sober self-reflection, there's conscience thundering out His sermon again and again. This is wisdom, eternal wisdom, speaking to men through the voice of conscience, smiting them when they choose to do that which is in violation of the law of God. Read about it in Romans chapter 2. It speaks of the heathen who have not the law of God, but who show the work of the law written in their hearts.

19:42 Their conscience is the meanwhile accusing or excusing one another. And so we see the preacher preaches openly, through creation in all the world, through the voice of conscience wherever man is found, and then through the written word, that word which was given to Israel, which she was to publish abroad to the nations, that word given to the church, and given with that word was the mandate, preach the gospel to the whole creation. And so the preacher conveys his message, not secretly, but openly. And some of you are monuments of this fact.

20:28 Wisdom has been preaching to you openly and consistently. And when you go off to work tomorrow, you carry with you the message of wisdom ringing in your ears, that sense of disturbance that another Sabbath has come and gone, and you're still not right with God. And as you enter the place of business, the place of leisure, the place of recreation, conscience is there speaking. That creation out there speaking.

20:59 Wisdom utters her voice in the street, on the school bus, in the place of employment. The scriptures you've heard preached today will be ringing in your ears. And I'm not so foolish as to think that though many a Sabbath passes, and I do not visibly see the responses of faith and repentance, I believe with all my heart that words, words spoken from this pulpit, are thundering in the consciences of some of you. Wisdom is uttering her voice.

21:30 Blessed be God that wisdom is not silent. Wisdom does not whisper in a corner, but wisdom brings her message openly. But then there's a second characteristic of how the preacher conveys his message. It's not only conveyed openly, but notice, secondly, it's conveyed earnestly.

21:52 Look at the word, words. Wisdom crieth aloud in the street. Verse 21, she crieth in the chief places. Verse 22, how long ye simple ones?

22:11 What do you have in those words, crieth, crieth aloud? How long? I say you have an indication of intense earnestness. Wisdom, Wisdom is not content simply to get her message off her chest.

22:30 But, wisdom is concerned to get her message into hearts. And, there's all the difference in the world. And, I'm tempted here to take off in an exhortation about preaching. And, I'm going to submit to the temptation.

22:45 I'm going to yield to it. I've heard some men preach and it was so obvious that they were far more concerned with getting some facts off their head, and some ideas off their chest rather than getting great divine truth into the hearts and into the spirits and the wills of men. Wisdom is the ideal preacher. Wisdom speaks openly.

23:13 Ah, but wisdom speaks earnestly. Here's the picture of one in earnest for a hearing. So much in earnest that wisdom is going to make sure that no one misses her message because of a lack of volume. So she cries aloud in the street.

23:32 And lest any slumber under her sermon, she pries the mind with questions. How long, ye simple ones? How long, ye scoffers? How long, ye fools?

23:44 Oh, the earnestness with which wisdom preaches. Listen to me tonight, dear unconverted young person, adult. God is in dead earnestness. God is in dead earnestness about being heard and being heeded.

24:01 God is dead in earnest about being heard and being heeded. He need not speak, but wonder of wonders when He comes revealing His mind to us, warning us of the evils of sin, opening up the treasures of grace. He doesn't come with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. He comes with earnestness.

24:24 And all you need do is look at the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need our Lord Jesus to see this, for God is revealed in Christ. And what do we see in our Lord Jesus? That great day of the feast, Jesus stood and He cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.

24:48 There was earnestness. He came over the brow of a city upon which He had to pronounce judgment and said, Oh, Jerusalem. Jerusalem! How oft would I have gathered you!

25:01 That's earnestness. Earnestness! Intense longing that the message be heard. Hear our Lord again and again saying, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!

25:16 He's in earnest. He's in earnest. And so the preacher in this passage, Wisdom, the Son of God Himself, preaches how? Not only openly, but He preaches earnestly.

25:28 And thirdly, He preaches honestly and clearly. Look at the words. She uttereth her voice in the broad places. The last phrase of verse 21, She uttereth her words.

25:43 There is careful articulation. There is clarity. And there is transparent honesty. Honesty that calls certain people simple.

25:57 Honesty that calls, others scoffers and fools. Honesty that says, Here are my promises. Honesty that says, Here are my threatenings. Honesty that says, Here are the privileges of grace.

26:11 Honesty that says, Here are the demands of grace. Honesty that says, Here are the threats. If grace is spurned, who could this be other than our blessed Lord? Speaking openly.

Application: The Witnesses Against Unbelievers and a Model for Preachers

26:26 Speaking earnestly. Speaking honestly and clearly. Let me say by way of application before we move on to the content of the preacher's sermon. Everyone who hears and is yet in his or her sins, think of the terrible witnesses that will meet you in the last day.

26:52 Wisdom has entreated you through creation. That creation by which your life is saved, is sustained day after day. You children who walk on God's earth and it doesn't open up and swallow you as a rebel sinner against your Creator. That earth that sustains you by God's good providence.

27:14 The atmosphere, polluted or not, is still the breath that sustains your life. What a witness in that last day when this very creation by which your life was sustained cried out to you to acknowledge your creation. And you turned a deaf ear to wisdom's voice. That conscience that smites you every time you choose a course contrary to God's law.

27:40 That conscience that gnaws you when you lie, when you steal, when you cheat, when you fight with brother and sister, when you sneak and do something behind mom and dad's back. That conscience that smites. What a witness in the last day. How many sermons of conscience have you heard?

28:00 Only to turn a deaf ear to them.

28:04 Conscience was in earnest. Wisdom speaking through creation. But what about the word itself? All of the entreaties you've heard from this pulpit and other pulpits.

28:15 All of the earnest pleas not of demented religious fanatics, but Christ Himself who was able in the mystery of grace to pour something of His own wisdom and compassion into the heart of a person a redeemed sinner and then pour it out through that sinner so that preachers who've looked you in the eye and pleaded that you repent and believe were the very eyes and hands and mouth of Christ. Oh, what witness is against you in the last day if you've turned a deaf ear to such a preacher as eternal wisdom. Oh, may God help you to see that because wisdom preaches openly,

29:01 preaches earnestly, honestly and clearly your blood will be upon your own head if you fail to heed wisdom's voice. Then before we move on I must bring a word of application. Those of us called upon to preach the word who should be our model of a preacher. Not Whitefield, though I wish I could preach one-tenth as well as he did just once.

29:29 Not Spurgeon, though I wish I could preach as he did. He apparently preached. But here's our model. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself to walk even as he walked.

29:42 He that would preach ought himself so to preach even as he preached. How did he preach? Openly. Oh, may God deliver us from a mumbling ministry.

29:55 Ministry's no place for mumbling. Cry aloud in the street, in the broad places, in the chief place. We have no confidence in contraband goods to sneak out from under the counter if someone happens to ask for it. Oh, no.

30:11 We put our goods out in the showcase and we stand outside to all who pass by and say, Come and see. This is the word of the living God. Let us preach as this preacher preached. Openly.

30:25 Earnestly. Let us be men dead in earnest. I would far rather be considered a fool by someone who's never felt the powers of the world to come. I would far rather to be thought demented by some who've never felt the pangs of spiritual realities than have men think me a nice prim and proper preacher who said good things and got things off his chest.

30:53 Oh, dear ones, if earnestness is in place at any point, it is in place in the ministry of holy things. And let us, like the church, the preacher here, be honest and be clear. Let us not stoop to the tricks of the con artist. Let us be honest with men.

31:15 Hold out the free offers of mercy. Hold out the terrible threatenings against unbelief. Let us cry aloud and spare not. Let us preach as the preacher of Proverbs chapter 1 preached.

Wisdom's Message: Entreaty to the Simple, Scoffers, and Fools

31:32 Well, then, having identified the preacher, having considered how the preacher conveyed his message, now we come to the heart of our sermon tonight. What does the preacher say? Having considered wisdom's method, what is wisdom's message? And I suggest there are three things in wisdom's message.

31:55 First of all, a word of entreaty, then a word of command, and then a word of promise. Look at them. First of all, a word of entreaty. Verse 22.

32:09 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And scoffers delight them in scoffing, and fools hate knowledge. What is this? It's a word of entreaty couched in the form of a question addressed to three classes of people.

32:31 Look at them. First of all, there is the simple. This word simple we studied in one of our earlier studies in Proverbs. It means, literally, to be open to influence.

32:44 Hence, a person who is easily guided into folly. Now, in most cases, people who are simple welcome every opportunity to learn the things that will take them out of a state of simplicity into a state of wisdom. They welcome. Because they know if they are simple, they are vulnerable.

33:10 Knowledge is a great preservative. But here's a terrible case in which you find people who are not only simple, open to influence, particularly evil influence, but they love that condition. And so there is this word of entreaty. How long, ye simple ones, will ye love your simplicity?

33:37 Hear the voice of wisdom is calling to them. My son, enter not into the path of the wicked. Walk not in the way of evil men. If sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

33:50 The voice of your Creator speaking through His creation never called you into a path of sin. The voice of conscience never called you into a path of sin. The voice of the written word never called you into a path of sin. Oh, my simple one, he says, how long will you love that simplicity that makes you vulnerable to all the enticements of evil?

34:17 Well, this passage doesn't give the answer, but other scriptures do. Why does the simple one love simplicity? For the simple reason given in John 3.19.

34:31 This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness right? Rather than light because their deeds were evil. Men instinctively know that if they heed the voice of wisdom coming through creation, if they begin to acknowledge their Creator, they begin to heed the voice of wisdom in conscience, heed the voice of wisdom through the gospel, that voice will lead them out of sin into righteousness. And the problem is they love their sins.

35:07 They hug their sins. To their bosom. And they say, no, no, I would rather remain simple. I would rather be vulnerable to anything that sin will bring rather than part with the darling lusts of my heart.

35:23 And so wisdom entreats. How long, ye simple, will you love simplicity? Will you love simplicity until hell becomes your classroom to teach you reality?

35:40 You get the question? Will you love simplicity? Will you love simplicity? Will you love simplicity until hell becomes your classroom?

35:47 And then you'll sit down and learn reality that sin brings destruction. Oh, you simple ones who think you can sin, say no to the voice of wisdom speaking in creation and conscience in the Word. Wisdom saying, sin is destructive. Evil is damning.

36:08 You stop your ears and you go on in your simplicity thinking, I can sin and no consequence. I can sin. Get away with it. How long, ye simple ones?

36:19 Will you hug your simplicity until hell strips it from you? God help you. If you fit the category of the simple one, there are no simple ones in hell.

36:35 Hell is God's classroom to those who would not learn on earth that the wages of sin is death. And there's not an ounce of unbelief of that statement in hell. Not one ounce.

36:52 Not one ounce.

36:54 Well, then the word of entreaty comes not only to the simple, but notice the second class. It comes to the scoffer. To the scoffer.

37:07 And scoffers delight them in scoffing. Now, what does the word scoffer mean? Well, basically it means arrogant, cynical, and defiant. You see the progression of evil?

37:25 Here's the simple. Exposed to the painful influence of evil. But now there's a step further in this category. The arrogant is the man, the woman, the fellow girl who's become cynical and defiant.

37:42 So stooped or so steeped in the degeneracy of their own unbelief, they've stifled the overtures of wisdom and now they've become proud of their unbelief. To them, a tender conscience, regard of God's law, sensitivity to the gospel is a sign of weakness and an occasion of jest. They're the scoffers.

38:09 And they've prided themselves that they've become almost impervious to the voice of wisdom. They can with a high hand drink in the benefits of God's creation, see the handiwork of God and His authority stamped in all, all of His goods that they squander and they scoff. They can hear the voice of conscience and fly in His face. They can hear the word preached as it's being preached tonight and realize that it's the word of Christ coming through His servants and they can scoff at it and pride themselves in their unbelief.

38:49 Now what does the preacher say to them? He says, oh, you scoffers, how long will you delight yourself in scoffing? Will you go on delighting yourself in your scoffing until judgment turns you into a silent monument of the folly of unbelief and sin? No scoffers are found in hell who mock the realities of sin and grace.

39:19 As hell! As hell strips a man of his simplicity, so hell strips a man of his mockery. There is no mockery in hell. The only place you'll ever find a man mocking hell is before he's there.

39:41 That's all. And here's the picture of the man who becomes so proud that he's stifled the voice of wisdom. He can now mock at that voice with a high hand. And what does wisdom do?

39:53 The door of mercy is still open and wisdom comes. Not with threats yet. That starts in verse 24. But he still comes with entreaty.

40:03 You talk about grace. You talk about grace. And oh, the marvel of it that some of you sitting here tonight. Wisdom still what?

40:13 Is entreating you. Though you've taken the place of the simple. And though you've taken the place of the scoffer. Wisdom comes.

40:23 Not with the words. Not with the word of condemnation yet. She still entreats you saying, How long ye simple ones. How long ye scoffers.

40:32 The third category. And fools delight. And fools hate. Knowledge.

40:39 Who is the fool? He's the person insensible to spiritual truth. Dull, stupid people. Stoically confident in their own wisdom.

40:50 This is the person to whom, who can convey nothing. He has an active, positive hatred of the knowledge of God. He will not consider the fear of God as a viable option to his life. And so he shut out the entrance of all knowledge.

41:08 If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, a fool is a man devoid of the fear of the Lord. Folly in the biblical sense has nothing to do with intellect. It is a moral thing. It is a spiritual thing.

41:21 And so wisdom entreats the fool who is not only indifferent to knowledge, but has a positive antipathy to knowledge. He hates knowledge. He hates what wisdom says through creation. And so what does he do?

41:38 He tries to say that's not God's handiwork. What's behind man's constant attempt to rule God out of his creation? The so-called scientific investigation for the origin of things that continually rules us. Now God, here it is.

41:56 Man instinctively knows if he acknowledges that this is God's world, he's obligated to the God who made it and put him on it. And he doesn't want that obligation. So he's going to, with his so-called quote, scientific objectivity, concoct theories that'll run God clear out of his universe. That'll leave him, he thinks, scot-free to do as he pleases in that universe.

42:23 Psalm 2. Let us, cast their cords from us. That's the cry of men. Why do the nations rage?

42:31 And the people imagine a vain thing, saying, let us break their bands asunder. As long as that creation is constantly bearing witness of God's glory and power, man can't escape the fact this is not his world, it's God's world. And he's obligated to that God as long as conscience speaks to him in condemnation or approbation of evilness and evil on the one hand and good on the other. Man can't escape the voice of God.

43:00 But he tries to. And so what happens? He hates knowledge. He gets this disposition in which he despises anything that would bring him back into his proper native habitat, the fear of God, the climate in which he was made to live and to move and to operate.

43:21 But wisdom entreats and says how long? Will you hate knowledge? Oh, may you who need this word tonight hear the earnest entreaty of wisdom, the same God who says through Ezekiel, why will ye die? Who says through the Lord Jesus, how oft would I have gathered you?

43:46 One of the things that is most amazing to me is the sincere, earnest entreaty of the God who could cut us off. This is the God who could cut us off. This is the God who could cut us off. This is the God who could cut us off.

43:55 This is the God who could cut us off. This is the God who could cut us off. But continues to forbear with the simple who love their simplicity, with the scoffers who delight in scoffing, and with the fools who hate knowledge. Why should God continue to reason with us?

44:13 Why should He continue to entreat us? I know no answer, but that He is rich in mercy, long-suffering, patient over His erring, and rebellious creation. Here's the picture of a doctor who comes into a community. Perhaps there's widespread ignorance, widespread indifference to health rules and principles of physical health and well-being.

44:43 And the doctor is convinced that they need his remedy. And he offers his particular remedies to the people, and they treat him with indifference. But if he's convinced that they need his remedy, if he's a true doctor, he will not accept the first refusal. He will entreat them.

45:02 He will plead with them. He will argue with them. He will do all within his power to bring them to receive the remedy. Project that upward, if you will.

45:15 Here's the living, eternal Word of God in His perfect knowledge of what we are, coming to us as the voice of wisdom, speaking to us through Christ, creation, conscience, the Word and the Gospel. And He entreats us, and we turn a deaf ear, saying, I don't need the remedy. And He could say, look, you don't want my remedy? All right, fully on you.

45:41 Pack up His remedy and go somewhere else. But wonder of wonders, He continues to entreat and entreat and entreat and entreat. And what a wonderful theme to preach upon. The earnest entreaties of God, to His creatures.

Wisdom's Message: Command to Repent and Promise of the Spirit and Word

46:01 But we have not only the word of entreaty, but very quickly now, look at the word of command. He moves from entreaty to command. For remember, this is God speaking. And men can entreat fellow men, but God can stand in the place of commanding.

46:20 What is that word of command? And verse 23, turn you at my reproof. The word of command is a word, a word of repentance. Turn you from what?

46:35 From that course of willful ignorance. That course of arrogance and folly. You simple ones, who want to be willfully vulnerable to all the effects of sin, turn from that willful ignorance. You scoffers, who mock at holy things, turn from your scoffing.

46:56 You fools, who will not regard the fear of God, turn from, from that folly. This is a command to repent, to turn, to forsake the way of willful rejection of the voice and claims of the living God.

47:15 Doesn't seem like much grace in that command, does there? Or does there? I shall never forget when I was preaching one time on Acts 17.30, and it dawned on me that one of the most gracious words in all of the Bible is God's command, to repent.

47:34 Acts 17.30 is the text in which Paul says, God commandeth all men everywhere to repent. That's a word of grace. Because if God commands me to repent, it's a pledge that He is willing to show mercy if I repent.

47:50 So it's a gracious command. He's calling me to turn not from something that is my good. If you come to a man who's worked all his life to save a few thousand dollars to take a trip to Europe, and see some of the rest of the world, and Justice is about to board the plane, you say to him, give me your money. Turn from your plans.

48:12 That's not gracious. That's cruel.

48:18 But if you happen to know that there's a bomb on that plane,

48:22 and that there's a plot for his life when he gets to Europe to kill him, and you say, turn from your plans, that's a gracious command.

48:31 God doesn't come to us and say, turn from the only things that will give you pleasure. Turn from the only things that will give you happiness. No, no. God comes and says, turn at my reproof.

48:42 I'm calling you away from a path of sin. I'm calling you unto a path of holiness. I'm calling you away from your own wisdom. Unto my wisdom.

48:52 Why? Because in my wisdom there is life. In the path of righteousness there is peace. In the path of holiness there is blessing.

49:01 It's a command to repent, but it's a gracious command invested with all the authority of heaven. And so I say to you in Christ's name tonight, every fellow girl, man, or woman who has not heeded the voice of incarnate wisdom, I command you to repent. Turn from your sin. Turn from your own stupid ideas of how you can have forgiveness.

49:28 Turn from your own stupid ideas as to how you can find meaning in life. Embrace the declaration of God. This is my son. Hear him.

49:40 He said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Repent of your own foolish ideas. Repent of your darling lust and idols.

49:56 Repent of your own schemes to save yourself. Hear the word of command and then see how the Lord encourages you to embrace it by this third command. Word, word. The preacher's message is not only a word of entreaty, a word of command, but it's a word of promise.

50:19 Look at it. Behold. He says, lift up your eyes. Focus your attention upon something.

50:27 I will pour out my spirit upon you. I will make known my words unto you. What is the word of promise? It's twofold.

50:38 The spirit will be given. The spirit will be given. The spirit will be given. The word will be opened.

50:42 The spirit will be given. What is necessary for a sound and thorough conversion? Why, the work of the spirit. God himself must take out the heart of stone.

50:55 God must give us a heart of flesh. Here he promises the spirit. Turn it my reproof. I will pour out my spirit upon you.

51:05 Everything needed is bound up in the ministry of the spirit. Turn, I will pour out my spirit upon you. And then he joins that with the promise, I will open up my words to you. I will make known my words unto you.

51:23 I offer you both my word outwardly to your ears and my spirit inwardly to your heart to make that word effectual. And both are needed if there is to be true spiritual life. We are born of the spirit, John 3. We are born of the word, James 1.18, 1 Peter 1.23.

51:46 And both the spirit and the word are graciously promised by the preacher. So then all excuses are swept away. The God who commands us to repent holds out every grace necessary unto our repentance and pledges them in the word of his promise. Which is yea and amen in Christ Jesus.

52:14 And how could God say more? God speaking through the voice of wisdom, commanding us to repent, sealing the command with a word of promise of his spirit and his word. And then it's as though God says, and if these will not prevail, you've had it.

Concluding Exhortation: Heed Wisdom's Call Before Judgment

52:38 And hence the sober warning begins in verse 1. Verse 24. Because I've called and ye have refused. Because I have stretched forth my hand and you would not regard.

52:51 Because, because, because. It's as though it's a different preacher now. Instead of entreaty, there is awesome threat. In the place of argument and in the place of pleading, there is terrible prophetic utterance.

53:10 May I repeat it? If the voice of wisdom coming in those first four verses will not prevail, my friend, you've had it. You've had it. You'll be given up to feel the weight of the awful threatenings of a holy God who condescended to plead with you earnestly, fervently, genuinely, sincerely, speaking through this wisdom which is Christ, Christ Himself.

53:45 What will you say in that day?

53:49 This is the end of a very busy week. Or I should say the tail end of a busy two weeks for me. A very full day.

54:01 And I wish at this point that I had the strength that I had this morning to pour into a closing exhortation. But I do not. But I call upon you with all the earnestness of my heart tonight, conscious of some of you, others of you known only to God for your strangers to me. Could it be that God has once more come to you through eternal wisdom, the Lord Jesus, coming in the overtures of His grace and His mercy in this place tonight.

54:35 Though you've perhaps heard this preacher many times before, there's been something in the words he's uttered tonight that's had an unction, a power, a penetration that perhaps you've never known before. My friend, that's the voice of eternal wisdom pleading, entreating. Oh, don't stop your ears to that voice. Don't stop your ears to that voice.

55:01 Don't stop your ears. Turn at His reproof, the voice calling you from your sins, promising the Spirit and the Word. Lay hold of the promise. Behold Him who sealed them in His own precious blood.

55:17 And on the basis of the infinite merit of the Spirit, in Jesus Christ, approach God in His name and sue out a pardon as the old writers would say and plead with God that for Christ's sake He would have mercy upon you. And dear children of God, to whom this word has come, not so much as a direct word of entreaty, for by God's grace we are no longer willfully folly, willfully foolish, willfully simple, no longer are we scoffers. Do you not learn from this and can you not see in this what should mark our ministry to our children, to our neighbors,

56:01 to our loved ones, something of this openness, something of this earnestness, this honesty and clarity of wisdom's message. Oh, may God infuse it into our hearts and then enable us to entreat men, to use the words of the Apostle Paul knowing the fear of the Lord, to persuade men.

56:26 Let us never be embarrassed when people say, you folks, I can't understand you. You say you believe the Bible teaches that God has chosen a people, that there is an election of grace and that God will effectually and infallibly draw to Himself every sheep for whom the Savior shed His blood and we say amen and amen. Well, how in the world do you plead? Pleading and entreating people as though it were in your power and theirs because God does it.

56:56 We'll do it. And if I behold my God in Jesus Christ entreating men, pleading men, then in His name we too shall entreat and plead. Not that they'll do God a favor and vote for Christ, decide for Christ. That's not the thrust of our pleading.

57:13 Our pleading is that you'll turn from your folly, bow to the mandate of heaven, heed the voice of your Creator, of the One who'll be your judge, and bow at His feet and plead for mercy. Let us pray.

57:41 Blessed Lord,

57:44 embodiment of all wisdom,

57:49 we thank You that You are made unto all.